I came home and made a copy of Celina's signed consent form. I will mail it to her this week since she does not use email. On Sat. 10/30/10, I received her return-to-sender consent form in my mailbox. I will resend it one more time, this time not including the P.O. Box #.
I met Celina in class this week (See below) in the WR English Cafe class on Tues. morning. She came for the first time to class with her intellectually disabled 22 year old daughter. I found out in speaking with her after class, that her daughter only knows English since she was born in NY, as was her son (who is serving overseas in Japan with the Army Reserves). There is something very proud and intelligent about Celina, and also a sadness about her. The best is that she is still married to an employed husband. There is only one car in the family and since the husband drives it to work at the airport everyday, she sometimes has to use a bus to get to places, and to class. She described her husband as protective of her and her daughter, but fortunately, he does allow them to take the bus to get to the library's English classes (Is this in some way an example of machismo? I did meet the husband on the day of my member checking interview with Celina on 10/29/10. He was actually friendly towards me and commented to Celina in Spanish that I did not speak Spanish. His own English was seemed satisfactory.)
I met with Celina, age 61, today. She is from Cali, Colombia and is a U.S. Citizen (2006) living in NYC for 19 years and in Plantation, FL for 6 years. I met her on her first visit to Trina's Tuesday English Cafe class on 10/5/10. She never finished high school in Colombia (see below), and still has no GED.
During the Adult Screening questions, I asked about her marital status. She is married to a Colombian American who has U.S. Citizenship & works for the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport. He trained in Colombia as an engineer and has the equivalent of a university degree. I learned in our member checking on 10/29/10 interview that he works for the same boss as he had in New York at the Westchester County Airport. He has a very good relationship with his boss, mainly b/c he is very flexible and never turns down a shift change or last minute call to come into work. Celina describes his work as a fueler, i.e., he puts fuel into various tanks of the plane while they are on the landing field.
As we began the interview using the Adult Screening instrument, we were talking about her reason for not completing more than a year of high school in Colombia. She did not initially tell me why she did not finish high school, so I decided to probe this.
After breaking into tears, she told me that her parents both had died 6 months apart from each other of natural causes. They were in their 50s and 60s, leaving herself, 4 sisters and 3 brothers orphaned. She was in the first year of high school at that time, and so she was sent to live with a family in NY (who was this family?), and never has completed her GED. Since this time, she has lost 1 brother and 2 sisters as well.
What motivates you to participate in the English Cafe?
Celina spoke about the need she has to understand the doctors whom her 22 year old daughter must see. Up in NY, the doctors were bilingual, but not here in Plantation, FL, she says.
She has also always had jobs in NY, to her good fortune, i.e., she is actually "handicapped" having neither a diploma from her native Colombia nor from the U.S. Her first job in the U.S. was at a substance abuse rehab hospital as a patient care assistant with no formal training, only on-the-job training, when her son entered kindergarten. She helped patients to take their medication and brought them their meals for 6 years. Then her patient died. She got a job next in a hotel in the laundry and worked for 5-6 more years until she became pregnant with her daughter. Her husband insisted that she take time off for 6 months after her birth, since she was disabled and was in need of much medical attention and evaluation as an infant and young child. Her next employment was with a Saudi Arabian family who employed her three days a week as a live-in, and allowed Celina the flexibility she needed to schedule time off to take care of her daughter. She worked about six years for them until they moved to their home in Lebanon.
Then she moved with her family to Plantation, FL 6 years ago. This is b/c her husband got a transfer from the airport company he works for.
How has the English Cafe helped you learn what you wanted to learn [helped you to feel successful]? Celina had trouble with the wording of this question as have others. From now on, I will use the wording above in brackets.
What parts of the English Cafe do you like?
The speaking opportunities in class. Celina explained that she really benefits from the paired partner practice specifically using dialogue (e.g., like she did yesterday in class with reference to ordering food from an Italian restaurant) with guided practice help from the teacher.
She specifically mentioned the good explanations that her teacher provides in a slowly paced English speaking voice. When Celina did not understand one thing, she was careful to graciously repeat it for her.
She said that she liked sitting at the table (I did lead this question).
What parts of the English Cafe would you change?
"It's good."
What supports you to learn?
The way the teacher explains things about the holidays, i.e., Halloween. How the teacher individually helps students during dialogue partner practice.
Her son, who has a successful military career, is living at home these past two years and is employed with the local Army Reserve Office. He has served as a U.S. Marine for seven years and has been to Korea, CA, Iraq, VA, NY, Australia, and Germany. He helps with some of the family's bills and he is very supportive of Celina's efforts to learn English. She said that he even commented positively at how she is coming to meet with me and speaks to me in English only. He also only speaks to her in English.
Her daugher knows some Spanish words, but speaks mostly all in English with her. After all, both of her children were born in the U.S. and have graduated from Amercican high schools.
She told me that she practices about 4 days a week with Jennifer on her written English vocabulary. This helps Celina to learn English too. Consequently, is apparent to me that the ideal situation would be for both Celina and Jennifer to enroll in a family literacy program together. Unfortunately, Jennifer is no longer a student in Broward Schools so they cannot enroll in the Broward County Schools' family literacy programs.
What obstacles get in the way?
-Transportation--has no car, so she must take the bus.
-Childcare--her daughter has to come with her.
-Her husband and she speak only in Spanish.
-She does not work among any English speaking people.
-Her daughter's age of 22 is now making the task of finding social and educational support services difficult. Celina has signed Jennifer up (back in 2008 at the time J. graduated high school) on waiting lists with 5-6 agencies including a language center; but so far, no one has called her.
What improvements would she want to see?
-Add more conversational practice with the other women in pairs.
-Add more morning classes.
What can the library do to motivate more people in your age group to attend?
n/a
Conclusion:
I gave Celina three 3 essays in Spanish to take home and mail back to me (has no email address). She will decide whether to mail them back to me, or bring them with her to our meeting in three weeks for member checking. At the member checking interview on 10/29/10, she said she did not have time to look at the essays (yet I saw that she still had them in her purse).
Follow-up Questions:
How is her husband's English? I met him on 10/29/10 when he came to pick her up. He was friendly and came across as very hardworking.
Who did she go to live with in NY when she first came to the US? She said that she was 13 at the time and went to live with her 30 year old family friend after her parents died. The two of them then lived together on their own with no other family support.
What is her husband's job at the airport? He is a fueler of the planes while they are landed for service.
How many years did she work for the very wealthy Saudi American family? About six years until they moved to their other home in Lebanon. She explained at our second interview that the family had five vehicles and a very lavish lifestyle.
Why did she and her family move to S FL six years ago? Her husband got a job transfer through his company.
During the 10/29/10 member checking interview, Celina was there before I arrived. She had taken the bus to get there. She let me know that we had one hour b/c she must leave in order to vote downstairs (early voting). Her husband would be picking her up at 11:30. I was so flattered by her punctuality and her fearless attitude. Despite her limited English, she came to meet with me. This says a lot to me. I was also glad to learn more in this interview about some of the support she has at home through her 32 year son. He encourages her to watch only English TV (see Elida and Jimena).
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