Neighbors gather for English lessons, laughter and a leg up

Sandra Baltazar MartĂ*nez | The New Mexican
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 - 6/22/10

Thirsty. Frustrated. Sad. Uncomfortable. Those were among the 25 words that several English as Second Language students were trying to pronounce during a class earlier this week.

The lesson about expressing feelings prompted laughter, and several "Spanglish" words were made up as the students tried to figure out the definitions.

Some words, such as homesick, required Instructor Lynne Matthes to give further explanations. For example, she had to provide concrete examples of the differences between drop and spill.

The students nodded frequently and took notes.

"It becomes a community within a classroom," said Matthes, who is employed by the Santa Fe Community College Adult Basic Education Department. "Students are not coming because they have to, they are coming because they want to, and they're very supportive of each other."

In between the note-taking and the laughter, students whispered definitions in Spanish to a classmate who didn't comprehend a word's meaning.

The ESL classes, along with General Educational Development courses and computer classes, are part of programs offered at the new El Centro Comunitario building. El Centro sits on Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority land on Espinacitas Street. The building opened June 3.

At this new site, there will be many firsts, said Soledad Santiago, El Centro's executive director. At 7 p.m. Friday, El Centro members are staging for the first time a play titled Cielo sin fronteras, or No Borders in the Sky. About 15 people, including the children, will participate in the performance, which Santiago refers to as "stories from the neighborhood."

Marichuy Guijarro participates in the El Centro activities, including the ESL and computer classes.

"I want to do better for myself. I want a better future and a good job," said Guijarro, who attends ESL classes in the morning and the evening twice a week.

El Centro is one of three community sites where SFCC offers ESL courses. The classes originally were offered at Kaune Elementary School, but with its closing, the site had to change, said Rebecca Sherry, ESL coordinator for SFCC's Adult Basic Education Department.

Because of timing and funding constraints, the ESL courses will be offered for only three weeks this summer, but next year they will be four to six weeks long, Sherry said.

At the Monday morning class, Guijarro and six other students sat in the classroom. For parents such as Aurora Jiménez and Guillermina Juárez, the luxury of attending such a class is possible only because their children are a few steps away.

JimĂ©nez's two children, EstĂ©van, 3, and Gissel RamĂ*rez, 7, and Juárez's daughter, Stephanie MartĂ*nez, 3, worked on Nuestro Libro de Letras, a bilingual alphabet book, while their mothers sat through the two-hour class. Child care is offered for both morning and evening classes by United Way of Santa Fe County, which also pays for the computer classes offered at El Centro every Tuesday and Thursday. The 17 computer stations were funded through the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

"The parents need to be studying. I know that if the parents can't bring (their children), they won't come here," said AnnaĂ* Burrola, United Way morning supervisor, who on Monday morning worked with EstĂ©van, Gissel and Stephanie.

About 80 percent of participants in the computer course started the program at Kaune Elementary, said Alicia Burrola, community organizer for United Way's School Community Initiative, launched in 2009.

The day care offered during both the ESL and computer classes gives parents peace of mind because many are reluctant to leave their children while they take the courses, Burrola said.

"We understand this," she said, "and frankly, I think that's what makes the program a success. Parents can bring their children with them."

Contact Sandra Baltazar MartĂ*nez at 986-3062 or smartinez@sfnewmexican.com.

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