Contributions to the community come in many different ways, but one UNH sophomore spends four hours a week teaching English as a Second Language. Josh Minty, a history major, spends time on campus helping a range of Moroccan, Chinese and Polish individuals who need help with their English. Minty helps set up the class and assists the teacher by spending time with students who need more assistance.
"I got involved because I was interested in helping the community," said Minty. "I had time on my hands, and I felt I could put it to good use, so I decided to get involved."
Minty began in the program by locating the Dover Adult Learning Center , a facility that teaches ESL courses, high-school equivalency courses, and other courses for students acquiring their GED's. Most of the volunteers work at the center in Dover , but Minty is one of the few who spends his time helping out here on campus.
"Volunteers speak natural English, with all our unique idioms and slang expressions," said Dover Adult Learning Center Coordinator Debbie Liskow. "Spoken English is not the same as written English, and foreign speakers have to have practice listening and understanding spoken English."
"The idea of the course is to teach students to learn more English so they can assimilate themselves better in the community," said Thuy Nguyen, the instructor of the course and co-worker of Minty's. "Our goal is to help them be able to ask directions if they get lost, go to the library and ask for what they need. It's a very practical use of English."
The class is taught in less than spectacular surroundings. The community center in Forest Park , located across the street from Morse Hall, is a small, dormitory lounge that doesn't allow for tremendous space, or a traditional classroom environment. But Minty and Nguyen agree that any place they can get is a victory in itself. The class in which Minty volunteers is one filled with people of diverse and different backgrounds. He said his classes have included two Laotians students, a Brazilian student, a Polish student, three Korean students, a Moroccan, one Chinese individual and a Japanese woman.
"The class is structured to cater to people of different skill levels," said Minty. "There's a beginner group and a more advanced room. When I work with advanced speakers, I try to teach them idioms. But for the beginners, who often times can't say much more than 'thank you' or 'hello', we do worksheets or use basic tools to help understand the basics."
Minty gave one good example of his type of teaching. While attempting to teach time, he brought in a clock and taught the students how to spell numbers and tell time in English. Minty also says that he utilizes the basic elements in the makeshift classroom to help students identify their surroundings.
"One time I stood out of my chair, and pointed to it, and made them all say out loud what I was pointing at. It helps them to remember nouns and such," he said.
In addition to that style of instruction, Minty also acts as a tutor and abstract thinker for the classroom environment. He takes a hands-on approach to helping each student who may require individual attention, and also provides a second set of ears to assist Nguyen in devising interesting and creative ways to teach the material.
"Josh has been great with the students," said Nguyen. "When someone commonly thinks of volunteer work, they think 'Oh, I can just do it.' But I really think it takes a certain kind of individual to be able to just jump in and be unflappable."
"[Josh] can improvise when he needs to, and can pull out from the top of his head things that would make the course interactive and meaningful for the students. I feel very lucky that things worked out with Josh coming along," she said.
Currently Minty still volunteers his time at the Community Center with ESL instruction. Both he and Nguyen encourage anyone who feels like they have time to give and are interested in possibly volunteering at the Dover Adult Learning Center to contact the center's offices at (603) 742-1030, or by e-mail at dalc@dalc-online.org.
This article was reprinted courtesy of The New Hampshire. Issue date: 4/11/06 Section: News