American-Latino Immigrants Proudly Assisting the Community

Publisher's Note: This column is an ongoing series detailing the triumphs and tribulations of those who have bravely taken the plunge into formal English as a Second Language education.

The second class is usually more chaotic than the first class. The first class people come in, find their respective classes and then sit down. The second day of class is when people feel they’ve been placed in a class that is below or above their skill level and want to change. People coming from level 2 to level 1 and vice versa, and people going from the advanced class to the intermediate class and vice versa. It’s crazy.

Before the classes even begin is registration night. Prospective students come in, pay their tuition and take a placement test. The placement test determines to which level they will be assigned. It’s not fool proof. Sometimes a student will appear to have more English skills than they actually have, and sometimes a student will appear to have little English skills when they actually have a rudimentary knowledge. So after the first class some of the students are shuffled around a little.

Last night we lost Blanca, a student from Italy and another from Portugal, and we gained a guy named Moses. It reminds me of a student named Moses years ago. He was a short, unassuming man with a pointed head. He used to bring his son with him, but the boy distracted him too much so he left him at home. He tried to be the class clown, but he just didn’t have it in him. Jim Carrey he was not. I don’t like to say negative things about the students; most of them have not had the educational opportunities that I have had, and many of them did not get their recommended daily allowance of all essential vitamins and nutrients while growing up, but Moses was not the sharpest tool in the shed. He was a nice fellow. I felt sorry for him.

He wasn’t a screw up. He tried. O how he tried. He showed up at every class. He paid attention. The teacher recommended to the students that they watch television in English and listen to the radio in English as much as they can so that their hearing can become familiar with the sounds. Moses did that. He did everything we told him to do, and he tried so hard. We always tell the students that their success at learning English depends on them, not us. Their success depends on their attendance in class; it depends on whether they do their homework; it depends on them looking at their watch and thinking to themselves, “It’s five o’clock,” rather than saying, “Son las cinco.” When springtime came and it was still light out when class started and the other students didn’t come to class, Moses came to class.

But I’ll be doggoned if by the end of the semester Moses wasn’t the most outstanding student in the class. Not only that, he had become a leader. He would identify someone who was having trouble with a particular lesson and move his seat to go work with that person. Other students would read what he wrote and listen to what he said. They had developed a respect for him. The next semester when Moses took his placement test, he tested into the advanced class. He skipped the intermediate class altogether.

This is how it’s supposed to work. He was the ideal student, every teacher’s dream. He took advantage of the class, applied himself and learned a great deal. Unfortunately, not every student is like Moses. It’s tough to attend class for two hours after having worked all day. Some of the students don’t even get a chance to eat dinner until after class. Yet they keep coming, and with a lot of hard work and the tenacity of Moses, they’ll learn just like he did. It’s going to be a great semester.