Success Stories
English as a Second Language Leads to First Choice Careers
Story by Chris Cunningham
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| Featured on the cover: Henry Parada, former English as a Second Language student and currently a credit student in the Aviation MaintenanceTechnician program; Cristela Moreno, former English as a Second Language student and currently Lead Student Services Specialist for the English as a Second Language Department |
“If you want to realize your dreams, work hard for them. It doesn’t matter how late the opportunity comes.”—Henry Parada
When Henry Parada emigrated from his native war-torn El Salvador in 1985, he couldn’t in his wildest dreams have imagined that he might achieve his boyhood dream of becoming an aviation mechanic.
“This is the career that I’ve wanted since I was a kid,” says the 41-year-old Parada, who tells others, “If you want to realize your dreams, work hard for them. It doesn’t matter how late the opportunity comes.”
Just 18 months ago, Cristela Moreno arrived in Eugene from her native Mexico. Now she is lead student service representative in Lane’s English as a Second Language office. Her warm smile and calm voice make immigrants, refugees and migrant workers feel welcome.
Moreno, who is 37, advises those who come to her desk,“Don’t be afraid to try the classes. You will learn many things about what you need to know.”
Both Parada and Moreno credit Lane’s ESL program for giving them encouragement they needed to pursue their goals.
Parada arrived in Los Angeles when he was just 19 years old. He soon found work as a press operator, a job that didn’t require much English. But each Saturday, he attended a five-hour English class. And all the while, he longed for an occupation that would tap into his mechanical abilities.
Over time, Parada and his wife became disillusioned with the high cost of living in California and relocated to Springfield. He gladly accepted employment in the wood products industry. But, the company laid him off twice over a 12-month period.
Rather than return to work the second time he was called back, Parada decided to attend school full-time, seek training in a stable industry, and become fluent in English. Toward that end, he enrolled in the ESL program, which provides intensive English language training in reading, writing and speaking. The program also offers a variety of ancillary services, ranging from academic advising, to an orientation of U.S. culture and customs, to basic survival skills, such as filling out employment applications and interviewing for jobs.
Forty-two non-credit ESL classes are scheduled at four locations during spring term, says Department Director Cathy Lindsley. The main campus offers daytime classes, and the Eugene downtown center on Willamette Street has evening classes. Outreach courses also are available in Springfield and Cottage Grove.
Parada learned from the State of Oregon Employment Department that he might be eligible for financial support throughthe U.S. Department of Labor’s Trade Act program. The Trade Act provides an array of services to workers who have become unemployed as a result of shifts in production to foreign countries. Ever focused on his long-range goals, Parada studied for, and passed, Lane’s challenging flight technology entrance exams.
About Parada, ESL academic advisor Heather Zissler says, “It has been wonderful working with him and seeing him choose to follow his dreams and study aviation mechanics, rather than just accept the easiest and quickest training program.”
When Moreno moved to the U.S. with her husband, a Eugene resident, life was“a change in every sense.” For one thing, she left behind a professional position as an environmental, health and safety coordinator for a company that supplies wood products industries with adhesive resins. And she soon learned that speaking English in Mexico, “isn’t the same as being immersed” and having a deep enough understanding of the language to ask a physician questions in the exam room, for example, or give instructions to a stylist in a hair salon.
Last March, Moreno enrolled in Norman Johnson’s intermediate-level ESL reading and writing class, one of eight different levels of ESL instruction available to students.
As a student, Moreno was “exemplary,”says Johnson, who encouraged Moreno to apply for her job in the ESL office.“She clearly has a strong educational background and is a mature learner.”
Johnson also helped her focus on her goals, says Moreno, adding that he is typical of ESL instructors, who invariably seek to cultivate “personal relationships with their students and are concerned about what each student needs to do to improve.”
Moreno recites an expression from her native Mexico that aptly describes the kind of welcome she and Parada received in Lane’s ESL - and one she obviously extends in her job. “Me recibieron con las puertas abiertas,”... that is, “They welcome me with the door open.”
For more information, call the main campus ESL office at 463-5253, or drop by Building 11, Room 201.
Para información en español sobre el Programa de ESL, llame al 541-463-5253.
