Keyport group promotes harmony between cultures Cultural Harmony Program aims to help immigrants assimilate BY DENNIS JORDAN Correspondent On a Thursday afternoon, long after most schoolchildren and teachers have put aside textbooks, chalkboards and lockers for the day, some of the classrooms at Keyport Central Elementary School are still abuzz with lessons. Adrian Vasquez is a volunteer in the ESL program sponsored by the Keyport Cultural Harmony Program. Volunteer Tuck Houston works with Karla Hernandez (l-r) and Lindelia Tamayo in a classroom at Keyport Central School April 10. Gladys Vasquez, 5, spends time coloring while adults students work on their English skills. On this particular Thursday, two students occupy two front-row desks and listen as the teacher standing in front of them explains proper past-tense verb usage and pronunciation. "I taked?" one student answers. "I took," the teacher corrects. "I seeing?" the other student suggests. "I saw," the teacher responds. "Picture is pronounced pik-chur," the teacher says while writing the phonetic spelling on the board. It is a scene not uncommon in schools across the United States: students staying after school to receive one-on-one help with a teacher.What is unique about this session is that the two students in the classroom in Keyport are adults with children of their own. The teacher is not a school employee, but a volunteer tutor, and the class being taught is English as a second language (ESL), a course reserved for non-English speakers. The two students today, Lindelia and Ayla, are immigrants from Colombia and Turkey, respectively, and have children enrolled in Keyport Central Elementary. This free ESL course is one of the many projects sponsored by the Keyport Cultural Harmony Program (KCHP), a community-based program that has been in existence for close to three years in the Keyport area. KCHP was formed by Fischer and his wife,Margie, an ESL teacher at Central School, and Angel Matos, who was running for council at the time, together with Al and Claudia Degracia, Anabela Tortorell, Federico Quesada, then-Detective Tom Mitchell and his wife, Rosie, and other local volunteers from the Latino Alliance of New Jersey, Jesus the Lord Catholic Church and St. Mary's Episcopal Church to address the most pressing needs of the immigrant community. PHOTOS BY MATT DENTON Tom Fischer, an immigrant from Ecuador who has lived in the United States for close to 30 years, is the president of KCHP. "The goal of the KCHP is to assimilate other cultures into the American culture, thereby improving their quality of life," Fischer said. The teaching of English is the most important ingredient of what the KCHP represents. "English is an immediate necessity," he said. When immigrants learn English, it paves the way for them to participate in local activities and civic functions, which in turn only strengthens a community and improves their own lives, according to Fischer. "They can get a better job and improve the quality of their own life," he said. "They don't have to be relegated to washing dishes." While Keyport's most prominent immigrant group is made up of Latinos, there are other nationalities present in Keyport, and they do participate in KCHP's events. There are Iraqi, Chinese and Vietnamese students in the ESL classes. All immigrants who do not speak English and who reside in Keyport and surrounding towns are welcome to attend free of charge. "It's for all non-English-speaking residents," Fischer said. "It just happens we have a bulk of Spanish-speaking immigrants here in Keyport." The ESL course is taught at three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. The course is held once a week from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and follows the school year, with classes held during fall and spring semesters. KCHP plans it this way because many of the adult ESL students are parents with children enrolled at Keyport Central Elementary. While adults are attending the ESL classes, their children are in another classroom under the supervision of volunteers, some of whom are high school students. "Without our adult volunteers, we'd be lost," Fischer admits. "We always need more of them." Another of the goals of the ESL program is to enable parents to help their children with their studies and homework, something that is impossible without a grasp of English. Fischer acknowledged that the children of non-English speaking immigrants usually speak better English than their parents. ESL helps bridge this communication void. Tutors for the ESL course are provided by the Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County (LVMC). Tutors need not be bilingual themselves to teach English, according to Rebecca Lucas, director of LVMC. "Being bilingual is absolutely not required," said Lucas. "We work on conversational English and survival English skills." The training to become a tutor involves an 18-hour training course that focuses on gestures and other nonverbal methodology techniques to bridge any language gap between tutor and student. The only requirements are that tutors be at least 18 years of age and have completed high school. LVMC monitors ESL courses in other New Jersey towns such as Belmar, Sea Girt, Marlboro and Freehold. Acourse in LongBranch is expected to be launched in the near future. Elaine Houston and her husband, Tuck, have been LVMC tutors in Keyport formore than a year. Elaine has amaster's degree in education and is trained as an elementary school teacher. Her technique of tutoring involves making her students do most of the talking in the classroom. "Iwant to help empower themas human beings in our culture," she said. "When you're working with a population that is invisible tomostAmericans, part of the teaching process is integrating them into our society, and language is paramount to that." Her husband signed up to be a tutor to spend more time with her, but soon discovered he enjoyed tutoring asmuch as she did. "I really enjoy it," Tuck Houston said. "I've learned a lot of the English language fromdoing this. It is a complicated language to learn." The ESL course is the major component of theKCHP, but activities are not limited to teaching English to immigrants. The group wants to facilitate the assimilation of foreign cultures intoAmerica. "We also educate the non-English population about the laws and ordinances of the town," Fischer said. Included are things like garbage pickup times, recycling laws and other smaller ordinances. KCHP holds regular meetings with non- English-speaking immigrants to help them in their quest for assimilation and, ultimately, citizenship. The group provides immigration officials to educate the students about citizenship requirements. They also bring in bank representatives to help themopen bank accounts. Fischer believes that immigrants should have to pay taxes if they are going to live in the country, and he periodically brings in local accountants to help immigrants obtain individual tax identification numbers (ITIN). With an ITIN, undocumented immigrants can pay taxes, and this helps ease the process of citizenship. An ITIN serves as a de facto Social Security number. KCHP also aids immigrants to protect their rights and to ensure they are not taken advantage of because of their undocumented status. Fischer and other KCHPmembers work primarily inwhat they call themuster zone, the area across from the 7-Eleven store on Broad and Maple streets where many undocumented immigrants wait for possible work opportunities. While not common, there are instances where undocumented immigrants are not paid forwork they performed, an occurrence known as theft of services, Fischer noted. "Sometimes a contractor will hire a couple of guys to help himwith some labor, and then after thework is done, he'll say, 'I'll pay you next week,' and he never does," Fischer said. "They call us, and we file official complaints with the police department. Some people think that these people have no rights at all." Bilingual fliers are passed out in the muster zone to inform immigrants of when and where meetings take place. KCHP also conducts interventions to help families adjust to social life in Keyport. The group works closely with El Mesias Methodist Church and Jesus the Lord Catholic Church to provide psychological counseling to families, if these services are needed. KCHP also provides a "big brother" program to encourage children of undocumented families to stay in school and not drop out. While KCHP is a citizens group, it does have ties to the Keyport Borough Council. Council President Joe Sheridan has been on the KCHP board of directors since its inception. "My role is more of a communicator," Sheridan said. "We [KCHP] have very good support from the Borough Council and the chief of police. The KCHP is a great conduit between the council and the non-English population." The KCHP holds regularmeetings every sixweeks at St.Mary'sEpiscopalChurch, 10 E. Front St., Keyport. Meetings are open to the public, and the next meeting is scheduled forMay 18 at 5 p.m. More information about theKeyportCulturalHarmony Programis available by calling (732) 264-8038. Information about Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County and how to become a tutor can be found at www.lvmonmouthnj. org or by contacting Rebecca Lucas at (732) 571-0209.