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ACLAMO Family Centers Newsletter
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Providing our community with the services and skills for success |
FEBRUARY 20131 |
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Norvin Gonzalez looks on in wonder at the colorful
display of fish at the the Camden Aquarium
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From The Executive Director:
 What sets ACLAMO's educational program apart? Is it the help of hundreds of dedicated high school and college volunteers who take time from their busy schedules to tutor and mentor our young students? Is it our dedicated teachers who put their heart and soul into making class time a meaningful experience? Perhaps it's the attention to detail in the individualized lesson plans, and maybe the educational field trips that reinforce areas of study, from science, to botany, to biology, to astronomy? Or could it be the outstanding commitment of our immigrant families, who following the example of countless other generations before them, recognize the value of education and hard work to secure a better life for themselves and their children?
The obvious answer is all of the above! Thanks to your support, we are able to maximize the success of our programs. We know that exposing our families a wide and wondrous world which we live can help produce the next generation of scientists, doctors, architects and teachers.
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Musical Chairs and the Camden Aquarium
On January 29, four year-old Jessica Perez visited the Camden Aquarium with her ACLAMO family literacy class. Unlike many children her age, Jessica was able to identify a surprising number of the underwater creatures she was seeing -- all because of musical chairs.
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Visiting the aquarium, Jessica observes
a fish she recognizes from her studies |
The trip to the aquarium was the final step in the teaching unit about the ocean. As part of that segment of the school year at ACLAMO, Family Literacy Director Linda Maldonado introduced the children to a special form of musical chairs. When the music began, the children moved around a circle of chairs. On each chair was the picture of an undersea creature. When the music stopped, the children picked up the picture on the nearest chair and sat down. Then Linda asked the children to identify the pictures.
The children enjoyed playing this game again and again and it made their visit to the aquarium more interesting. However it had a larger purpose. It was a part of ACLAMO´s intentional program designed to help the children learn crucial facts about the world around them. This helps them to begin kindergarten on a par with, or even ahead of, other children who have not had this special preparatory experience. The next theme ACLAMO children will study will be fairy tales, to familiarize them with these important stories that help teach so many important life lessons. This unit of study will be capped off with a trip to the Philadelphia Please Touch Museum. |
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The Jenkintown High School Valentine Party
4:00 p.m., February 13th. Some ACLAMO children were finishing homework, a few were reading picture books, but most were sitting in excited groups waiting for what has become an annual event: the arrival of Jenkintown High School teacher Richard Dewiler and his Spanish club students, loaded down with Valentine´s Day crafts and treats.
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Laritza´s valentine
overflows with love! |
The children were not disappointed. The front doors opened and a human wave of high school students swept into the building. As the Jenkintown students set up activity stations, ACLAMO teacher Marla Benssy did her best impression of an Army sergeant and fomed the children into four lines. Then, each line was directed to a different activity station: making Valetine buttons, Valentine cupcakes, Valentine cards or joining several high schoolers in games of sponge ball soccer, musical chairs or freeze tag. As the event moved along, children proceeded from activity to activity until everyone had a chance to try everything.
By the end of the party, the high school students had practiced their Spanish and watched the children laughing and
enjoying the activities. The children were proudly sporting buttons and cards for folks at home. The cupcakes also went home -- either on paper plates or in happy tummies! |
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Dr. Suzanne Long Participates in ACLAMO´s
STEM Curriculum
When Dr. Suzanne Long spoke to the ACLAMO children in February about her work as a radiologist, she was part of the ongoing program designed to increase our students' familiarity with STEM topics (see last month's Newsletter).
STEM, which is an acronym standing for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, is a focus of educational policy in Pennsylvania and across the nation. Over 80 children come to ACLAMO´s Norristown site for after school help with homework and focused reading and mathematics development. Presentations based on STEM are included in this experience. School Age Program Director, Marla Benssy explains, "ACLAMO wants its children to be familiar with and embrace STEM topics when they encounter them in school. It is important that the children catch the vision of pursuing study and careers in fields related to STEM. We also want students to recognize that they are not limited by their background or gender. To underscore this, one female student excitedly said, "I didn't know a girl could be a doctor?!'"
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Brian and Brittney are facinated by
an x-ray film showing a bone fracture |
A physician at Jefferson University Hospital, Dr. Long talked to the students about her job as a radiologist and showed them x-rays of various parts of the human body. The children were fascinated as they passed around the x-rays identifying bones and even fractures. Impressed by the children's knowledge and curiosity, Dr. Long's response to us was "Thank you for inviting me! What smart children you have!" |
Plymouth Meeting Friends School and ACLAMO Team Up
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Leann Stover Nyce, Varly Paul, Genevieve Schmidt Camacho and Gladys McLendon
(Not pictured: PMFS parent Lela Betts) |
Last fall's parent-teacher conferences provided an opportunity for ACLAMO to work with Plymouth Meeting Friends School and Joseph Leaf, ESL Coordinator for the Norristown Area School District, to provide interpretation assistance for conferences with Latino parents who speak limited English. ACLAMO arranged with Sarah Sweeney-Denham, Interim Head of School at Plymouth Meeting Friends School, to send a volunteer team of four bilingual PMFS teachers and staff, as well as a PMFS parent, to be oriented and trained by Joe Leaf and his staff. The PMFS group then visited three middle and elementary schools to meet with NASD teachers and approximately 50 Latino families. "Although the school district has some Spanish-speaking staff members, meeting the demand for interpretation for individual parent-teacher conferences becomes a huge challenge," states Joe Leaf, "so the volunteer interpretation by the PMFS group proved invaluable in helping Latino parents learn about the progress of their children." "As educators, we all understand the importance of the home-school connection, and translating for NASD families helped us contribute to strengthening that connection," recalls Genevieve Schmidt Camacho, a PMFS staff member. "We also loved the opportunity to further our ongoing partnership with ACLAMO." ACLAMO hopes to build on this successful experience to coordinate other efforts to provide interpretation and translation services in a variety of settings. |
Personal Profile: Richard Detwiler
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Richard Detwiler, Edith Guay (left and second from left) and their
Jenkintown students assemble after coordinating the Valentine´s Day party |
When Richard Detwiler was in first grade, he was fascinated by his aunt and uncle, who lived in Peru and spoke Spanish. He determined that he wanted to be able to speak like they did.
Although he obtained degrees in other academic fields, his fascination with languages followed Richard through Dartmouth College and Southern Methodist University. Using his Spanish, he has also studied in Mexico and for an extended period in northern Spain. In the USA, his work has enriched the lives of thousands of people through ESL instruction, the coordination of refugee resettlement programs, and directing of the Indian Valley Opportunity Center in Souderton, Pennsylvania. It was as director of the latter program that he first met Adamino Ortiz, one of the founders of ACLAMO. Adamino convinced Richard to join the Board of ACLAMO, where he served for 16 years, includng several as Treasurer.
For the last nine years, Richard has brought his rich experience to the language program at Jenkintown High School, where he teaches Spanish. Along with Edith Guay, who teaches French, Richard is sponsor of the World Language Honor Society at Jenkintown. It was the students in that group who organized this February´s Valentine´s Day party for the children of ACLAMO.
ACLAMO is blessed to have a person of Richard´s experience and ability as one of its most faithful supporters. |
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ACLAMO celebrates its 36th year of providing economic, educational, health and cultural opportunities for low-income residents of Norristown and Pottstown, especially those of Spanish language heritage.
ACLAMO stands for Acción Comunal Latinoamericana de Montgomery County, or Latin American Community Action of Montgomery County. ACLAMO is derived from the Spanish word "aclamar," which means "to acclaim."
ACLAMO Family Centers ACLAMO Family Centers
512 W. Marshall Street 515 Walnut Street
Norristown, PA 19401 Pottstown, PA 19464
610-277-2570 610-970-2134
aclamo.org
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