Do you or someone you know want to learn Portuguese or Spanish? Or perhaps they speak one of those languages and want to learn or improve English? Discovery Language Academy provides an inexpensive way to do just that with their effective program run by friendly world-class professionals.

The “Discovery Language Academy” and their mission to promote Portuguese educational programs, language and culture has been here in New Bedford for almost a century.

• Starting September 9th
Learn Portuguese For Ages 5-13 – Weeknights 5:00pm-7:00pm

• Starting September 12th
Spanish Language Introductory Course For Adults – Thursdays 5:00pm-7:30pm
Covers conversational skills, basic grammar, cultural information, pronounciation. Duration is 10 months.

• Starting September 14th
Conversational Portuguese For Adults – Saturdays 9:30am-12:00pm
Portuguese lessons with native speakers. Duration 10 months.

The full schedule can be seen here and the levels of instruction can be seen here.

In addition to the classes offered at the Discovery Language Academy, the school has a number of special events throughout the year to showcase the Portuguese culture: a Fall wine tasting, Winter breakfast, annual Family & Friends Dinner each Spring, soccer clinics, and currently working on developing a student exchange program with the Azores. In addition, the teachers participate in monthly professional development workshops provided by Master Urban Educators (MUE).

Want to find out more about the Discovery Language Academy? Check out our spotlight article

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Discovery Language Academy
128 Union Street
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Phone: (508) 997-8295

Monday-Thursday: 5:00pm-7:00pm (CLASSES)
Saturday: 9:00am-12:00pm
Friday & Sunday: CLOSED

Website: www.discoverylanguageacademy.org/
Facebook: facebook.com/discoverylanguageacademy.org/
EMail: discoverylanguageacademyschool@gmail.com

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The grant will provide elementary school teachers with resources to develop computational thinking-based problem-solving skills in their students

UMass Dartmouth researchers have been awarded a $2,116,315 grant by the National Science Foundation to help elementary school teachers integrate problem-solving skills common for computer programming into their math and science classes.

“The future of work and the future of citizenship require that our young people develop an unprecedented level of problem-solving skills and collaborative abilities,” UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Robert E. Johnson said. “Through this research, our world-class faculty will develop new strategies for elementary school teachers to unleash their students’ potential. This is an example of how our region benefits from having a national tier-one university in its midst.”

“This new generation of students needs new modes of teaching,” said Congressman William R. Keating, whose district includes UMass Dartmouth. “Our students are tech-savvy and will approach problems in ways different than previous generations with less sophisticated technology. Providing our teachers with the tools necessary to teach these students will help ensure success for everyone.”

The initiative is entitled “Computational Thinking Counts in Elementary Grades: Powerful STEM Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century.” The Principal Investigator on the grant is Director of the Kaput Center for Research & Innovation in STEM Education and Professor of Mathematics Education Chandra Orrill. Co-Principal Investigators are Associate Provost for Decision Support & Strategic Initiatives and Professor of Computer and Information Science Ramprasad Balasubramanian, and Assistant Professor of STEM Education and Teacher Development Shakhnoza Kayumova.

The research team seeks to help elementary school teachers engage their students in computational thinking, the kind of thinking that computer programmers use. For example, students will be challenged to think about problem solutions in ways that would allow a computer to solve them; create solutions that require a series of ordered steps to carry out; identify, analyze, and implement solutions that are efficient, effective, and creative; and use models and simulations to represent data.

“These thinking skills are important for students because they will build confidence in tackling complex problems,” Dr. Orrill said. “Students prepared with computational thinking skills will be better equipped to persist when faced with any challenging problem. They will learn to deal with ambiguity and use creativity to solve problems, and they will learn to communicate and collaborate with others in their problem solving. This is a unique and critical endeavor that allows elementary teachers, who are considered generalists in the field, to work with content and pedagogy experts to develop their professional knowledge and skills.”

“The digital generation has already been exposed to thinking a certain way about daily problems they encounter. We need to ensure their teachers have the tools to enhance and accelerate student learning in key STEM concepts in ways that students are already utilizing,” Dr. Balasubramanian said.

“While at the 2018 American Education Research Association conference in New York, Chandra and I noticed there was a critical gap of strong professional development programs for elementary teachers to engage their students in computational thinking,” Dr. Kayumova said. “We sat down right then and developed a vision and plan for this project.”

While computational thinking has been taught to college-level students for years, the research team has been exploring how these approaches can be extended to K-12 students. With backgrounds in math, science, and computer science education and pedagogy, the team will be working in three New Bedford elementary schools over the next four years.

The Baker-Polito Administration has awarded New Bedford High School $275,000 as part of the state’s Workforce Skills Cabinet Grant program. The High School will use these funds to construct a state-of-the-art Information Technology/Logistics Laboratory connected to robotic automation to support its Career Vocational Technical Education programming in IT and Engineering. The awards were announced as part of Governor Charlie Baker’s visit to Worcester Technical High School in Worcester yesterday. This is the second Skills Capital Grant award for NBHS, the first being a $125,000 award for a financial laboratory.

Skills Capital Grants are designed to help high schools, colleges and other educational institutions invest in the most up-to-date training equipment to give their students an advantage when they continue in their chosen field or area of study. New Bedford High School’s Robotic Logistics lab, which will include conveyor systems, robotic arms, a flight package of drones, and pneumatic training systems will support career pathway development for students interested in professional technical services, robotic automation, and supply chain management. The laboratory and equipment used aligns with the professional technical services industry, which has been identified as a high growth career area by Mass Hire Greater New Bedford’s regional labor market blueprint.

“We are pleased to have received a second skills capital grant to support our expanding CVTE program”, said Bernadette Coelho, Headmaster of New Bedford High School. “NBHS is committed to providing opportunities for our students to be college and career ready, and the new IT logistics laboratory supports this overarching goal. We appreciate the support of the Governor’s Workforce Skills Cabinet in helping us bolster our workforce training curriculum.”

The robotics logistics lab compliments New Bedford High School’s growth in career technical education, as it has committed to fostering new vocational programming and supplementing its existing technical training offerings.

“Information Technology and robotic automation has been identified as a high demand career growth area, and our laboratory will foster additional linkages with employers seeking to hire students with the advanced technical training our lab will provide,” said Christopher Cummings, Manager of New Bedford’s Career Vocational Technical Education program, who noted that the laboratory will support new linkages with post-secondary institutions to provide credentialing pathways in robotics. “This lab will be a game changer for our students, as the new credentialing pathways will foster opportunities for obtaining high paying careers in the field.”

New Bedford High School’s IT and Engineering programs are part of the school’s offerings of Career Vocational Technical Education programming and is affiliated with the National Academy Foundation’s Academy of Finance. In addition to Finance, the school offers career pathway programs in Instructional Technology, Health Sciences, Engineering, Early Childhood Education, and Criminal Justice. For more information about Career and Technical Education at New Bedford High School, please contact Christopher Cummings, Manager of CVTE at 508 997 4511, ext. 24204

The Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) will hold a training seminar on the state’s filing and depository system for municipal candidates (incumbents and new candidates) on Wednesday, September 4 at 7:00 p.m. in the public meeting room on the 3rd floor of the New Bedford Free Public Library, 613 Pleasant Street. The New Bedford seminar is one of a series of training seminars OCPF is holding across the state.

The seminar is expected to last approximately an hour and will include review of the disclosure rules for raising and spending money, and the regulations concerning political activity by public employees and in public buildings. It will also include a demonstration of OCPF’s e-filing and reporting software. Candidates who file paper reports with their local election office can also use R6 to create and print reports.

Candidates for public office are required to organize with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance. The training seminar is an opportunity for elected officials, candidates, campaign managers, treasurers or anyone interested in politics to learn about the requirements of campaign finance disclosure and to ask any questions they may have about record keeping and completing mandated reports. Representatives of the OCPF will be on hand to review the rules and regulations of campaign finance as required by Massachusetts General Law Chapter 55.

Attendees will learn how to complete required reports including Summary Activity, Schedule A (receipts), Schedule B (expenditures), Schedule C (in-kind), Contributions and Schedule D (Liabilities). OCPF representatives will answer any questions concerning campaign finance, filing requirements and other guidelines.

The seminar will also cover topics including the role public employees may play in a campaign, how ballot question committees work under campaign finance law, prohibition against use of public resources to support or oppose candidates or questions on the ballot. This seminar is open to the public and anyone interested can attend.

For more information, please contact the City of New Bedford Board of Election Commissioners at 508-979-1420.

A large crowd gathered at the New Bedford City Hall this evening and then walked to the Pilgrim church to raise awareness of addiction.

Sea Lab held its fifty-first Commencement Exercises this morning at its Marine Science Education Center, located at 71 Portland Street in New Bedford’s far south end. More than 600 guests attended the day’s events, which included graduation, open house, a student science project exhibition and tours of the center’s laboratories and classrooms.

Simone Bourgeois, Sea Lab Facilitator, welcomed families, friends, and special guests including city and state officials. In her remarks, Ms. Bourgeois noted the program’s continuous growth since its founding in 1968 with 12 students and one teacher “to the 2019 enrollment of three hundred twenty students, grades three through nine, and forty-two staff members.”

Commencement exercises included presentation of scholarships, diving and sailing awards, and certificates in swimming, sailing and boating safety.

Sea Lab College Scholarships were awarded to: Noah Barton, Hannah Berger, Cecelia Chan, Dakota Chixarro, Alyssa DaCosta, Elizabeth Golden, Molly Hoefel, Madison Kruger, Christopher Ng, Logan Quintin, Kassandra Stone, Eva Watts-Pine, Carmen Zhao, and Meiling Zhao.

Sea Lab class of 2019 listen to Simone Bourgeois, the program’s Facilitator, at the 51st graduation held today at the Sea Lab Marine Science Education Center in New Bedford’s south end. (Photo: New Bedford Public Schools)

Sea Lab founder, Paul Levasseur, was honored for his 51 years of dedication to the growth and success of the program.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Stephen M. Coan, president and CEO of Sea Research Foundation, which operates Mystic Aquarium, a longtime educational partner of Sea Lab. Animal behaviorists from Mystic Aquarium have visited Sea Lab every Wednesday for nearly fifteen years, traveling from Connecticut to instruct fourth and fifth-grade students on “North Atlantic indigenous flora and fauna and the importance of being a caretaker of the natural environment.”

Sea Lab is the New Bedford Public Schools marine science education program funded through student tuition and New Bedford Public Schools for the perpetuation of real science activities.

Historically, Sea Lab has existed as a six-week summer program servicing academically serious students since 1968. Sea Lab is a forerunner in educational practices: a school focused on introducing university and high school level science concepts and related marine activities to pre-university students, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve. The success of the summer program precipitated the implementation of an academic year program in 2000, which was established to expose a larger population of New Bedford Public School students to the realm of marine and aquatic sciences.

Since 1968, Sea Lab has been located by the sea on the Fort Rodman peninsula, New Bedford, Massachusetts. Presently, Sea Lab is housed in a state-of-the-art science laboratory center constructed primarily to educate New Bedford Public School students interested in studying principles of oceanography, limnology, meteorology, physics, chemistry, geology, biology and robotics as related to the marine and aquatic environments.

Lisa Poulos, Sea Lab Paraprofessional demonstrates a vortex, one of many student science projects on exhibit at an open house held today after graduation ceremonies at the Sea Lab Marine Science Education Center in New Bedford’s south end. (Photo: New Bedford Public Schools)

The teaching materials, selected and/or developed by the instructors for presentation at different grade levels, illustrate the desire to achieve a balance between the introduction of basic scientific concepts and the discussion of observable phenomena. Sea Lab curriculum is designed to be progressive and cumulative from the third grade to the ninth grade. The current Sea Lab Program is an inquiry based, high interest, hands-on, intensive course of study designed to appeal to the serious student. Practical outdoor skills, such as swimming, sailing, snorkeling, boat building, and crew are also integral to the summer Sea Lab experience.

In addition to offering challenging academic activities, Sea Lab students participate in field studies conducted along the Massachusetts and Rhode Island coastlines. Students also have the opportunity to participate in on-going scientific research with local, national and international colleges and universities.

The Academic Year, full-time Sea Lab Program commenced in 2000 as an extension of the summer Sea Lab Program. Student instruction occurs on a daily basis from September through June at the marine center. The curriculum of the academic year program focuses on but is not limited to the Massachusetts Science Standards. It is designed to increase the science content knowledge of New Bedford’s third, fourth and fifth graders and provide these students with the opportunity to participate in real science laboratory experiences. Hands-on lessons are designed to introduce marine sciences as they apply to the 2016 Massachusetts Science Curriculum Framework Standards of Earth and Space Science, Physical Science, Science and Technology with a marine studies component, and Life Sciences focusing on Marine Biology, with microscopy, robotics and dissection emphasis. Field studies to East Beach in New Bedford are conducted with the intent of gathering marine and geological specimens. This hands-on, marine-based curriculum is designed to be multidisciplinary and inquiry-based.

Due to the threat of exposure to the mosquito-borne illness, Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), and in response to the City of New Bedford’s closure at dusk of parks and other open public spaces as of August 16, 2019, New Bedford Public Schools is curtailing its outdoor evening activities.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has classified the risk level in Greater New Bedford as ‘critical’ for EEE.

Use of school playgrounds near or after dusk is strongly discouraged, and daytime use should include clothing aimed at reducing mosquito bites, along with the use of insect repellent which include “DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide), permethrin, picaridin (KBR 3023), IR3535 or oil of lemon eucalyptus [p-methane 3, 8-diol (PMD)] according to the instructions on the product label. DEET products should not be used on infants under two months of age and should be used in concentrations of 30% or less on older children. Oil of lemon eucalyptus should not be used on children under three years of age. Permethrin products are intended for use on items such as clothing, shoes, bed nets and camping gear and should not be applied to skin,” according to the city’s press release.

Sports practice sessions and outdoor rehearsals will be impacted.

Thomas Tarpey, NBPS Director of Physical Education, Health & Athletics, issued the following statement: “All coaches at New Bedford High School have been notified that all practices have to be completed by dusk. All schedules will be altered to accommodate this request. All athletes and parents will be notified of these changes as soon as possible.”

Lynn Souza, NBPS Director of Fine Arts, noted that Band Camp is being conducted indoors.

At its August 2 meeting, the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees approved a new Honors College at UMass Dartmouth and expanded the scope of the College of Nursing to add Health Sciences. Both are effective this fall.

The Honors College will provide an innovative, inter-disciplinary, and research-oriented community that will attract and graduate highly qualified students. The College will be integrated with the university’s whole academic organization rather than as a freestanding College.

The College will provide students with a highly rigorous educational experience that emphasizes high-impact enrichment opportunities. In addition, the Honors College will maximize collaboration between students, between students and faculty, and between students and the community.

“The Honors College is designed to create a unique opportunity for those students of exceptional talent and motivation,” Provost Mohammad Karim said. “These students will be among our university’s role models in undergraduate research and community engagement.”

Additionally, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences will better position the university to respond to the need for a team-based health care workforce in the community, the region, and beyond. The new structure will bring together the departments of Medical Laboratory Science, Community Nursing, and Adult Nursing.

“This is an interprofessional education model,” said Kimberly Christopher, Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. “It will allow both our nursing and medical lab science students to build professional knowledge, respect, and empathy for each other’s roles in order to achieve the highest quality of patient care. Students can collaborate in simulated experiences and learn from each other. This will create stronger health care teams.”

As part of a summer program through the National Book Foundation, New Bedford has been selected to host award-winning authors Chen Chen and Rebecca Makkai for a conversation at the New Bedford Free Public Library.

The two authors will appear as part of AHA! Night on Thursday, August 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the 3rd Floor Meeting Room of the New Bedford Free Public Library, 613 Pleasant Street.

The conversation is part of the National Book Foundation’s NBF Presents: Summer with the National Book Awards, bringing National Book Awards-honored authors to libraries across the country.

Join the National Book Foundation and the New Bedford Free Public Library for AHA!, New Bedford’s arts and culture celebration featuring a conversation with poet Chen Chen (When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, National Book Award Longlist) and novelist Rebecca Makkai (The Great Believers, National Book Award Finalist) on narratives spanning Chinese-American millennials to the height of the AIDS epidemic in Chicago. The event will be moderated by Joseph O. Legaspi.

About the Authors

Chen Chen is the author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, which was longlisted for the National Book Award. His work has also appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Tin House, Poem-a-Day, The Best American Poetry, Bettering American Poetry, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. Chen earned his MFA from Syracuse University and is pursuing a Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing as an off-site Texas Tech University Student. Chen is the 2018-2020 Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence at Brandeis University.

Rebecca Makkai is the Chicago-based author of the novel The Great Believers, a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, one of the New York Times’ top ten books for 2018, winner of the ALA Carnegie Medal, the Stonewall Award, and the Chicago Review of Books Award, and a pick for the New York Public Library’s 2018 Best Books. Her other books are the novels The Borrower and The Hundred-Year House, and the collection Music for Wartime—four stories from which appeared in The Best American Short Stories. Makkai is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada College and Northwestern University and is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago. Visit her at www.rebeccamakkai.com or on Twitter @rebeccamakkai.

About the Moderator

Joseph O. Legaspi is the author of the poetry collections Threshold and Imago; and three chapbooks: Postcards; Aviary, Bestiary; and Subways. His works have appeared in Poetry, New England Review, World Literature Today, Best of the Net, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day. He cofounded Kundiman, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing generations of writers and readers of Asian-American literature.

On Wednesday, Massachusetts Governor Charles Baker signed into law the FY 2020 budget which includes $75,000 allocated for the Immigrants’ Assistance Center (IAC). The IAC will use these funds to support citizenship and workforce readiness training classes.

In a first-of-its kind partnership, with capital support from the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, the IAC collaborated with MassHire Greater New Bedford Career Center to build a technology classroom and establish a Citizenship and Workforce Readiness Program. Clients attend technology-based language and civics classes until they are ready to apply for citizenship, and once citizenship is attained, are invited back to the classroom for computer-based job training. This program enables our new citizens to be job-ready, and for the companies in the area to have a viable candidate pool for their employees.

“The IAC is uniquely positioned to leverage these funds in support of immigrant families. There is no program in the SouthCoast that provides this start-to-finish service, designed to reduce barriers to economic mobility for new citizens and positively impact the region’s work force,” said Director of Development Kristin Batstone Morrissey.

The new funding will enable the IAC to respond to the current human services crisis around immigration by stepping up to meet the increased demand in clients seeking U.S. citizenship and better-paying jobs.

Advocacy from lawmakers made this funding possible. “We are deeply grateful to Sen. Mark Montigny, Chairman Michael Rodrigues and Rep. Tony Cabral for their unwavering support of immigrant families and the IAC,” said Executive Director Helena DaSilva Hughes.