BELMONT 2023-2024 ESL begins September 12, 2023
eslinfo@belmontumc.org

English classes for adults 18 and older

REGISTER NOW! Class sizes are limited.

NOTE: If you were a Belmont ESL student in spring of 2023, contact your teacher. You do not need to contact the website.

Beginning/Intermediate/Advanced level classes
Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:00 to Noon

Higher level Conversation Class
Mondays 10:30 to Noon

COST OF PROGRAM
Registration fee: $35
Student book: $35

COVID POLICY
All teachers have received the current Covid BIVALENT vaccine. It is strongly recommended that students and volunteers be up to date on the COVID BIVALENT booster. A flu vaccination is also strongly suggested.

CHILDCARE
Childcare is not provided.

HOW DO I SIGN UP OR GET MORE INFORMATION?
Registration will be ONLINE only.
There is no in person registration.
Contact eslinfo@belmontumc.org
Please include:
If you have taken English in the past.
If you have attended Belmont ESL in the past, who was your teacher.
A telephone number where you can be reached.
Do you prefer email or text.

ESL History at Belmont UMC

More than 50 years ago, Nashvillians saw a need to offer English classes for the city’s growing immigrant community. Belmont UMC opened its doors then and has enthusiastically supported the adult ESL program since. It provides space for classes and supports the program, and several of the volunteer teachers and classroom aides are members of Belmont UMC.

During the pandemic, classes continued remotely via Zoom, and some classes offered a hybrid Zoom and in-person format until 2022 when in-person classes resumed in the fall. Enrollment is around 50 for the 2022-2023 school year.

Multiple languages and cultures are represented by the student body, a fact that makes for rich discussions and learning opportunities. Some classes sponsor field trips to Nashville landmarks like the Public Library downtown or Fort Negley Civil war site.

Classes focus on English language learning through conversation, writing, and speaking with a strong emphasis on grammar and learning American culture. Multiple students have used Belmont ESL classes as a springboard for more advanced English classes, the pursuit of higher education, or a foundation for a GED.

Each semester, students begin classes as strangers with diverse backgrounds and languages but end the time together as friends.

Belmont ESL Program Calendar

Each year, ESL classes get underway after Labor Day and continue with breaks until May of the next school year. Following are special events that help define the ESL Calendar:

Thanksgiving celebration – A potluck dinner at Belmont featuring international foods from students and traditional Thanksgiving foods from teachers and volunteers. One of the highlights is the annual parading of the turkey.

Holiday parties – Classes learn winter holiday carols and share food and fun

Field trips – Individual classes may sponsor field trips to museums such as the Ellington Agricultural Center, the Nashville Public Library, or the Parthenon at Centennial Park.

Writers’ Showcase – Students write essays each spring as classroom exercises, and Independent judges choose writing samples that are shared at an April celebration banquet.

2023 ESL student authors celebrated

Belmont UMC celebrated the writing and storytelling skills of more than a dozen English as a Second Language (ESL) students whose essays were chosen to be read aloud at the Belmont ESL Writes! event in April. This is the first time the program recognized the writers in an annual gathering since 2019, before the pandemic cancelled two years of class gatherings.

The students’ stories were selected to be read aloud by independent reviewers, volunteers read the essays to fellow students, church staff, community guests, and former students and teachers. These stories have been put into a booklet that can be read or downloaded at belmontumc.org/outreach/english-classes.

The Belmont ESL Volunteer of the Year Award for 2023 went to Patsy Lanigan, who assists in the classroom and goes out of her way to lift up ESL students.

Read or download the Belmont Writers Showcase Book 2023.

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ESL writers finish booklet

Belmont English as a Second Language (ESL) students in the Level 5 class of Jane DuBose and Dick Bowers recently shared stories and photos of their hometowns. The work has been assembled into the ESL_Level5_HometownStories booklet. The stories describe hometowns from students and teachers encompassing four continents and multiple childhood experiences.

The ESL program is back again this semester through a combination of in-person, online, and hybrid classes taught on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Volunteers teach English language, culture, current events, and more. Beginning classes are led by Christy Perkey and intermediate classes by Mary Jane Duke. A separate conversation ESL group meets Tuesdays under the leadership of Sally Tiven.

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ESL Level 5 students participate in a cooking lesson in the spring of 2021.

ESL Writes

Following are examples of student writing from previous ESL Showcases.

Helping Each Other

Do not judge people you do not know. Every person has talents. Give them opportunity to show the different things they can do. Help them make this world great and different. God makes people with different talents, colors, and races. The world needs differences.

I like to compare people as if they were a big salad in which everyone needs everyone else. Salads need different kinds of lettuce and different kinds of fruits to taste good. If the world doesn’t have different people, it is not our world. Some can be architects, doctors, teachers, or farmers. We all need each other.

Please give opportunity to every person to become a part of our society. Help them get an education that will open their minds so they don’t worry about color, race, or where they come from. May God bless you and help you open your mind about how you think about people.

Margarita Monterroso, Guatemala
Belmont ESL, Nashville, Tennessee

Ecology and Global Warming

When you speak of global warming, there are two categories of people. Some are skeptical, but others believe in it. Ninety-seven percent of climatology researchers think that global warming is real and worrying.

Donald Trump, the U.S. president-elect, is a climate skeptic. He doesn’t believe in global warming and its consequences. During his campaign, he called it a hoax.

The big powers of our world meet together regularly to find common solutions to preserve our planet. Agreements have been signed. But Trump says he wants out from the agreements that were signed by the USA and others. The agreements commit countries to be responsible for the survival of our planet. For example, the USA is responsible for 15 percent of the global carbon dioxide gas emissions.

For me, global warming is the biggest challenge of the coming years. That is because it concerns not only the American people, but people like me who come from different parts of the world. Doing something about global warming is a common responsibility because our planet belongs to all of us.

Laetitia Jacquemet, Switzerland
Belmont ESL, Nashville, Tennessee

Belmont Writer’s Showcase 

On April 28, these students told their stories at Belmont UMC’s annual ESL Writer’s Showcase event. It was a time to encourage, recognize, and celebrate Nashville’s multicultural population.

Click here to see more photos from the event on our Facebook page. Photos by Nicho Young

Levels One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Conversational

Classes are held from September through May.

Belmont ESL is a multi-level ESL program offering five classes from beginning to advanced.

Students are assessed at registration to determine correct placement. We work hard to make sure that students are placed in the best level for their speaking and writing abilities.

Curriculum used includes Ventures, New Interchange, Azar English Grammar, Oxford Picture Dictionary.

Belmont English News

Belmont ESL videos get “two thumbs up!”

Seen any good movies this summer? Here’s your chance not only to catch some heart-warming stories with an international flair but also to learn a little about some of our ESL students who attend Belmont’s ESL program from September to May. Several students have spent time this summer working with WNPT/Next Door Neighbors Storytellers director Shawn Anfinson. The students recorded their stories and then were loaned an iPad to create videos, download pictures, and create a short documentary.

Among many other stories, you can hear about Margarita’s home country of Guatemala, where opportunities for personal and financial growth were limited. Here in the USA, she and her husband are painting a different picture for themselves. You’ll meet hardworking Mariano who loves it here in Nashville. He is now learning English to help him adjust to life in America.

See these and more at www.wnpt.org/storytellers.