SOUTH DEERFIELD — “Wedding anniversary,” Michael Pollitt, a volunteer with the Center for New Americans, said aloud, while writing the same two words in black marker on a dry erase board propped up against a chair inside the children’s section of the Tilton Library.
He turned back to his two students, one of whom is from Guatemala, the other from Mexico, and explained what the words mean.
Each Thursday evening for the past two years, starting at 6:30 and ending around 7:45, Pollitt has led a free English conversation circle for immigrants to the United States, who are learning English as a second language.
“I love language, so it’s a natural fit for me,” he said before the meeting, about why he volunteers each week. “It’s very enjoyable.”
He said the classes, which are free to the public, are targeted at adults who don’t have the opportunity to practice English elsewhere.
“The adults don’t have much chance to practice,” he explained. “In many of the immigrants’ homes, they want to speak their native language.”
On this particular Thursday, two women (who declined to give their names) sat on small chairs practicing English around a round table with Pollitt and Alice Armen, another volunteer who began coming to the conversation circles about a year ago, as the students’ children played quietly among the bookshelves.
“You guys did so well,” Armen commented to the students, about the previous week’s meeting, “it shows how much you know already.”
Pollitt, who was born in New Zealand and works at the Center for New Americans teaching a distance learning class, said the weekly conversations are meant as a supplement to English classes.
“Right now, all three people in the class are also in classes at GCC,” he said. Greenfield Community College has English for non-native speaker classes.
“As much as I try to steer it to conversation, they become classes,” he said of his sessions, adding that he tries to incorporate a little bit of grammar in each meeting.
According to the Center for New American’s website, the organization “provides the under-served immigrant, refugee and migrant communities of the … Pioneer Valley with education and resources to learn English, become involved community members and obtain tools necessary to maintain economic independence and stability.”
The conversation Thursday was light and fun, focused more on engagement than instruction. Pollitt seemed genuinely interested in the lives of his students, and asked questions to keep them talking.
At least two of his students work long hours in the fields six days per week for local farms, have families to take care of on top of that, and still make an effort to come to the meetings.
“Almost all the students I meet, I’m so amazed at the hours they put in. Not only to work, but to learn the language after,” Pollitt said. Class size averages about three people per week, but fluctuates based on the season.
“They’re mostly all farm workers,” he continued. “When the spring comes, they almost all disappear.”
Pollitt has a background in psychology and business, and started the classes as an offshoot of the Center for New American’s Greenfield English learning program, which he was involved with for a few years prior to starting the South Deerfield program beginning in 2015.
Anyone who is interested in either volunteering or attending the conversation circle can visit the Center for New Americans website and find more information at: www.cnam.org
You can reach Andy Castillo at: acastillo@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 263
On Twitter: @AndyCCastillo