These 18 institutes employ 76 foreign-language visitors. Forty-six of
these are themselves foreign born. These visitors represent a great
variety in training and experience, but the institute secretaries
think that on the whole they are more valuable than native-born
visitors would be even if these native-born visitors were more highly
trained. The training of these particular visitors, while varied and
often apparently inadequate, is on the whole surprisingly good.
Fifteen of the 46 have had some college training; 3 have had
kindergarten training, and 4 nurses' training. Eight have had previous
case-work experience; 4 have lived in settlements. Eight have taken
training courses given by the association, varying from a few weeks to
several months at the national headquarters. A number have had
religious training of one kind or another, 2 in a school for
deaconesses, 12 as prospective missionaries, and 1 in a theological
seminary.
The 18 International Institutes report the establishment of 134 clubs
or classes in which married women are members, having an enrollment of
894 foreign-born married women. The subject most generally taught is
English. Among 134 clubs and classes, 101 are organized exclusively
for the teaching of English, and 7 others combine English with cooking
or sewing.
Some attempt is made to teach housekeeping in classes. Ten of these
are organized for cooking or sewing, 7 for English and cooking or
sewing, and there are 13 mothers' clubs with subjects of such general
interest as health, the care of children, and home nursing. In
addition to the organized clubs and classes, most of the institutes
have given lectures in foreign languages to larger groups of women
subjects such as "Women and the War," "Liberty Bonds," "Thrift," "Food
Conservation," "Personal and Social Hygiene," "The Buying of
Materials," and "What the English Language Can Do for You."
Most classes are composed of a single national group, but classes are
reported in which there are Polish and Ruthenian, Slovak and Polish,
Greek and Lithuanian, Armenian and French, and Portuguese, Magyar and
Slovak, and "mixed" nationalities. English is used in practically all
classes which are primarily for the teaching of English. Fourteen of
the institutes, however, have foreign-speaking workers to interpret
whenever the women do not understand the teacher. In answer to the
question as to the success of the institute in connecting married
women with classes in public evening schools, three reply that they
have had no success because the public schools do not use
foreign-speaking workers and the women cannot understand the teachers
who speak only English.
The institutes conduct vigorous campaigns to acquaint the mothers with
their work, using posters, printed invitations, announcements at
schools, notices in foreign papers, and particularly home visits by
foreign-speaking workers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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