Programs strive to improve English literacy

The Broomfield Library’s Englishlanguage learning service helps residents and immigrants to the United States such as Yukiko Matsumoto and Ala Boudhraa, both of whom regularly attend library conversation groups to improve their English skills.

“I was checking the library website and found the free conversation class,” Matsumoto said. “I was thinking about classes at Front Range Community College but it’s a little expensive for me.”

Broomfield Library’s Englishlanguage learning services is free, which removes the cost barrier for people like Matsumoto. Matsumoto immigrated from Japan, and said that the group is one of the only places she’s able to practice English.

“We speak Japanese always at home. I work for a Japanese tutor and a Japanese school and my other job uses Japanese so I didn’t have a chance to improve my English,” she said. “I really appreciate the group.”

Boudhraa said he wants to learn English as a his fourth language after moving to the United States.

“I am of Tunisian and French nationality. I speak Arabic, French and Italian,” Boudhraa said. “I am learning to speak English for my integration here.”

Although both are excited to improve their general communication skills, Matsumoto and Boudhraa each had their own individual reasons to prioritize learning English.

Matsumoto said she is excited to read more of the emails from her children’s school, talk to cashiers at the grocery store and talk with family members who don’t speak Japanese.

Boudhraa said his priority in learning English is so he can find a job, and he would like to continue his career as a firefighter, which he did for nearly a decade in Paris.

“The first day I came here, I didn’t speak English. I only knew ‘ hello’ and ‘ good morning,’” Boudhraa said. “I would speak with my hands and my face … but at the store when people asked me ( a question) I didn’t respond. It was very hard to speak with people here.”

Boudhraa said he tries to practice his pronunciation and conversation skills every chance he gets.

“When I go to the bar or play soccer, I practice conversation. I’ve changed my phone to English, I watch TV in English,” Boudhraa said. “When I call my friend in Paris, I speak English … you have to practice, practice, practice.”

The library offered free Englishlanguage learning services for the past two years, helping adults learn English for the first time or helping them improve their literacy, said Michelle Brandstetter, the library’s public services supervisor.

“It became apparent after having conversations with other people on staff that there was definitely a need for a service like this,” Brandstetter said.

The services include casual English conversation groups to practice speaking and build community as well as a volunteer- based, one- on- one tutoring program.

“We’ve tried to really cover all our bases,” Brandstetter said. “We want it to be as respectful of different cultures as possible and remove as many barriers as possible.”

Broomfield has a sizable immigrant population that uses the services, and library staff has seen great success with the program.

“We see more and more people who have just been bused here from another state and are dropped off with nothing,” said Irene Toro Martinez, tech librarian. “We want the library and this program to be part of the welcome that they receive and for them to know that this is a place where they can come for support and resources.”

Toro Martinez said the program has been very popular — the one- on- one tutoring program had 87 sessions alone scheduled in the first four months.

“This program has been wildly successful … every week, somebody comes to the desk and asks about the program, so it’s clearly a need that wasn’t met in the community. It’s a growing need,” she said. “I’m very proud to have been a small part of this project, because it’s so valuable.”

Both students and tutors say they see the value.

Joaquin De Ezpeleta Aguilar is training to become a tutor, and as an immigrant from Costa Rica, he explained that tutoring will be a way to help others in ways he needed help when he first arrived.

“There is help I wish had been given to me back then, tiny misconceptions and misinterpretations that create unnecessary frustrations,” he said. “( Going through the training) made me realize I love this — I want to help somebody else.”