Goodman South Madison Library has been working with and supporting Literacy Network for nearly 10 years to help improve language learning in the Madison community. Literacy Network helps adults in Dane County build skills, reach goals, and connect communities. One class offered by Literacy Network is called Community English and takes place three times per year in-person. The goal of the class is to help students reach their language-learning goals by teaching conversational English for different skill levels that allows students to interact more easily with others in their community, as well as access resources at the library and beyond.

“One reason that I love this program is because students tell US what is important to them when it comes to learning English and communicating in English in their everyday life,” said Bex Fabrizio, Director of ESL Instruction at Literacy Network. “It’s very student-centered – we use customized English instruction to make their dreams a reality.”

The Community English class has grown and changed since its inception in 2012, according to Fabrizio. The original format was to hold one Community English class per year and those classes took place in-person at Goodman South Madison Library with a big variety in skill levels for the students. This way of providing the class continued for many years until Fabrizio found data that suggested they could produce better outcomes for learners if they offered two differentiated classes based on English level, and if they offered those classes more frequently. In 2018, the class began to be offered twice a year and it is currently available year-round.

“That is one thing I attribute to the growth we’ve seen lately in terms of retention, outcomes for learners, etc. because it’s more consistent. They have lofty goals and it’s hard to make progress in just a single semester,” said Fabrizio. “Earlier in the partnership, students would do one semester and that would be it. Research shows that it takes 100 hours of study to move up one level in English, so we discovered that one semester is really not enough regardless of where you start.”

Literacy Network made additional changes that started out as necessity from the pandemic, but soon became their standard practice. For instance, pre-pandemic, the class was multi-level, but Literacy Network determined it would be too difficult to offer high-quality instruction via Zoom to students starting out at different skill levels. In 2024, they continue to offer a beginner and intermediate class for each semester. The classes are also longer now, moving from one hour per week up to 90 minutes or 2 hours. These changes have resulted in some great outcomes - in 2021, six times more people participated for multiple semesters than in 2020.

Madison Public Library supports the class by providing $1,200/semester per class to help cover the cost of instruction, which allows Literacy Network to offer classes for free to their students. The investment given by the library each year also helps to fund experienced English Second Language (ESL) teachers for each level of the class. In addition to funds and space, the library also helps market the class, which has continued to grow in popularity over the past five years.

This year, for the first time ever, classes have filled to capacity several times requiring some students to be put on a wait list until a spot is available.

“We’ve loved seeing the way in which our recruitment has evolved with the Library providing marketing support. We’ve gone from having a physical paper flyer at the library to using so many modes to recruit learners,” said Fabrizio. “For example, this past semester Tana Elias, Madison Public Library's new Library Director, attended Literacy Network’s 50th Anniversary Block Party to talk to students about Community English classes, library resources and services, and steps for obtaining a library card.”

Fabrizio says the current marketing strategies have resulted in a perfect combination of 50-60% of their students being returning students, while the other half are new. “That creates a really nice classroom environment, since half of them are already comfortable with each other and the teacher and they welcome new people into that environment.”