Beginner English

Greater Olney Library is running a Beginner English class on Monday and Tuesday evenings, from 5:15 to 6:45 PM, through December 8. It's geared toward adult and senior beginners, and the focus is on the kind of English you actually use in daily life. Over the course of the sessions, you'll work on listening, speaking, reading, and writing, with the goal of building enough confidence to start using English in your day-to-day routines. The classes are made possible through support from Comcast NBCUniversal.

The library itself is at 5501 North 5th Street, at 5th and Tabor Road in Philadelphia, and the class meets on the second floor. One thing to keep in mind: there's no elevator access to that floor, so you'll be taking the stairs. The branch opened back in October 1949 in the former Olney Bank and Trust Company building, the result of a push by the Kiwanis Club and the Olney Community Council that started in 1945 to bring a library to the neighborhood. It was renovated in 1997 as part of the Free Library's 'Changing Lives' campaign.

Olney takes its name from the home of Alexander Wilson, which stood there from 1840 to 1924 and was named after the poet William Cowper of Olney in England, author of the Olney Hymns. The area's free library tradition goes back even further than that, to a one-story stone building from around 1858.

As for the practical side, it's a free class and there's no registration required—you just show up. It runs Mondays and Tuesdays, 5:15 to 6:45 PM, from October 5 through December 8, at the Greater Olney Library, 5501 North 5th Street, second floor.