Adult Basic Education Classes

CEP is a member of the Juntos Collaborative, a network of ABE service and work force development providers. CEP provides a variety of adult and family educational opportunities in the diverse Holyoke community. We began in 1991 as an ESL program based in the Latino community. Today our educational programming includes:

Native Language Literacy in Spanish

Pre-GED in Spanish

English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL): two levels

• CEP provides two levels of ESOL classes. The CEP/ESOL classroom is student centered and employs a whole language immersion approach to instruction. The goal of the CEP/ESOL classroom is to have students speaking English 70% or more of their class time. Spanish or other native language usage during class time is strongly discouraged in order to promote increased English proficiency in our students.


• Practical, useful vocabulary is generated by students themselves as well as from the thematic units developed cooperatively by teachers and students. Thematic curriculum units include health and nutrition issues relevant to the community, job readiness and employment, how to use computers, and money management (e.g. budgets, banks, investing). Field trips to other community based and social service agencies, community meetings and workshops, museums, libraries, and historic sites are also incorporated into the class schedule and curriculum. Students are taught how to use computers and how to access internet based learning resources and how to use them to further their educational and employment related goals. Students are encouraged to be involved and engaged in their community.


• Level II (SPL 3-5) is designed for those who speak a little English, but want to develop their vocabulary and improve their ability to speak grammatically correct English. The class is student centered (i.e. the curriculum includes content requested by the students) and is focused on developing the confidence and ability to speak in English. In addition to academic content, the class includes practical strategies on how to learn more English outside of class.


• Level III (SPL 5-7) builds on the English language skills developed in Level II. Level III students are expected to have the confidence and the ability to initiate English language exchanges. The Level III class curriculum reviews and reinforces previously introduced English language skills including present, past, and future tense forms of the verbs. Compound verb tenses (e.g. present perfect, past perfect, and conditional tense), clauses, and phrases are introduced to support higher level English level proficiency. Additionally, more advanced reading comprehension and writing are included in the students’ classroom work.

GED-Family Literacy in English

Adult Basic Education (ABE)-to-College Transition class at Holyoke Community College

ESOL

Alice Barrett
Level II Instructor

Level II Schedule:
Monday and Wednesday
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Alice Barrett
Level III Instructor

Level III Schedule:
Tuesday and Thursday
9:00 - 1:30 PM

For more information:
Call 413-538-5770