#542: PS 138 in Brooklyn: a good experience :McAlister comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Elizabeth McAlister <emcalister@mail.wesleyan.edu>

The talk of Haitian education prompts me to report that when our little
girl arrived from Haiti at age 9, she started at PS 138, in Brooklyn's Bed
Sty neighborhood.  I was sure it would be violent and prepared for the
worst.  What we found, however, was a bilingual program in Kreyol and
English, run by hard-working Haitian educators who had struggled long
years to create this veritable oasis.  The program was smart, caring and
sensitive.  Ti-Loune walked home each day talking about her heroine,
teacher Madame Lalane, and she ironed her clothes to wear the next day!
The other children were just like her, and that was priceless, I see now
from our Connecticut perspective.  Ti-Loune learned English effortlessly.
I just hope that program still exists.  A wonderful program that nurtured
parents and children alike.  I still remember the potluck meal prepared by
parents and teachers after the school play, "ti pye zoranj."  
 
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Elizabeth McAlister, Ph.D.
Department of Religion
Wesleyan University
Middletown, Ct  06459-0029
Tel:  (860) 685-2289
Fax:  (860) 685-2821

email:    emcalister@wesleyan.edu



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