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

Food is area and connection This is the philosophy Shayla Felton-Dorsey uses as the chef at the Free Library of Philadelphia s Edible Alphabet project 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 activity offers participants the opportunity to learn about other cultures and apply this knowledge to Philadelphia I would say the project is unique because of the connection to the group Felton-Dorsey reported 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 operation Edible Alphabet has been offered since It has two goals commented Lindsay Southworth the senior operation manager of adult learning and language learning at The Free Library of Philadelphia The main goals of the scheme 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 materials 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 noted It is also to help people build area and connections in Philadelphia whether they re new to the city or they ve lived here for a large number of years but are working on their English skills and their region connections It s a really critical part of the class The scheme fosters connection between English language learners of all backgrounds Photo courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia and its Culinary Literacy Center The initiative 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 chosen English conversation events where you re turning with a partner and you re talking about what you had for breakfast and introducing yourself she stated 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 announced 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 explained So there s a lot of great society building and practical English learning that s happening while they re working on the recipe together she noted 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 undertaking 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 particular of the majority significant 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 revealed 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 plan 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 company about what the efforts are for the recipe who s going to do what and if they need to make modifications Southworth mentioned Cooking engages the whole group during class Photo courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia and its Culinary Literacy Center For example she commented 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 particular 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 revealed 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 certain kind of library mini lesson Southworth declared 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 commented 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 requirements By the end of the effort there is normally a potluck for participants to share their own cultural dishes Felton-Dorsey noted 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 way of life 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 remarkable Southworth announced 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 society and the project-based aspect of it really helps people who maybe studied English in their home country she stated 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 assured to take the liability and try to communicate and get the conversation flowing Southworth explained She adds that the project is especially essential for participants who live in lower-income areas and might not have the financial means to pay for programs that offer these tools People are needing their money for basic requirements and sometimes mentoring is not something that people have extra funds for she commented And I think just the library being funded by taxpayers and the venture being supported by donations and grants makes us able to offer this free effort which is a really vital value and principle for all of us here at the library And for participants and venture leaders alike Southworth noted it is inspiring to see the skills English language learners develop during the unit 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 menace to communicate with them she declared The venture 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 operation brings together literacy food appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY