Twice a week as many as 36 students meet for 3½ hours in the evening. It’s a big time commitment with many of the students coming straight from jobs or taking care of their children. The evening is spent in four disciplines: listening, speaking, reading and writing. A lively jazz chant often starts the evening. *

Hi. How are you?
I am fine.
How’s your wife?
She’s fine.
How are the kids?
They’re fine.
How’s the job?
It’s fine.
How’s Joe?
He’s sick.
Oh no!

Later, the students may break into small groups to work on speaking or work individually on writing assignments. At least once a week they head to the computer lab to use their English skills in Internet research. Frequently students ask questions that require Sr. Katherine to become a detective. One student asked her what a "bear in the hole" was. Knowing that Ephraim worked in a machine shop Sr. Katherine was able to figure out that he was referring to a "ball bearing."

After 15 years of teaching English as a second language, Sr. Katherine can tell you her students are some of the most dedicated that she’s run across in all her years of teaching. "They come from all over the globe and are so hard-working and motivated to learn English. They are grateful for the opportunity to become part of life in the United States."

Sr. Katherine believes she's doing what St. Julie would do. "I'm helping people learn for life. Giving them survival skills. It's exciting when they start getting involved in the wider community. I love to hear 'I got a better job!' or 'I just became a citizen!' or 'Now I can talk to my children's teachers.'"

Her students' enthusiasm sparks Sr. Katherine’s energy to continue teaching into "her retirement years."

* "Jazz chanting is a rhythmic presentation of natural language, linking the rhythms of spoken American English to the rhythms of traditional American jazz." - Carolyn Graham, ESL teacher and jazz musician and creator of jazz chants.

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