It’s summertime, but the living isn’t easy at Harvard Summer School. Lecture times have shot up from the customary 53 minutes to two and a half-hour sessions, last Monday saw the first organic chemistry test and pre-professional classes not offered during the year are now available, drawing throngs of students looking to get a step ahead on future careers.

But, in the midst of all these standard courses, there are some that are strictly outside the box. A few informal, student-organized classes are also available this summer for those interested in taking classes off the beaten path.

Creole for Health

Haitian Creole is not a language with much clout worldwide. But its very remoteness is what makes learning to speak it so imperative to a number of Harvard students.

The classes in Haitian Creole were put together by Project Health, a student organization which helps local low-income families with health, housing and educational issues. The 16-member class is mostly made up of Project Health volunteers.

Over the past school year, members often found themselves faced with an impossible language barrier when working with recent Haitian immigrant families.

“There is a real need to reach out to this community,” said Project Health campus coordinator Rachel Bloomekatz ’02, who organized the classes.

Although she says that Massachussets General Hospital, where Project Health is based, has many translators available, that is often not enough.

“If you can’t even tell [the familly] that you’re going to get a translator for them, you’re at an impasse,” she said. “Being able to initiate a conversation in someone’s first language really gives us an edge in helping them.”

The six-session summer Creole classes will not be a miracle solution, but Bloomekatz says it will be more than worth the effort if the volunteers come out able to “break through the initial language barrier.”

After the first class on Wednesday, many participating volunteers expressed optimism that the course would help them meet their goals.

“It’s going to be pretty useful,” said volunteer Kevin P. Wu ’03, “The teacher has made it like an immersion program, and I like that the focus is on conversation.”

The instructor, Eddy Carré, heard about the job through the Boston Creole Institute.

“Hearing Project Health’s goals made me especially want to do it,” Carré said.

A former economics professor at the University of the State of Haiti, Carré has been teaching French in Boston public schools for the last year.