Summer Program Enriches

Gregory, Ahmad, Zachary and friends are talking basketball in between classes at the Longfellow School.

"You know the Charlotte Hornets? That's fresh."

"The Dream Team's gonna win big."

"They killed Cuba's team."

On a hot day in mid-July, you would expect this free-association lunchtime conversation between 11-Year-olds to take place almost anywhere. Anywhere but school, that is.

But school's where Gregory, Ahmad and Zachary are this summer, eating bologna and cheese sandwiches, talking basketball and studying science.

They are among 30 Cambridge sixth graders chosen randomly from various academic programs--Intensive Studies Programs and English as a Second Language--to participate in Summerbridge, a "workshop in education" run entirely by high school and college students.

The goal of the program, which is free for students, is to get "younger kids into learning, older kids into teaching," says Phillip King '92, a co-founder of the Cambridge version of the program with Angela Lee '92. The program was first developed in San Francisco in 1978.

Beginning with breakfast, the students and teachers spend all day at the Longfellow School in Mid-Cambridge.

Each student takes four academic classes: math, writing, science, and foreign language--German or Spanish. There's also a period for club meetings such as drama, photography and Chinese Brush painting. Field trips to Faneuil Hall and camping trips are also among the weekly events.

While all this may seem like an ordinary summer school program, there are differences. Unlike public school classrooms, the student to teacher ratio is six to one, King says.

And both students and teachers say they appreciate their relative closeness in age.

"I like [my teachers]," Ahmad Buchanan, 11, says, "they're not snappy like my other teachers."

Math teacher Mahmood Firouzbakht, the youngest on staff at age 15, says that he "can relate to [the students] better" more than his teachers relate to him.

In addition to learning about the schoolingpatterns of fish, students also learn thebasics--taking notes, keeping a notebook, makinghealthy after school snacks--necessitities forfuture and more advanced academics, King says.

The instructors, too, have learned the basicsabout teaching.

Manuel Munoz '94, who teaches Spanish, saysthat he has learned "not to panic and keep yourcool" when lesson plans fail to capture theimagination of his students.

"Once they zone out, they're gone," he says.

Both students and teachers agreed that theinaugural year of Cambridge Summerbridge has beensuccessful and fun. But, of course, there are theusual complaints.

"You can't go swimming," Annie Kelley says

In addition to learning about the schoolingpatterns of fish, students also learn thebasics--taking notes, keeping a notebook, makinghealthy after school snacks--necessitities forfuture and more advanced academics, King says.

The instructors, too, have learned the basicsabout teaching.

Manuel Munoz '94, who teaches Spanish, saysthat he has learned "not to panic and keep yourcool" when lesson plans fail to capture theimagination of his students.

"Once they zone out, they're gone," he says.

Both students and teachers agreed that theinaugural year of Cambridge Summerbridge has beensuccessful and fun. But, of course, there are theusual complaints.

"You can't go swimming," Annie Kelley says