Family Literacy Program seeing progress; new classes set for June

El Campo ISD's Family Literacy Program closed the fall and spring sessions of classes with their awards banquet last Thursday evening in the Hutchins Elementary Cafeteria.

Thirty-five families received certificates and awards. Five of those families achieved perfect attendance for all nine classes. Those families include Norma Franco, second grade daughter Yazmin and Pre-K daughter Jessica; the family of Elena Gonzalez and high school students Lucio Eduardo and Lizeth Alanis, sixth grade daughter Esmeralda Alanis, and youngest daughter Joanna Gonzalez. Also included are Aidee Fonseca, fifth grade daughter Brianna, third grade son Martin, kindergarten age daughter Allayna and youngest daughter Alexandra; the family of Rosalina Aguilar with second grade son Eric Brito, Pre-K daughter Michelle Brito, and youngest son Derek Brito and the family of Norma and Carlos Zavala with Pre-K son Christian.

Classes are held fall and spring at the Hutchins Elementary campus and include basic instruction in English for non-English speakers and limited-English speakers as well as classes for advanced-English speakers.

Adults are taught in small group settings for one of the two hour sessions and the other hour is spent in computer aided instruction in one of Hutchins Elementary's computer labs. Children rotate small age-group classes where simple crafts are made, oral language is fostered in a music center and reading and writing are practiced in centers using hands-on versa-tiles.

The El Campo School District is exploring the idea of offering six consecutive weeks of Family Literacy classes this summer. Classes would be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Hutchins on three Thursday nights in June and three Thursday nights in July. There is no charge to attend the classes, only a desire to learn English.