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After many years of dedicated service to our school and her students, beloved Teacher Mary Peros is retiring. Mary taught ESL at San Mateo Adult School for almost eighteen years.  She organized and participated in many SMAS activities and events, including International Days, holiday events, and a Talent Show held at the Performing Arts Center.   You can watch videos of the Talent Show here in these clips.  Be sure to watch the last part of the second video!   She never missed a chance to have fun, put on a costume and cut a rug . Halloween 2013 International Day 2011 Dunking for Apples on Halloween Mary and students, Halloween  Belting Out a Song with Patricia and Lisa Video of teachers dancing at International Day (below)   When the cuts and closures hit Adult Schools in 2009, Mary responded, attending meetings, discussing strategies, and helping to organize a school wide response to a statewide problem.  Mary Peros Burlingame School ...

Toshio teaching and entertaining in Teacher Vasyl's Morning Low Intermediate ESL Class Last week, Teacher Vasyl's morning Low Intermediate ESL class practiced and improved their English skills with the help of San Mateo Adult School CASAS clerk Toshio Hirano.   Jimmy Rogers Country Singer from the 1920s Toshio led the students in a sing-a-long of the song, " My Heart Skips A Beat ."  It is a song from the 1960s with an old-time country sound and rhythm. Toshio taught the students how to sing in this style, like his musical hero, Jimmy Rogers.   Most people can guess from his name that Toshio is from Japan.  Almost everyone knows that Toshio gives the CASAS test.  Many people know that his office is in Room 28 where he does all the paperwork for the CASAS test.  He also helps students make appointments in Distance Learning, gives advice about learning English, and shares tips on great places to visit in the Bay Area an...

There is no school Monday February 15.   The Adult School will be closed on Monday February 16, 2015 because it is Presidents Day. On Presidents Day we honor  President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln . George Washington was the first president of the United States. His birthday was February 22, 1732. He was a general in the Revolutionary War. The U.S. fought the Revolutionary War against the British. The U.S. won the war. This was the beginning of the United States. Sometimes Washington is known as the Father of our Country. Abraham Lincoln was the president during the Civil War. His birthday was February 12. 1809. He grew up poor and suffered from depression. He had many hardships in his life. He was assassinated during his second term as president.  Before he was assassinated, he accomplished many big things.  Some people think he was the greatest president we have ever had.  He freed the slaves.   He kept the country together i...

Many of our students drive "over the hill" from Half Moon Bay and other coastal cities for their ESL classes.  For a long time, because of the cuts to Adult Education, there was no Adult School on the coast of San Mateo County.  Teacher Shari Deghi Coordinator of La Costa Adult School But now there is!  The name of the new Adult School is La Costa Adult School.  "La Costa"is Spanish for "the coast."   La Costa Adult School is part of ACCEL, our Regional Consortium.  All the schools in ACCEL work together to serve the county of San Mateo. Our own Teacher Shari is the coordinator of La Costa. Here is some information from Teacher Shari about the school:   La Costa Adult School The Western Coast of San Mateo County La Costa Adult School, the newest adult school in California, serves residents from Montara to Año Nuevo on the San Mateo County coast and is affiliated with the Cabrillo and La Honda/Pescadero Unified School Districts. La Costa has two lo...

Lucy Ochoa was a student in Teacher Jessica's evening ESL class.  Here is the article she wrote about our school and Adult Education for her class in journalism at UC Berkeley.  In her home country of Ecuador, she is a journalist. Adult Education,   Why does it matter?   By Lucy Ochoa It's 6:30 pm on Thursday, the last day of school before the weekend. About twenty students rush into a room at the main campus of San Mateo Adult School, greeting each other in different languages. After signing the attendance sheet they choose seats behind of one of the long wooden tables that face the whiteboard. Learning English is the challenge that brings these students together whenever their schedule allows it. Despite their different origins, all of them share two characteristics: they are adults and their native language is not English. According to the Public Policy Institute of California and data from the U.S Census Bureau, this state has over 10 million immigrants, the lar...