Increasingly, libraries are the place to learn English

Libraries all across the country are holding ESL classes. DP

By Will Kilburn, Globe Correspondent

Boston.com: The 8 p.m. intermediate English as a Second Language class at Milford Town Library is often about subtleties. When it comes to keys, are they at your pocket or in your pocket? Do you taxi at the airport, from the airport, or to the airport?

Instructor Vijay Magpal quizzes the students, gesturing at a whiteboard set up at the open end of a horseshoe of desks.

The 15 students, who range in age from young adult to retired and are from Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Peru, Russia, and Venezuela, answer sometimes in unison, and other times only after being called on by the smiling Magpal.

After one student stumbles, she tells him, ``You'll get used to it, don't worry."

The class is one of four per week (two for beginners and two for intermediates) offered by the library, which also matches students with tutors for one-to-one instruction and provides learning materials and meeting space for both classes and tutoring sessions.

The Milford library is one of many libraries around Boston's western suburbs and the country that have taken on a new mission -- teaching immigrants English.
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