Every Monday and Tuesday night I drive 17 minutes down Route 128, walk through 3 sets of open doors, up two flights of highly trafficked stairs, and am transported into a different world. When I enter, I am greeted in at least a dozen different languages and am ushered to the front of a fairly tiny classroom to assume the role of “Teacher”. In front of a room full of adult English Language Learners, I am learning some of the most valuable lessons that Gordon has to offer: my team and I are breathing salt and light, we are Gordon in Lynn.

The Night School provides ESL (English as a Second Language) and GED lessons for adults in the city of Lynn. Dr. Claire Crane of the Ford Elementary School spearheaded this project almost a decade ago, and has since worked to do justice in Lynn by teaching the parents and friends of the students she serves at her Public and Community-centered school. With more than 3 different ESL levels, teachers from the Ford School along with Gordon Students work to convey lessons of language and culture to eager and grateful adult-learners.

Both Monday and Tuesday evenings are spent in large and small-group settings while Gordon SALTeam members lead lessons and build relationships. Monday’s SALTeam is compiled of 8 First Year Students, and Tuesday’s has 6. Both groups teach in the same classroom of 50+ adults.

The most important vision, held by each SALTeam member and Ford School staff member, is to create a sense of community and belonging through shared knowledge and love. More than any grammatical or lexical excellence, we aim to create a common vocabulary of shalom: a peace and understanding between people so different that the we begin to wonder why, if at all, we ever found it difficult to love one another in the first place.