LaGuardia English Language Coordinator, and Volunteers, Recognized as NY1’s Queens People of the Week
NY1 recently honored Margaret Culhane, TELC’s Language Clinic Coordinator, and the volunteers who work with English language learners through the program, as Queens People of the Week.
Each year, Culhane seeks outapprox. 100-150 volunteers to work with between 1500 and 1800 English language learners in small group conversation and one-on-one writing tutoring sessions at the Center’s ESL Practice Program (formerly called the Language Clinic).
Said Elizabeth Iannotti, director of TELC, “Ms. Culhane runs our very demanding tutoring center, interviewing volunteer tutors, training them, matching them with students in pairs (for writing support) or groups (for speaking support. She has an incredible knack for determining each student’s needs and each tutor’s strengths, and making a pair or group that collaborates well for our eight week tutoring cycle… It is noteworthy that our day student population is a combination of international and immigrant students aged 18 to 60 from over 80 countries. She handles this diversity handily, making it all come together to create tremendous extracurricular learning opportunities for our students. In spite of the stress of her position, she makes every student and volunteer tutor feel welcome and valued. The atmosphere she creates at the tutoring sessions is one of caring and support, even while having high expectations on all of those who participate.”
See the NY1 story here: Queens People of the Week Help Immigrants Achieve American Dream
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