The ESL Program at OLP and My Students: Through the Years

May 2, 2012 
I met Everardo on my way to my classroom today at Our Lady of Peace School. He got two canisters in hand while examining the plants around. What are you doing, I asked, because he was supposed to be just waiting for the teacher in front of the classroom. "I water plants. They're thirsty." Hah, he remembered the English word thirsty and spoke two straight sentences. That's enough perk for a teacher. 

The plants indeed looked parched but perhaps there's a sprinkler somewhere that automatically turns on. But like a generous elf, Everardo couldn't stand the sight of the dying plants. So, he went ahead and filled his two canisters with water to freshen up the dehydrated plants.

Everardo is only one of my ESL students who have demonstrated such watchful eyes on the church and school area. As a beneficiary of the free English class, he looks to it like his own property that he must help safeguard and care for. "Teacher, it's dark here. Light no good," he would say, when he noticed it was pitch-dark where my car was parked.

So many of my other students feel that sense of belonging in a community they can trust as a loving and supportive one.The above is only an example of how they give back. We have had students helping in church community events. Some have become members of various church ministry. Santos Yaque is now an Spanish lector, two others a few years back whose names I have forgotten) are members of the Spanish choir. And one of the best things that have really given them lasting benefits is their having improved themselves to the point they are able to move on to higher-paying jobs. Phuong Nguyen, one of my smartest students, finished Level 4 in my class. I told him it's time for him to move to a vocational school. He did and finished the electronic technician course at the North Valley Occupational Center. I talked to him today and found out he now holds the position of an electronic technician at the Arc Machine, Inc. (a leader and innovator corporation in automated orbital welding) and receiving higher salary than before when he didn't know much English. His wife, My Pham, who was my student in another school under Van Nuys Adult school in 2009, recruited him to go to my class at OLP. After learning I used to handle GED test preparation, My Pham, according to Husband Phuong, might attend my class in September with the hope she can learn more English and Math, which she needs to qualify for a doctor assistant exam. Tall order for an English teacher who will be without income anymore come July. But who will help these committed students now that the adult education is being dismantled? They can't afford private colleges. My Pham used to be a doctor's assistant when she was in Vietnam and it's a pity for her not to be able to use her skills just because she does not have enough English. She is such an amiable and conscientious student I have no doubt she will achieve her American dream . Btw, the couple and all their children have now become U.S. citizens. Everardo also had also passed his citizenship test and more, he and his common-law wife finally decided to tie the knot within the Catholic Church, 

Another former student of mine, Marlon Canales (shown below), from El Salvador, has gotten his high school and gone on to a better job last time I heard from him. I think he works for Nestle FoodService. When he was in my class in 2006, I coached and trained him for the Spelling Contest of Kennedy Adult School and then entered his name as our OLP-ESL class representative to the competition for all 18 branches of Kennedy-San Fernando Adult School. I remember having gone to the auditorium of San Fernando High School with him and another student of mine and was surprised at how the other contestants were surrounded by families and classmates rooting for them, parading with placards, cameras, videos and all, like it was graduation day or something. I started regretting not having pushed all my other students to come with us. There was only Juana Barajas, another of my more advanced students,  and myself to boost his morale. Not one of us even remembered bringing a camera. But surprise, surprise, our humble Marlon Canales beat them all one by one until he was the only one left to become the champion. He was awarded a trophy, a medallion, a plaque and the latest edition of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.  I cried as though it were my own son that won the First Prize.

Similar stories abound among committed ESL students struggling to acquire a second language even as they eke out a living, trusting that someday they can merge into the mainstream where they can gain their rightful place as self-reliant and contributing members.
When in 1998 I first proposed to our then pastor, Father John Keese, an ESL  Program at Our Lady of Peace to fill the need for English of non-English-speaking parents of students in that school, little did I know that the Program will spill out to the whole community of the parish and once in a while, even to neighboring areas. The idea was to help these parents learn enough English to enable them to help their children in their schoolwork  and add a multiplier effect on themselves in terms of integrated lessons and value inculcation they can hopefully pass on to their children. Father John readily approved it. Upon learning about it, the then OLP school principal, exclaimed, "I have been waiting for years to have this kind of outreach program for our community!" And finally, there it was. And by the grace of God, Kennedy-San Fernando CAS picked it up as an LAUSD class, assigning me the class we had given birth to. And now with the School Board dismantling it, the question can be asked, Quo Vadis, adult learners?