Burbank adult education highlights changes in fall schedule
Nine new classes and the extension of a pilot program that integrates English learning with educational training are some of the changes on the recently released Burbank Adult School fall class schedule.
Online registration begins Aug. 1, with classes getting underway as early as Aug. 6.
Burbank Adult School offers several courses for varying needs, including high school diploma equivalency, GED preparation, career-technical education, computer courses, parent education and personal enrichment classes.
A pair of classes, however, stands out most for Emilio Urioste, Burbank Unified’s director of secondary education.
“The highlight is, of course, those new [integrated-education training] classes that really help English learners accelerate their entry into the workforce or being able to earn promotions,” Urioste said. “It’s huge for folks to have new opportunities out in the workforce.”
Urioste is referring to a unique pair of English-as-a-second-language classes: ESL Information and Communications Occupations and ESL Health Care options.
Those classes were added after the successful run of a previous ESL integrated-education training course as part of a pilot program in the spring.
Those courses not only provide English-learning instruction, but also technical training with ESL and career technical educators “co-teaching” the class.
“We’re really looking forward to seeing how those courses do, and the teachers have been working very hard with the curriculum all summer,” Urioste said. “We can take about 30 [students] in each class. We wouldn’t want to do more than that since we’re running it as a pilot.”
As for the new classes, the adult school is now offering cinema beauty makeup, commercial photography, creative writing, introductory guitar, phlebotomy-technician training, photojournalism, physical therapy aide, professional songwriting and ServeSafe food handler’s courses.
“We do have several new classes, and we have to do that to stay current and to meet the demand and the interest out there from students,” Urioste said. “We looked at programs that weren’t doing well and stopped offering those and decided to try the new programs.”
Outside of the integrated-education training courses, Urioste is also proud of the adult school’s Workforce Readiness Institute, which is designed to retrain workers.
“If folks lose their job and need to get equipped and trained to be competitive out there, that’s what the institute is for,” Urioste said. “We’ve had some good anecdotal feedback and people have said, ‘I’m so glad I took this class because I got a job.’”
Registration online is available at https://bas.asapconnected.com or call (818) 558-4611.
“The majority of our students live here in the community, but we also have some from outside the community,” Urioste said. “We want to encourage people to come learn and train with us.”
