1. Sleyko 1
Katie Sleyko
Case Study of the English Language Learning Center in Skokie
LIS 758, Fall

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Introduction
The schools of Niles Township are host to an incredible diversity of students, whose
immigrant and refugee parents are unfamiliar with both English and American school customs.
The English Language Learning Center aims to educate these parents and provide community
and social empowerment for both students and parents. To look into these effects, I observed
several classes and interviewed the director of the center, Corrie Wallace. I found some
inequalities in the ways that ICTs and digital information are presented, but found that offline
community building and social capital effects to have made an impact. As the center is under
five years old, there are few longitudinal statistics on its impact; however, anecdotal accounts
and statistics on discipline in the schools can be interpreted to show some immediate effects of
the ELL center.
Skokie History, History of the Center
The Niles Township School District 219 is a high school district on the north side of
Chicago, fed by the suburbs Morton Grove, Niles, Lincolnwood, and Skokie. Though many of
these suburbs fit the stereotype of a northern suburb—well-off and majority-white—Skokie is an
exception. The village of Skokie hosts one of the largest immigrant and refugee populations
outside of Chicago, with 30,000 of it 68,000 residents having been born in a different country.1
These immigrants and refugees speak 100 languages between them,2 and 15,000 of Skokie
residents cannot speak English very well. 3
1
(U.S. Census Bureau n.d.)
2
(skokielibrary.info 2010)
3
(U.S. Census Bureau n.d.)

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Skokie provides many services for immigrants and refugees, though these are scattered in
many places around the village. These range from free ESL classes at the community college, to
family services at the elementary and middle schools, to citizenship classes provided by the
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. 4 A problem with these services, though, is the lack of in-depth
help and retention of adult students. Students would come to ESL classes and never be heard
from again by the providers, even though they may have been able to help with other concerns or
direct people to different services. This is especially problematic for schools, where parents from
other cultures may be unused to school expectations and processes, and may lack understanding
of how to help their children.
A solution to this came in 2008 with the opening of the English Language Learners
Parent Center, abbreviated to “ELL Center” by users and managers. This center hosts free
classes sponsored by the Niles Township School District and other community partners, allowing
there to be a clearinghouse-type colocation of services for non-English speakers which is easily
accessible to parents within the school district. This allowed the center to capitalize on the
relationship between immigrants and refugees and trusted service providers, such as the
community college and by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and combine them with strong
bonds to the schools and school district through their children. Because of this, the center has
grown in three years much larger than an unaffiliated community center might have in the same
amount of time, with 500 parents in the area having used an ELL Center service.5
The mission of the center is to increase parent literacy, allow better access to community
resources, and to educate parents as a model for their children.6 The ELL center focuses on
4
(Wallace 2010)
5
(Wallace 2010)
6
(Niles Township's ELL Parent Center n.d.)

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“survival-based programming,”7 meaning that the goal is for the parents to be able to understand
the national and local environment as well as needed services. This focus on both the ease of
access and the strong focus on education is hoped to improve the schoolwork of children of ELL
Center students, as well as increase community, access to social services and culture, and social
power for those parents who participate. The center’s goals align well with theories of
community engagement and social capital, especially in the using of existing social networks—
here, between immigrants/refugees and service providers—to strengthen the ties between
immigrants and the school system.
Management of center
The ELL Center was opened under the management of Corrie Wallace, a teacher and
social worker. The location, staff, and budget of the Center are under the direct control of
District 68, though the center is governed by the superintendents of all Niles Township School
District schools. The center is sponsored and funded by 8 of the 10 school districts that feed into
the Niles Township School District, including many elementary and middle schools. Each of the
participating school districts funds the ELL Center $12.50 per ELL Center student. This allows
enough money in the budget for a small staff and some classes, which are currently those classes
requested by students that use volunteer teachers and equipment that ELL Center owns. Most
programs, however, are funded through other community partners who either have grants, like
the Morton Grove and Skokie Public Libraries, or use the space for already-funded programs,
such as ESL through Oakton Community College.
Physical Description of Center
The location is easily accessible, a strong benefit in a center committed to access. The
center is located in a small building owned by District 68 near Golf and Gross Point Road. This
7
(Niles Township's ELL Parent Center n.d.)

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places it within walking distance of the Skokie Hospital, Niles North High School, and Old
Orchard Mall, a common stop on Skokie bus routes. It is on the property of a District 68 middle
school. Located in the hub of such commercial, health and academic activity, the center is
extremely hard to miss.
Access to the center itself is mediated, requiring being buzzed in by the secretary to enter.
Inside, the center’s main room acts as both its entrance hall and class space. The secretary’s
desk is in this room, facing the doorway, and piled high with brochures and community
information for students to take. Three rooms branch off of this one, all with large glass windows
facing the entry. These function as the children’s playroom, a computer lab, and the main office
of the director. The children’s room contains a TV for children’s movies, which are usually
played, it seems, when the majority of the children brought to the center are too young to have
homework. The computer lab contains ten computers, which are all ten-year-old Dells, and one
printer. This lab is used only for classes, not open for everyday use.
The walls of the classroom/entry space contain Illinois Board of Education information
translated into a dozen languages, as well as a bulletin board with outside services and events
advertised. On the secretary’s desk are legal brochures, in both Spanish and English, advertising
low-cost legal services, next to lists of Village of Skokie department phone numbers. There are
internet job search handouts, parenting magazines, and lists of non-English-language speaking
professionals in the area. Bookshelves in the room are full of Skokie Library reference materials
and paperbacks owned by the center. Titles on citizenship, money management, and the SAT sit
next to student dictionaries, James Patterson potboilers, and Algebra textbooks. Brochures from
class partners such as Oakton and Skokie library fill another bookshelf, along with route maps of
PACE buses.

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The ELL Center focuses on offline sources of information, and in the amount of text it
provides, they are excelling. The amount of printed information, while mostly in English, does
provide huge amounts of resources and information to English language learners. One of the
goals of the center, as articulated by Corrie Wallace, is to be able to provide information in the
language of all the languages of students there; though with the amount of languages spoken by
ELL center users numbers numbering 468, this task may be Sisyphean.
Classes
The center hosts free classes and events designed for a non-citizen, non-English speaking
audience. English as a Second Language classes have been with the center since the beginning.
These come in both reading and conversation classes, as well as one-on-one tutoring. Citizenship
classes and speakers on many immigration topics are popular and very sought-after. Parenting
classes are offered on a variety of topics, from infant development and play to teen-parent
mediation. Every class provides free childcare, either through a multilingual staff member, or, in
the case of the class “Positive Parenting and Homework Help,” through a variety of high-
schoolers acting as tutors. The focus of the ELL Center, though, stays on the parents, so varieties
of options for children are not available nor are of much concern for the center.
A variety of events and classes aimed at general social participation are offered as well.
Money management and United States banking system classes are offered in the spring.
Financial aid and college seminars, aimed at both children and adults, are provided. Computer
classes and blogging classes have proven popular. There have been many “field trips” where
parents learn to use public transportation and how to look up bus routes on the PACE website.
Health education seminars have been useful in both spreading awareness about the US medical
system and in helping parents understand health forms and waivers from their children’s schools.
8
(Wallace 2010)

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There are also job search presentations and job placement services provided through immigrant
labor groups such as Upwardly Global.
Research Methods
For this case study, I decided that direct observation would be the best way to evaluate
this site. As supplements to this, I read a blog created by an earlier English class and I looked up
statistics from the Niles Township School District. I sat in on several classes and interviewed
Corrie Wallace, the director of the center. I sat in on three different classes, all held on different
days: Family Literacy and Tea and Talk, both basic English programs, and a basic computer
skills class. I also observed a meeting held at the center, revolving around creating an accredited
interpreter program, called Language Ambassadors, through multilingual volunteers at District
73.5 middle schools. I was introduced to the classes and the meeting near the end of each session,
though I tried to be open about my outsider status by talking to instructors in English while in the
presence of students before classes began. I was placed in a position where I could not see the
screens of students in the computer skills class. I did not interview any students, but I was given
anecdotal information on the impact of programs by some teachers. I recorded some interesting
remarks made by bilingual parents and teachers within the Language Ambassadors meeting, but
these were unprompted and these parents were aware of my status as an observer.
Interview with Director Corrie Wallace
I interviewed Corrie Wallace, the director of the ELL Center, on the 17th of November.
She has first-hand experience of being a lingual and social outsider in a foreign country. For two
years, she lived in Japan with her husband and children. Her children went to Japanese schools,
where she was supposed to help with her children’s homework. Being illiterate in Japanese, she
would tell her children to write at least a page in Japanese for their assignments, and when the

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paper was filled, the “work” was done. When Wallace came back to the states in 2007, she
proposed a way to get non-English speaking people involved in the community—use the schools.
The Village voted to fund it, and the ELL Center was born in 2008. Though she runs the center,
she also interprets Spanish for parents, often going around the Village where her services are
needed. She credits the purposeful diversity of Skokie for the success of the center, saying that
the Village had to believe that non-English speaker’s isolation from their children’s schooling to
be a problem to want to fund the center in the first place.
One of the main goals of the center is to ease the burden off of children, Wallace says.
Children raised in the US by non-English speaking parents are very often used as translators,
putting the children into a uniquely difficult position. Parenting classes are used by the center as
ways to teach American expectations and to provide for families who may be in need. The class
“The Learning Basket,” for example, provides education on developmental stages for parents,
and gives away a free developmentally-appropriate toy with each session.
Though interested in the longevity of the center, Wallace takes the center’s “survival-
based” mission to heart. She has also had many parents come to her after taking classes, telling
her that they want to help in creating or teaching classes. Though she likes the base of volunteers
and potential translators, her goal is not to make parents into teachers, but to get access and use
of the center to any parent that needs it, often extending to picking up and driving reluctant
parents to the center herself. Though turnover of students into teachers is important to the
longevity and sustainability of the center, Wallace seems to be focused on putting out fires, so to
speak, than in putting down roots.
Eventually, Wallace says, she wants the center to be a community hub for all groups of
non-English speakers, and wants for children to be fluent in both their parent’s native language

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and English. Preserving diversity is important in keeping the open character of Skokie, she
believes. Keeping the identities of the communities distinct but co-mingling can provide a new
sort of cultural exchange, one that can give community members access to social power and
social capital without having to give up their past. Williamson writes about e-democracy built on
such places, especially those outside of the current political systems; allowing for exchange to
occur and to build can create incredible political power within communities and create change. 9
Internet connections and ICT use
Though occurring the latest in my time observing at the center, the basic computer skills
class links most closely with research on community informatics impact in communities, being
focused on spreading ICT use within the community. The class focuses on ground-level internet
skills, such as using search engines, sending email, and finding files saved to the computer. This
class was sparsely attended when I visited, due to recurring inclement weather. Five women and
one man attended. The teacher told me in an aside that those there were on the “slow track” of
the class and needed extra help. The class consisted of practicing saving files from the internet to
the desktop and attaching them to email messages.
In this class, people in the same language groups sat next to each other, to give help in
their native languages. The class was delivered in English, and students seemed to be near-fluent
in it, as they made conversation with each other during class in English with those outside of
their language group. The one exception was one woman who needed the instructor to speak her
in her native language, as she was apparently confused on names of items, and she took notes
extensively in a notebook.
Students in the class had differing levels of immersion into email. The one man in the
class, who I was told joined the class several weeks late, was telling the instructor which video
9
(Williamson 2006)

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chat clients he used to talk to his family. Another woman had used her email extensively since
signing up for the class-required account, talking to people around the globe. Two women, who
seemed to speak between themselves in a language no one else in the class shared, had never sent
an email, even the ones they were supposed to send each other at the end of the lesson as practice.
There was additional difficulty with the concept of search bars versus address bars, and some
people forgot how to log into their email. Even so, by the end of class the instructor had to
admonish some students for attaching too many pictures to their email.
Though the class was certainly helpful for those enrolled, I could not help but wonder at
the level of English proficiency required to use the class effectively. The class was delivered in
English and using English-exclusive websites, including email clients. Students emails sent to
each other were in English, and the instructor turned these into lessons, asking students to not
send emails until she had corrected them.
This trend of getting students who are nearly fluent in English as the majority of the
computer classes seems to be historical. The basic skills class is in its first incarnation, having
only been offered since September of this year, but an earlier class focused on blogging has left
their class blog up for public viewing.10 The students in this class learned to blog, take digital
pictures, and to shoot, edit and post digital video. This class consisted mostly of women who had
been in the country for many years, the majority of these living here for a decade or longer.11 The
children of these women were all older than 5. Many women were housewives, meaning their
husbands made enough money to allow them to stay home.
Both of these classes seem to suggest that the way that computer training is presented in
the ELL center is a function of social status, rather than of need. The most vocal student in the
10
(Center 2010)
11
(Baran 2010)

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basic computer skills class was a man with a fluent grasp of English, giving him a social edge on
the women in the class. The women in the blogging class were settled in the country, had a
strong grasp on written and spoken English, and were wealthy enough to be able to buy internet
access and laptops if they wanted to practice. These findings were mirrored in Saxena, who
found that women politicians, if simply given computers, did not end up using them, while men
tended to do so.12 Social, educational, and gendered differences made computers that were
simply given to people without training or resources were used most by wealthy men, who
understood the language it displayed, could write in that language, had access to repairs, and had
total control over their own machine. To balance these gaps, one had to go out of their way to
provide training to and feedback from women and other disempowered groups.
In this case, providing access alone does not make for a balanced distribution of
cyberpower. Strategies like bilingual classes, done mostly in the student’s native language with
some English lessons added, could make the difference in the lives of ELL Center users who are
both computer- and English-illiterate. Neither should one wait for English proficiency to happen
while allowing potential opportunities, not the least of which is gaining access to jobs, to fall by
the wayside because English proficiency is required for computer usage.
Basic English Classes
I observed two English classes at the ELL center. One of focused on reading, called
“Family Literacy,” and the other was focused on conversation, called “Tea and Talk.” Both
classes were taught by native English speakers, and it seemed that the teachers for both could
only speak English. Translations were available for the Iraqi students in the Family Literacy
class, as the childcare provider was fluent in what I believe to be Arabic, but there was no such
12
(Saxena 2010)

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person to do this in the Tea and Talk program. There was a majority of women at both events,
with only three men attending Family Literacy and none present at Tea and Talk.
The language groups represented were very diverse. There were some Spanish speakers
in each class. Many Iraqi students were present in the Family Literacy program, most likely
because of the ease of translation available. There was a woman who spoke Cantonese in Family
Literacy, and a woman from China in Tea and Talk. Most students sat with others in their
language group. This seemed to be both because most students within language groups were
friendly with each other and to provide extra help with challenging words.
Both classes try to get students acclimated to American culture and processes, though
they go about this in radically different ways. The Family Literacy class uses a textbook which
divides each chapter into a story about a health-related problem, along with exercises for
comprehension for each story. One chapter deals with getting injured at work, while another
covers how to talk to a doctor through a translator and what each line means on a prescription
slip. Tea and Talk, on the other hand, used American guessing games as a way to remember
vocabulary. The class was lead in several games of hangman and charades, which were new to
all students present. Students picked vocabulary words, place names, or movie titles out of a bag
for each game. This was not universally recognizable for all students, and some had to have the
teacher pull them aside to give them definitions.
Though the students seemed to enjoy the games in the Tea and Talk class, I’m not sure
that knowing more guessing games would help either parents or students. Some of the subjects,
such as movies and place locations, will help students with their children and their handle on US
geography, but the effects of the games would depend upon being in an English-majority social
situation. This may not happen if the parents never take jobs or socialize with native English

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speakers. This does, though, extend the reach of the center past “survival-based skills”, which are
quoted on the center’s website as the primary focus; the question remains, however, about how
useful the skills taught are.
The information given in the Family Literacy class went much farther in providing
information related to both community events and daily life. Many questions received on the
evening I observed were related to how the US medical system works, and they were subjects
that might strike people raised within it as being self-explanatory. The locations one could go to
fill prescriptions, for example, had to be named for students to recall that drugstores like CVS
carried them. Students seemed unfamiliar with the idea of US doctors who could speak their
language, and the instructor promised to provide them lists of people in the area that could.
Information like this may be one-way, but the providing of it allows people to visit doctors that
they are comfortable with and the means to getting lifesaving medication.
There were also informational points made about children, especially the idea that using
them to translate for you at the doctor’s office was a bad idea, due to vocabulary issues.
Information like this saves children from being the only go-between for their parents, reducing
their stress. It also saves them from having to be an authority for their parents rather than vice
versa, which is a problem that Wallace wants to eliminate through her center.
Language Ambassador meeting
This meeting was one of the most promising events I attended in determining the
longevity of the ELL Center program. This event featured English-fluent teachers and parents of
District 73.5, both native speakers and people for whom English is a second language, lead by
the principal of the District 73.5 pre-kindergarten school, Dr. Alison Gordon. They were
interested in starting a program that would turn the ESL speakers into accredited translators for

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other parents in the district, called “Language Ambassadors”. The meeting consisted of
discussing issues of confidentiality and parent trust, distributing lists of student speakers of each
language within the district, and discussing issues related to getting more parent involvement.
This was an example of the center being used for non-sponsored but related community events,
as many of the parents and teachers had to be introduced to the center by Corrie Wallace.
The goal of this project would be to create a team of translators who would be available
to parents whenever they needed help. This may, Dr. Gordon cautioned, even lead to counseling
sessions with students or other extremely personal venues. Confidentially would be required to
gain parent trust and assure parents that their information is safe with both Ambassadors and the
school. This follows with some of the school’s other moves towards greater parental access and
social involvement. Just recently, a “parent computer” has been installed at each of the District
73.5 schools, reserved for parents who want to learn about school events and their children’s
homework. Use is free and it is reserved only for parents.
The non-native Americans wanted to stress learning about the schools within the
Language Ambassador program. Many talked about how things that Americans expect are
obvious—the meaning of PTA, that parents are expected to be involved in their children’s
education, what different school forms mean—are mysteries to non-native Americans. One
teacher said that in India, where she was raised, involvement in school ends as soon as children
leave the school building, and was baffled by the expectation of her involvement in the American
system when her own children were in school. A parent from Vietnam said that she was unsure
of whether she was “allowed” to talk to her children’s teachers for many years. These statements
were echoed in the desires of both Dr. Gordon and Wallace, who believe that discomfort with the
schools and school system keeps parents away.

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This meeting serves as a living example of capacity building and community engagement.
The recruitment of parents into the program, once they are fluent enough in English to do so,
perpetuates the system of the center, turning parents into teachers.
Statistics
Due to the very recent opening of the center, there are no formal statistics available about
the center’s impact. Looking at the statistics for the Niles Township District schools shows some
improvements in student behavior, especially in the amounts of suspensions of non-white and
non-black students going down drastically from 2008 to 2009.13 There are also statistics
indicating that students in the Niles Township School District who have limited English
proficiency do better on national testing than their limited English proficiency counterparts
throughout the rest of Illinois, per the 2009-2010 district report card.14 That these changes are
caused by the ELL center is much harder to determine. These statistics do show that the center’s
presence is not harming student achievement in the area, at least;
The anecdotes shared with me, however, underline the subtle and perhaps un-measurable
nature of some skills that were communicated at the center. A frequent problem with recent
immigrants, Wallace notes, is that some people take advantage of their unfamiliarity with
American systems to bilk them. Some medical professionals in the area charge different, higher
fees for people who pay cash over those with insurance, as many parents have told her. Wallace
hopes that medical information provided in the Family Literacy programs will stymie these
problems, at least as it pertains to medical issues. There are also problems with parent
unfamiliarity with public transportation, which can cripple mobility. The center hosts “bus field
trips” regularly, which show parents how to find bus route information online, how to pay for
13
14
(Illinois State Board of Education 2010)

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fare, and how to get off at bus stops. The information in these sessions likely altered the
everyday lives of participants in drastic ways, but it would be hard to measure such an impact
through educational outcomes or in parent literacy.
Conclusion
The ELL Center holds great promise and success as a community information center.
Parents are informed about community programs, the school and health systems, and public
transportation. Available every time they enter the center are lists of professionals in the area
who specialize in working with non-English fluent people. Parents who were once scared of
teachers in the school system now are working for the school system to teach others. There is an
overflow of non-internet information in the center, available from printed materials and teachers.
Some benefits of the center on child learning may be interpreted in school statistics. There are
only a few more steps to be taken to make the center a viable community grassroots organization,
and potentially a source of political power for the people who use it.
Yet there are some problems with the setup of the center, especially in the use of their
ICTs. The way that classes are set up makes the internet into a solely English and American
place, when there are resources worth taking part in in many languages. Valuable internet
exchanges between non-English-speaking ELL users and their families in their home countries
may never occur if the center continues to make English a requirement for their use. There may
also need to be critical views on the portions of culture that ELL center students are exposed to.
Can it help parenting or accumulation of social capital to learn charades, a game that is usually
enjoyed by the upper class of white American society? Perhaps, but the windows for it to do so
are small for people who cannot yet communicate with white English-speaking society. ICTs

17. Sleyko 17
could stand to have much more presence in the center, for the information they hold and the
ability for ELL center parents to create their own content and information.
Even with these problems, the center is effective at what it sets out to do: empower
parents by providing English services and information about the environment of the United
States. In this, it is an effective community information center.
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26, 2010. http://momfromanothercountry.blogspot.com/2010/01/about-us.html (accessed
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Wallace, Corrie. "Niles Township Schools' ELL Parent Center: A Unique Approach to the
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