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students in my Adult Basic Education class are from a wide range of ages and
backgrounds. Some are immigrants in their 20s, brushing up on their English
before applying to college in the United States. Others are parents in their
30s and 40s, learning English so they can get better jobs and help with homework
that their English-speaking children bring home. Still others are retired
adults, having left the workforce and now having time to study English
formally. Our doors are open to all of them.
Part of the beauty of this range is a built-in multigenerational
classroom. While it may seem challenging from the outset, the rewards dwarf those
challenges. For students re-entering school after a multiyear classroom hiatus,
seeing other students of advanced age gives them hope. Successful students
provide role models to any age.
Another benefit of a multigenerational classroom is
that the older students help the younger students stay disciplined in their
studies. Sometimes the younger students chatter, laugh and get too distracted. Nothing
quiets a group of young, chattering Somali students like a stern look from a
Somali elder, along with a gravelly admonition: “We are here to learn! Be quiet,
please.”
I also enjoy how the younger students help the older
students understand assignments, especially those involving technology. They
help the older students log on to the computers, find websites and leave
comments on the class blog. The younger students also help the older students
understand how to use their cell phones and electronic dictionaries.
Many
schools must reach out into the community or even into the homes of their
students to take advantage of this type of multigenerational class. And they should.
Everyone benefits.
Our school has fully embraced multigenerational
learning by stocking our library full of children’s books. Adult students can
choose a children’s book, take it home, practice reading it by themselves and
then read it with their children. This is good for so many reasons. The adults
can read something that is written in easy English, their children can practice
reading and the whole family can share in the experience. My adult students
always comment on how much correction they get from their children as they are
reading. “My 6-year-old daughter says, ‘Mommy, you don’t say it like that. You
say it like this.’ She knows better than me,” a student told me.
In this classroom, the accumulated life experience of
students has value—and is useful for all classmates. Whenever we have a
pregnant student in the class, all of the students celebrate. Grandmothers and
grandfathers give all kinds of advice to the young parents. Sometimes the older
students organize celebrations and gifts for the pregnant students. One 68-year-old
Eritrean man offered to be the godfather for the child of a 24-year-old Mexican
woman. When the baby was born, she came in and all the older students crowded
around her to congratulate her and give her advice.
Anfinson is a civics ELL teacher in Minnesota.
