Success Stories
English
as a Second Language Program Builds Skills That Lead to Great Jobs
by Gloria Biersdorff
 |
Francisco Gutiérrez, a native of Mexico, completed the English as a Second Language program in 1990, and now works at the Eugene Public Library in its only bilingual position. |
Francisco Gutiérrez heard about the English as a Second Language program at Lane Community College while talking with another Hispanic man on the corner of Eighth Avenue and Blair Boulevard in Eugene. The program sounded unique. "In Mexico, any type of school that teaches another language is expensive, and sometimes you have to travel great distances," says Gutiérrez, 38. But "El Colegio Del LCC El Del Centro" was nearby and ESL classes were free to Lane County residents at the time.
Gutiérrez enrolled in 1988 and studied English for the next two years. He returned in 1994 for an associate of arts degree, and subsequently secured the Eugene Public Library's only bilingual position in February 2002. Gutiérrez, who already had a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Universidad Autonoma De Guadalajara, despaired of mastering English when he immigrated to Eugene in 1983. Halfway into the ESL program he approached instructor Annick Todd. "I told her that I didn't understand why things seemed so wrong, that I didn't feel confident I could communicate in English. Annick listened, then told me something I hadn't realized. I had said all this in English. She tapped me on the shoulder and told me she thought I was doing well. That did it all."
Now Gutiérrez assists both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking library patrons with equal ease. "The most fulfilling part of my job is that I can correlate with two very different and at the same time similar cultures and ways of thinking. I love it," he says.
"Francisco is a great asset to our department," says circulation supervisor Jeff Blonde. "He helps to draw in customers from the Hispanic community." That community has burgeoned to 30,000 in Lane County, according to Centro Latino Americano executive director Carmen Urbina. Nearly 70 percent of Lane's ESL students are Hispanic.
An advisory committee comprising local businesses, organizations and educators began meeting spring 2002 to advocate the program in light of a growing non-English speaking population and diminishing funding. Suggested solutions include class sponsorship by trade organizations.
One six-hour-per-week class costs the college approximately $5,300 per term. ESL students pay a $15 materials fee for each course -- a hardship for some, according to program division chair Pat John. John stresses the earnestness with which Hispanics and other immigrants strive to "become American." The most common comment in class evaluations is, "We need more time with our teachers." Each term, about 26 instructors teach an average of 500 students, with 200 to 450 more students on waiting lists.
This noncredit program enrolls students from more than 40 different nations of Asian, Hispanic, European, and Middle Eastern cultures. All classes are culturally mixed and all instruction is conducted in English. Courses are designed to help students with everyday communication as well as with transition to other training and academic programs, including Adult Basic and Secondary Education, GED (general educational development) programs, community college, or university.
For more information about the English as a Second Language program at Lane Community College, call (541)463-5253. (5/8/03)
