A new language academy has opened in West Yarmouth at 38 Main St., to help the thousands of residents on Cape Cod with limited English skills to overcome this key obstacle to their economic progress.
“From my two decades living and working on the Cape, I have personally witnessed the growing need for a school that helps give a leg up to the many families who have arrived here speaking Portuguese, Spanish and other languages, but with limited ability in English,” said Cape International Language Academy’s co-founder and CEO Clara Mesonero.
As a practicing physician at Cape Cod Hospital, Mesonero has seen first-hand that hard-working and talented new arrivals to the Cape nevertheless can be stymied in their career advancement because of insufficient English skills.
Her experience creating a Spanish Club on the Cape – whose members currently represent more than ten Spanish-speaking nationalities – further convinced Mesonero of the strong need for English classes.
CILA’s staff is reaching out to these many communities this fall and has just launched its first cycle of English as a Second Language (ESL) courses this September.
“There are many language schools off Cape that belong to large companies. We aim to be different, because we are anchored on Cape Cod, with deep personal connections and a mission to help integrate our growing immigrant communities,” said John Vazquez, CILA’s co-founder and COO.
All of CILA’s leadership team speaks two or three languages and has been involved in intercultural exchange for decades (bios can be found at www.cilacapecod.com)
CILA is also offering a selection of small group and private classes in foreign languages, starting with Spanish, Portuguese and German, for the many Cape residents who want to learn a new language for travel or for cultural enrichment. These classes will be offered in conjunction with language-based cultural events beginning later this year.
