ACE Spectrum
ACE Spectrum
Ace Spectrum is about you — the ACE Learning Centers.
It’s a quick sharing of ideas, inspiration, opinions and best practices among our continuing education organizations.
Please join the conversation.
Writing About Your Classroom and Family Equals Empowerment at Alpha Parent Center
By Edith Lucena, Julia De Leon and Nayeli Hernandez, Students at Alpha Parent Center
The Alpha Parent Center teaches English to non-English speaking students. The school year just started, and already students are writing about their classroom and home. What an achievement! And what a lovely peek into the personal observations of Edith, Julia and Nayela. Thank you for sharing.
–Editor’s Note
Classroom and Family, by Edith Lucena
A Big Classroom
There is a teacher in the classroom. There is a printer in the classroom. There are students in the classroom. There are two desks in the classroom. There is a book on the desk. There are pares on the desk. There are markers on the board. There is a refrigerator next to the cabinet. There are four walls in the classroom.
The Classroom
We have a big classroom. It has one door. It is next to the microwave. We have two desks and one window. We have two teachers. We are ten students in the classroom. I have one pencil and one notebook.
The Party
The people are happy. They are doing different things. Tom is singing. Danny and Sam are talking. Jason and Claire are laughing. Some people are eating. They have a party.
My Family
I have a good family. In my family there are 15 people. My parents have two daughters and one son. My parents’ names are Domingo and Aurora. My brother’s name is Juan. His wife’s name is Zulema. They have two daughters. Their names are Luna and Jimena. My sister and her husband live in my parents’ house. Their names are Angeles and Alex. They have a son. He is my nephew. His name is Carlos.
I live with my daughter. I have four girls. Their names are Lucero, Cintia, Nayeli, and Estefania. I also have a granddaughter. Her name is Alison. We are a big family.
Edith’s Family
Edith’s family has six people. She lives with her four daughters, one granddaughter and one son in law. Edith works in a daycare. She is baby-sitter. Her three daughters are studying in a University. One of her daughters is married and she does not work. Her son in law works in a construction company. Her granddaughter is a baby.
A Big Classroom and Family, By Julia De Leon
A Big Classroom
We have a big classroom. There is a computer on the desk. There are pencils on the desk. There are chairs in the classroom. There are cups on the refrigerator. There is a book on the chair. There are books in the bookshelf. There are teachers in the classroom. There is a pen on the desk.
The Classroom
We have a big classroom. It has two boards. There are chairs. There is a desk and there are papers on the desk. We are students. We have a notebook and we have pencils. There is a cabinet in the classroom. There are two teachers.
The Party
The people are happy. They are doing different things. Helen and Eve are eating pizza. Tom is singing a song. Jason and Claire are laughing. Sam and Danny are talking and drinking water. They have a big party.
My Family
I have a good family. There are eight members in my family, my mom, my dad, my three brothers, my two sisters, and me. My oldest sister has four children. They are my nephews.
Lirio and Lucia are my parents. They have six children. Their names are Sara, Celia, Esau, Esvin, Macley, and me. Sara is Presciliano’s wife. They have four children. Celia is Cesar’s wife. They have three children. I am Israel’s wife. We have a daughter and a son. Their names are Yoselin and Cris. My brothers are not married. I love my family.
Julia’s Family
Julia has a large family. There are eight people in her family. Mom and dad work in their house. They have three sons and three girls. The three girls are married, and the three boys are not married. They live in Guatemala. Julia loves her family.
Good Times With Family and Classroom, by Nayeli Hernandez
The Classroom
This is a classroom. There are two boards. We have a refrigerator. There is a sofa. There are erasers and markers. We have a globe and a map. There is a pencil on the desk. There are computers in the classroom. There is a notebook under the chair. There are students in the classroom. There is an eraser under the table. There is one cabinet between a bookshelf and the refrigerator.
A Big Classroom
We have a big classroom. It has four walls. There are two printers. We have two teachers and ten students. It has yellow chairs and a desk color black. We have available a coffee machine and a refrigerator.
My Family
I have a good family. In my family there are twelve people. I have two brothers. My mom and dad live in Mexico. My oldest brother has two children, one son and one daughter. Israel’s family live in San Jose. I am married and I have a son. His name is Irvin.
I have two nephews and a niece. Her name is Melina. Rolando’s son is Ulises. We sometimes have meetings in my house and we have good times together. I love my family.
Nayeli’s Family
Nayeli’s family is small. She lives with two people. They have a little dog. Nayeli’s husband works cleaning houses and Nayeli, too. She has two brothers. The oldest brother is Israel. He is 37 years old.
From Pot Luck to Inner Thoughts – Dream Radio Stories from KALW Audio Academy Students
By Guest Blogger Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Public Radio
We’re a few weeks into our latest Audio Academy session, now. They’ve had weekly seminars on fact checking, sound gathering, and audio engineering, and they’ve been putting their work into practice by ensuring our Crosscurrents show scripts are accurate and also going out into the field to record voices of the Bay Area for the top of our shows.
The annual KALW Audio Academy potluck dinner brought great food, great story ideas, and great people together.
We’ve also been getting to know our fellows much better, and to that end we held a potluck dinner Wednesday at KALW. More than 20 people came, including Audio Academy alums, summer volunteers in our department, staffers and members of the station administration. I was really pleased to see everybody engaging immediately in conversation. Once we’d all had a chance to visit and eat, we went around the room and shared what dream radio story we each would love to tell. Here are some examples:
– how one of the world’s deepest mines was transformed into one of the most important sites for physics experiments … Summer volunteer Meradith Hoddinott
– what innermost thoughts are shared through letters by people who know their own death is imminent … Audio Academy fellow Jeremy Jue
– what is the experience of a Guatemalan immigrant who leaves everybody he loves to sow the seeds of a better life for his family in the United States … Spiritual Edge director Judy Silber
– how does one of the world’s most skilled DJs make sampling choices and craft beats to create extraordinary new music … Audio Academy fellow Boawen Wang
– what are the background stories for every person on one block in one of San Francisco’s most diverse neighborhoods of immigrants and transplants … News Director Ben Trefny
Yes, that last one is me, and I really hope to tell that story one of these days; it’s the story of my own block! Certainly, during the course of this year, we hope to see what dream stories we can make into reality.
Summer volunteers Justine Lee and mom-to-be Bonnie Chan won an award for “Most Best 2.5 Women.”
One more note: this was the last week of regular shifts for our summer volunteers. We had a delightful group of 10 trainees this year, and we’re really going to miss them. They made a lot of outstanding stories, helped us keep our digital operation on point, and then helped with the initial training of the incoming Audio Academy. Happily, several are still planning to work on stories with us, so we’ll have the chance to see them some more and help bring their work to the Bay Area and beyond.
Audio Academy Class At KALW Begins to Learn How to Tell Rich, Diverse Stories, Plus Assist in Membership Drive
By Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Public Radio
It was a really great week, here at KALW, where we celebrated two big deals, simultaneously:
– the first scheduled week of shifts for the Audio Academy class of 2017
– the start of our September Membership Drive.
It’s a critical period for KALW, when we raise a large part of our operating budget, and this year, for the first time, it coincides with the first shifts for our Academy fellows. That actually proved to be kind of cool, because they could see our station staffers in fundraising mode, interact with our audience in the phone room, and eat some donated food, too! More importantly for this class, they were able to get hands-on training from some of the outstanding volunteers who have been training as radio journalists in our news department this summer.
I’d like to take a moment to say their names, because they really did stand out and deserve a lot of credit. Cheers to Lisa Cantrell, Bonnie Chan, Nicole Grigg, Meradith Hoddinott, Lucy Kang, Justine Lee for providing some of the initial instruction on aggregating daily news, fact-checking shows, preparing stories for online distribution, and generally getting a feel for the newsroom. It’s really wonderful and helpful, and it’s a tribute to the communal environment we all enjoy at KALW. Also, here’s a shout out to our other summer trainees who have headed back to school or into the workforce: Allison Levitsky, Sayra Trejo, Marylee Williams and Jordan Winters. What an outstanding, talented and positive group!
Also, we’ve had some recent stories from Audio Academy alums that are worth noting:
– Truc Nguyen (’16) made a story two weeks back about people who are Court Appointed Special Advocates for foster youth. It was an important and lovely piece, and it drew this comment from a listener: “I’ve been a CASA for 1.5 years for a kid in foster care in San Francisco, so I appreciated the attention and the story! And we love KALW. Keep up the good work.”
– Shereen Adel (’16) put together a whole show about the gig economy, independent contracting and making a living on Monday. We started with an excellent story that our former managing editor Casey Miner made about independent contracting, salaried work, and a “third way.” That was followed by a great interview Shereen produced that delved more deeply into the benefits and costs of that “third way” and showed a bigger picture of how government involvement might work to make things better for working people. And then Shereen had a reported piece that contextualized the value of unions compared with indie work, framed through the experiences of musicians — a truly inspired choice for radio! I really loved that show.
– Our energy and environment reporter, Angela Johnston (’14), produced a story on Wednesday about how a lack of water is affecting development in East Palo Alto. Really outstanding reporting, in that, and it took the topic on from a great perspective — focusing on the voices of people who are often overlooked when land-use planning decisions are made.
– On Thursday, we aired a story on people displaced by a fire in San Francisco’s Mission District. Hannah Kingsley-Ma (’15) originally reported on that during her Audio Academy year, and this follow up focused on a family that now lives on Treasure Island. The story explored the bureaucratic entanglements and frustrations keeping people who lost their homes from being rehoused in a timely way.
These pieces include so many of the elements that I love about our storytelling:
– rich scenes
– learning about different parts of the Bay Area
– emotional resonance
– depth reporting
– diverse perspectives
– great writing
– insight into how the world we live in works (and doesn’t work)
These are all qualities that our incoming Audio Academy class will be learning over the next nine months. I can’t wait to see what they produce!