Courtesy of NJ.com:
By: Felix Alarcon
A non-profit organization in Bayonne, The Windmill Alliance, will be offering English as a Second Language classes for just $10 this spring and is looking for volunteers to help administer the program.
The Rev. Rose Cohen Hassan, the ESL program director, said the program has been in the planning stage for two years, but with The Windmill Alliance receiving a grant, the ESL program has now come to fruition.
“This is important for the community and our clients at HIGHWAYS,” said Hassan. “Our clients are mostly immigrants, many of them from Egypt, who have come to this country after the Arab Spring, as well as Spanish and Polish speakers, who are very educated in their country, but are underemployed here.”
Helping Individuals Gain Hope Will Always Yield Success (HIGHWAYS), a program of The Windmill Alliance, offers crisis prevention, emergency food pantry, thrift store, job training, counseling and now ESL classes for Bayonne residents.
The classes are sponsored in collaboration with Grace Lutheran Church and Trinity Parish in Bergen Point.
HIGHWAYS is looking for volunteers interested in teaching and childcare, for parents during classes. The program will hold training sessions for teachers and childcare volunteers on Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m to 8 p.m.
“After having done this (program) in Kearny for years, volunteers found this to be the most rewarding things they’ve done in their lives,” Hassan said. “The people in the classes are motivated and want to learn.”
ESL class registrations will be held on March 4 and March 11 at 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Students must pay $20 at the time of registration, but $10 will be returned upon the completion of the semester. The class runs for 10 weeks beginning March 18. The last class is June 3.
Regular classes and make-up classes, will be held at Grace Lutheran Church on 836 Avenue C.
“We’re hoping to serve our community,” said Hassan about the impact the ESL program will have on Bayonne.
For more information e-mail Rev. Rose Cohen Hassan, ESL program director at RCHassan@windmallalliance.org or call (201) 471-2634.