Although Helen Schwartz attributes her ongoing love of basket weaving to a course that continues to be taught each year by Martha Mulford-Dreswick, it's when she sees people line up to enroll for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes each fall that Ms. Schwartz becomes emotional.
"These classes serve an immigrant population for whom learning the language is the key to the door," said Ms. Schwartz, whose own parents were immigrants to the United States.
A long-time Adult School program participant and member of the board, Ms. Schwartz points out that while the lecture series, art and cooking classes are among the most popular offerings, it's the ESOL classes that are "the most meaningful for our community."
Registration for ESOL classes will be on Tuesday, September 19, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 pm at Princeton High School. In-person registration is required for ESOL. For foreign language students unsure of what level of class to take, in person registration is also available at the front entrance to the high school on Moore Street.
eBay Simplified to Tai Chi
In addition to ESOL, a plethora of other subjects is available — more than 130 courses ranging from wine appreciation and classical music to French for opera lovers and Latin for dilettantes.
This year's course booklet lists nine lecture courses, 33 language courses, 13 studio arts workshops, 18 exercise and fitness activities, six studio music classes, five cooking, 20 hobbies, four business and professional courses, and seven computer courses.
"Every year we aim for the proverbial something for everybody," said Princeton Adult School President Nancy Beck, "and I think we're closer than ever. We have more than a dozen new courses ranging from cerebral to recreational."
Among the new courses is "Computers à la Carte," a series of short workshops designed to help people get the most out of their computers, and two courses on cinema, "Hamlet Goes to the Movies" presented by Denise Asfar, and "Famous Fellini Flicks" by Marco Epstein.
For students of the culinary arts, Allyn Armonia-Bonilla and Rogelio Morales promise to reveal the "secrets of traditional, rustic, Mexican cooking," and Sue Choo focuses on mostly Chinese and Thai cuisines.
As well as new courses, staple subjects such as introduction to computing, digital photography, Hatha-yoga, ballroom dancing, guitar and writing workshops continue. Anne Harwood returns with the "The Basics of Fine Cooking."
"We also continue to offer our very popular foreign language program, which includes all the usual ones plus Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, and Russian," said Ms. Beck.
In "More Than a Concert," Princeton Symphony Orchestra Music Director Mark Laycock will introduce participants to particular works by Liadov, Hovhanes, Debussy, Ravel, Schubert, Vaughan Williams, and Beethoven, that are to be performed by the Princeton Symphony in concert this fall.
Lecture Series
The focus of this year's Anne B. Shepherd Lecture Series, is "Globalization: The Endless Flow of People, Goods, and Ideas & What Does It All Mean?" Intended to examine increased globalization and its effects, the 8-session series presents speakers from Princeton University, including Robert L. Tignor, Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, who opens the series with a history of globalization on Tuesday, October 10, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School, whose lecture on the future of American national security policy brings the series to a close on Tuesday, December 5.
In between, lecturers include sociologist Douglas S. Massey on the effects of U.S. Immigration policy from 1986 to 2006, and geoscientist S. George Philander on the controversy over global warming.
History
The Princeton Adult School has been offering classes for more than 65 years, beginning with 20 classes in 1939. Over the years courses have ranged from bird watching and gourmet cooking to lectures on the universe by leading astrophysicists.
PAS teachers are professionals in their fields and often nationally noted authorities from Princeton and Rutgers Universities.
Last year, the school offered over 100 different courses in each of two terms with a total enrollment of some 5,000 students.
"Last year's enrollment was very gratifying," said Ms. Beck. "We are especially pleased with the public's response to the adult school. Enrollment has recently been so strong that there are always several courses that are filled before in-person registration night by those who register on-line or by mail. We always have to turn people away from popular classes with space limitations — courses like cooking, some of the studio courses, and ballroom dancing."
Classes begin Tuesday, October 3, and Thursday, October 5. If you haven't received a Princeton Adult School program listing in the mail, copies are available in the Princeton Public Library. For more information, call (609) 683-1101 or visit www.princetonadultschool.org.