In its 37 years as an institution in DC, the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School has served over 50,000 students and has won numerous awards for its programs, including recognition by the U.S. Department of Education and by the National School Board Association for excellence in adult education.
The Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School was chartered by the DC Public Charter School Board in 1998 and earned accreditation in 2005 through the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
The Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School offers each year more than 2,000 immigrant students an array of programs and supportive services. The School‘s model combines evidence-based adult education practices with comprehensive supportive services.
The Carlos Rosario School offers 3-hour classes in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings during the week and serves over 2,000 students annually.
For more information on the Carlos Rosario School model, please see the School‘s Annual Report 
(PDF), which features information on School demographics, performance measures, staffing, and governance.
Carlos Rosario teacher Sheryl Sherwin is featured in a 30-minute video that is part of the “Teaching ESL to Adults” video series produced by the New American Horizons Foundation. The eight videos in the series are designed to provide training to teachers of English as a Second Language so that they can better foster the integration of immigrants into U.S. society.
Sherwin’s video is titled “Cultivating Writing Skills at the Intermediate Level” and features students from her daytime Level 5 ESL class. In the video, Sherwin demonstrates techniques to support students at the initial stages of the writing process. She gives students a two-paragraph writing assignment that will include a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence. The student are asked to write about how the education they received in their home countries differs from the education they are receiving at Rosario.
First, she asks the students to get into small groups with other students to generate ideas for the writing assignments. By talking with students from other countries, the students think about topics they might address in their writing assignment. Sherwin explains this exercise can help students think about a main idea for their writing.
Sherwin explains that a main idea is unique in American writing. What Americans assume to be a normal flow in writing could be completely different in another culture. Also, in the United States, “we expect very direct writing,” she explains. This is not true in many other countries.
Sherwin goes on to introduce the students to transitional phrases that they can use in their writing. These include “first of all,” “such as,” “in addition,” “also,” and “finally.” Students will use these phrases when making their point and providing examples to illustrate their point.
Throughout the video, Sherwin introduces her students to an American style of writing and helps them organize their paragraphs. She tells the interviewer about the School’s award-winning literary magazine and how it provides a way for the students’ work to be published.
The Carlos Rosario School is proud of Sheryl Sherwin and all of our creative, dedicated teachers for the work they do every day.
This video provided by and republished with permisson of the New American Horizons Foundation under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License
