Thanks to grant funding awarded in September 2021 to Resident Resources Network (RRN) by First Financial Foundation (FFF), residents of two affordable housing communities, Faith Village and Framingham Village Apartments, will be able to take advantage of a second year of English as a Second Language, but now in an online format. The funding award helps to answer residents’ request for an onsite ESL program that would allow them to become more proficient in English. However, the pandemic interrupted the classes being held in person, and in 2021 they began being offered virtually.

The class sessions are open to residents of Faith and Framingham Villages and are held Mondays and Tuesdays from 3pm to 5pm, and Fridays from 11am to 1pm. Google Classroom is the platform used to facilitate instruction, and each participant receives learning packets that include additional materials designed to facilitate and supplement classroom instruction (e.g., dry erase boards for writing and displaying question responses). The instruction focuses on basic literacy skills (e.g., phonics, grammar, punctuation, spelling, vocabulary, and sentence structure). The last two cycles focus on more intermediate literacy skills and also infuse financial and workplace literacy and citizenship concepts (e.g., filling out a check, reading a utility bill, preparing a resume, and soft skills) to help residents apply their learning to real-life situations.

The improved English proficiency residents will gain as a result of participating in the Faith Village ESL program will be invaluable for enhancing their quality of life and helping them to thrive in the communities in which the live and work. They will be better able to read and understand expectations laid out in a rental lease, better able to have a conversation with their neighbor about hobbies they have in common, better equipped to communicate with their children’s teachers about their academic performance, and the funding from First Financial has helped to make that happen.

For more information, contact Gay Wheeler, RRN Service Coordinator at (614) 641-2945.