Cooking up community: Library’s free program brings together literacy, food

Food is locality and connection This is the philosophy Shayla Felton-Dorsey uses as the chef at the Free Library of Philadelphia s Edible Alphabet effort The once-a-week three-hour class teaches English vocabulary phrases and conversation skills to participants while also cooking dishes and learning more about the ingredients The plan offers participants the opportunity to learn about other cultures and apply this knowledge to Philadelphia I would say the activity is unique because of the connection to the locality Felton-Dorsey commented I love that when everyone comes in they speak in English and they re like My English is no good and I m like I understood you perfectly Chef Shayla Felton-Dorsey assists two English language learners as they prepare a rice dish during class Photo courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia and its Culinary Literacy Center The pre-cooking scheme Edible Alphabet has been offered since It has two goals announced Lindsay Southworth the senior plan manager of adult instruction and language learning at The Free Library of Philadelphia The main goals of the campaign are to help participants grow their English skills and feel more confident in English communication learn more about the library and feel ownership over the different library support and that these are things that they can access that they can tell their friends and their family and their district and their neighbors about it Southworth reported It is also to help people build society and connections in Philadelphia whether they re new to the city or they ve lived here for a multitude of years but are working on their English skills and their society connections It s a really central part of the class The operation fosters connection between English language learners of all backgrounds Photo courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia and its Culinary Literacy Center The operation has several offerings throughout the year and at various locations One eight-week virtual class for example allows participants to pick up grocery kits from library locations to cook in their homes while participating in the class via Zoom One of the greater part popular programs is the six-week series which is offered at several library locations including Parkway Central Library in Center City On a latest Tuesday morning Billy Penn attended one of these sessions The class starts with icebreaker-style questions Southworth explained the questions are often food-related So you might have a class that starts out with around-the-room introductions and we re all sharing our name and where we re from and our favorite food and then we go into selected English conversation exercises where you re turning with a partner and you re talking about what you had for breakfast and introducing yourself she reported Classes often begin with lists of ingredients measurements and questions on the whiteboard Photo courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia and its Culinary Literacy Center In this class participants from around the room explained where they were from whether they enjoyed cooking at home and where they like to shop for groceries Participants declared they had come to Philly from all over the world including India Iran Lebanon Ecuador and Morocco Part of the practice is sharing English as the common language and learning to communicate and cook in this way Southworth noted So there s a lot of great population building and practical English learning that s happening while they re working on the recipe together she stated And often the only language that they share to communicate in is English and so they re having to do this sort of complex group task in English Participants go around the room explaining their favorite grocery stores and introducing themselves Photo courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia and its Culinary Literacy Center After sharing favorite groceries honorable mentions for Trader Joe s Shoprite and Costco plan leaders wrote down the lesson s vocabulary including ingredient names measurement types and tools used to cook The recipe was vegetable jollof rice a dish popular in countless Western African countries By reading the recipe round robin style participants and chef Felton-Dorsey talked through words such as add dice cut and mix Felton-Dorsey explained that these pre-cooking exercises are a few of the largest part critical parts of class We re just using the English language and prompts focusing on the literacy aspect like the conversation and the process over products she reported The meals After partner and group exercises to learn more about each other and the day s dish groups get to work cooking This is when the venture really starts cooking pun intended That s one of the project-based opportunities for learners to really get into their English skills in talking with their squad about what the policies are for the recipe who s going to do what and if they need to make modifications Southworth announced Cooking engages the whole group during class Photo courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia and its Culinary Literacy Center For example she announced participants can adjust the spice level of dishes by putting less or none of a particular ingredient in or they can make adjustments for dietary restrictions or preferences For the vegetable jollof rice group members got to chopping onions and garlic pureeing tomatoes and peppers assembling vegetable stock with rice and bringing all the ingredients to a simmer Group members get to work preparing their rice and plantain dishes Photo courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia and its Culinary Literacy Center While waiting for the simmering ingredients participants sat back down to participate in a few role-playing exercises This lesson included example questions participants may ask grocery employees such as Where is the tomato paste Then participants get to enjoy their creations Three participants share their finished product Photo courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia and its Culinary Literacy Center We often get back in our groups and do sort of a finishing touch for the dish and then share lunch together Southworth reported And that s another great time to do the informal language practice conversation as we re eating On this morning the groups fried plantains to add to their dishes as the rice finished simmering and they then tried their creations Throughout their lunch group members got up to sample the other groups dishes and exchange contact information Each class ends with particular kind of library mini lesson Southworth stated That might be a field trip to the part of the library where you get library cards and people who have library cards will explain what they do with it and people who don t have library cards will fill out the application and get their card she noted Or we will do a field trip to the children s section and get to talk to the children s librarian about what guidance there are and if that is going to be relevant to the learners for themselves if they re parents or maybe something they re going to share with their sibling or their neighbor or their cousin Filling unique demands By the end of the scheme there is normally a potluck for participants to share their own cultural dishes Felton-Dorsey explained this is a great opportunity for participants to learn more about each others cultures and bring them together You see the confidence building within the language learners and a deeper enrichment to Philadelphia because as the weeks go on we have a potluck at our last class so they can bring in their tradition and their ethnicity if they choose to she explained All the facilitators get to share and then we eat together so it s really a community-building aspect which I love Participants networked throughout class and provided information to each other through English communication Photo courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia and its Culinary Literacy Center While rare Southworth noted the model gets high marks as a tool for learning English We get so much feedback from participants that it s really effective and that the cooking and the locality and the project-based aspect of it really helps people who maybe studied English in their home country she revealed And so they may have specific academic knowledge but the speaking is the hardest part and it s the last part to come It s the part where you re like I could conjugate a verb on a piece of paper so good if you gave it to me but it s really hard to just like turn to someone on the bus and start a conversation Edible Alphabet is helpful to participants in honing their ability to participate in spontaneous conversation or small talk People are cooking and they re feeling good and they re connecting and it makes them more reassured to take the menace and try to communicate and get the conversation flowing Southworth revealed She adds that the scheme is especially critical for participants who live in lower-income areas and might not have the financial means to pay for programs that offer these guidance People are needing their money for basic necessities and sometimes tuition is not something that people have extra funds for she explained And I think just the library being funded by taxpayers and the activity being supported by donations and grants makes us able to offer this free effort which is a really crucial value and principle for all of us here at the library And for participants and campaign leaders alike Southworth stated it is inspiring to see the skills English language learners develop during the class Sitting with a textbook in a traditional classroom can only take you so far and when you re living your life in Philadelphia what you need more than a perfect grasp of grammar is just that practice of communicating with a stranger who becomes not a stranger because you were able to take that liability to communicate with them she reported The campaign is offered at Parkway Central Library in Center City Lillian Marrero Library in North Philadelphia and Northeast Regional Library in Northeast Philadelphia as well as the virtual option The library is working on adding more information to sign up but interested participants can learn more at the library website and sign up via this form The post Cooking up society Library s free project brings together literacy food appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY