The English as a Second Language - Work and Learn Center (ESL-WLC) program became part of Affiliated Alternatives at Brearly Street during the 2006-2007 school year.

The program was established to provide a growing population of English Language Learners (ELL) at the high school level with a flexible program that allows them to improve their academic knowledge and acquire new, work-related skills.

The program follows the same guidelines as the mainstream Work and Learn Center program. It is divided into four semesters called levels. During the first two levels, the students do volunteer work for three hours in the morning, and attend school for three hours in the afternoon.

During the remaining two levels, students attend class in the morning and go to work in the afternoon as part of their high school graduation requirements. If a student successfully completes the four levels, he or she receives a high school diploma from the high school that he or she attended before transferring to ESL-WLC.

The main differences between the ESL-WLC program and the mainstream WLC program are:

• enrollment; at this time, only eight students can be in the ESL-WLC program;
• the pace of academic work is based on the students' needs and skills, with emphasis placed on learning English via class content that can be applied to daily life situations and employability skills.

The requirements for entering the program are:

• having a DPI level of 2-4,
• being at least 16 years of age,
• being credit deficient and
• submitting an application form.

Four ESL students in the Work and Learn Center program pose with the ESL teacher there, Miguel Angel León Benito, center. ESL-WLC this year became part of Affiliated Alternatives at the Brearly Street location.