“For about 10 years now, I’ve been teaching adults how to speak English. It’s through Harris County Department of Education. I want the world to be a better place. How better to contribute to that than by teaching these folks who come here and want to learn the language.

“Initially, classes were full of people from Mexico. Then came Central America and South America. We’ve also had folks from Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Pakistan — just all over.

“I have a lady from Honduras who only completed third grade. So she’s very limited. Her children speak English. She does not. I’m not sure if she wants to become a citizen. Maybe she just wants to help her kids with homework. Or she just wants to make an appointment with a doctor in English.

“Then you’ve got your educated who come with degrees: heavy duty attorneys, doctors, civil engineers. They want to go through the process of learning English, and then move on in their career paths.

“I don’t play favorites with the educated. I teach everyone like they’re human, with dignity. I may have to work a lot harder outside of class with the lady from Honduras to make sure she understands the grammar piece. But that’s OK. We can do that.

“As part of our curriculum, there also are citizenship classes. It teaches a history of the United States, the good and the ugly. These people want to be here. So why not create an adult learning community that knows our culture. That’s important to me.

“I can remember back in ’81 at the University of Houston doing a play about Jose Campos Torres, who was drowned by the Houston cops. Also when HISD tried to charge tuition for the children of undocumented workers to learn. That’s crazy. We can’t do that. Because of that background, I feel like these folks need a chance in America. I’m part of that chance. And that motivates the hell out of me.”

— Natalia Guzman

Related:

• She goes the extra mile to help family

The post Teacher helps break language barrier appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I was a newcomer teacher. I taught high school students who were just coming to this country and learning English. But it was much more than teaching them English. It was creating a community of belongingness for these new Americans, many of whom didn’t have a sense of family here. I felt like it was my duty and my joy to create that for them in the classroom.

“I absolutely loved teaching. But I realized that I could have a greater impact if I could work with more students. That’s why I moved into counseling.

“Most recently, I began working as a wellness counselor serving Santa Fe Junior High. Last year, there was a shooting at Santa Fe High School. As a consequence, funding was allocated for a variety of wrap-around resources for that community. One of those is mental health for the education piece.

“I provide counseling services to the students at the junior high. They may or may not have been impacted directly by the shooting incident. But certainly, the community trauma of that event may still be affecting them.

“Santa Fe is a very small community. It’s a tight-knit community. They really do operate like a family. So while they’re very supportive of each other, there are still times when students may need specialized assistance in dealing with something that’s bothering them. It takes a lot of courage for these kids to come and say, ‘I need help.’ It’s my job to provide that for them.”

— Marisol Mendez

Related:

• She’s an advocate for daily ‘mental hygiene’

• Mental health education needed in schools

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“I’m a senior at Texas A&M, studying animation. That’s my stuff. I like drawing and writing. As a kid, you’re always doodling. For me, it never really stopped.

“I didn’t take it seriously until my freshman year in college. I wanted to be an astronaut. But when I figured out I was really bad at math, I decided I wanted to be a paleontologist. When I realized that needed a lot of math, too, I went with my passion instead.

“My be-all, end-all goal is Disney. I’d love to work for them as a storyboard artist. I just got rejected from an internship there, so that’s a little wavery. I made it to the phone interview. That’s the last step. That’s when I got cut. Disney is very particular with who they want. When I was on the phone with them, they were like, ‘You can’t have any unnatural hair color.’ I was like, OK, I’ll chop my hair off. Then it was, ‘You can’t have any ear piercings.’ I was like, all right, I’ll take off my earrings. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out this time. The good thing is, I can apply again in January for a fall internship.

“I’ve got like a 10-year plan to get to Disney. It involves me being a teacher for five years. I’m going to get my master’s in education. I’m super excited about the opportunity. It’s a year-long program. As you’re working toward the degree, you’re also student teaching and being paid salary. If all else fails, I see myself being a teacher. I’m really passionate about reading, writing and literacy. I know a lot of people don’t like to write and have struggles with writing. So I feel like I could help with that.

“Overall, I’m going to follow whatever calling I’m led toward. I don’t think I’m ever going to give up art, even if I never end up making it to Disney. I think that’s the really cool thing about being an artist or a writer. You can do it no matter what.”

— Troy Breaux-Hare

You can find some of his art at ilios_art on Instagram.

Related:

• Idealist with ‘superhero complex’ wants to help others

• Boy Scouts ‘best thing that’s happened in my life’

• He’s trying not to stress out about the future

The post Plan A: becoming an artist at Disney appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I was living with my grandmother in Kenya before moving here to be with my parents. I was 12 and in sixth grade. It was so difficult for me to communicate with teachers and students. I didn’t speak English very well, and nobody knew my language, Swahili. For the most part, I felt all alone.

“I was the kid who sat in the bleachers while everyone else was playing their sports, because I couldn’t communicate with them. I was shy and nervous in class. My teachers were trying to get me to talk and socialize. They encouraged me to answer at least one question before class ended. It was hard. I never wanted to go to class because I knew they were going to ask me something, and I had to say something.

“So I began to read a lot of books, and I watched a lot of TV. I pushed myself to become more comfortable with English. I felt that if I wasn’t able to share my opinions with others, then they wouldn’t hear me. They wouldn’t know how I felt about things. Whenever we would have discussions in class, I tried to participate as much as I could. And as time went on, I became more confident.

“In Kenya, education isn’t accessible to everyone. So it’s more difficult for some people to get jobs and provide for their families. Coming here, I realize that I have more opportunities. And I have to take advantage of them to create a good life for myself. At the same time, I will not forget my family, my history, my customs, my traditions. It’s important to me. It’s a big part of who I am.”

— Sylvia Reema

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“Moving to the United States with my family actually has made a huge impact on me. When I was living in the Philippines, I was so shy talking to foreigners. But now that we’ve lived here for almost three years, I’m not that shy anymore. I’ve gotten used to speaking with Americans and people of different races.

“It’s taken me a while. What really helped was working at Target. As I continued to talk with co-workers and customers, my vocabulary increased. I began to feel more comfortable interacting with people.

“I continue to learn new words and kind of the slang way to say some things. Like the word sweater. I used to pronounce it ‘swe-tur.’ Now I’m used to calling it ‘swe-dur.’ More relaxed, smooth like that.

“I’m 21, and I grew up speaking Filipino, even when we lived in Saudi Arabia where my mom worked as a nurse. So I’m not perfect with my English yet. But I’m working on it.”

— Xavier Tupag

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“I attended elementary schools that had a bilingual program up until fourth grade. That’s when I transitioned to all English at San Jacinto Elementary. I remember it being a shock. I went from doing very well in class and being very verbal to going into a classroom where I felt intimidated. I felt that everybody was smarter than me because I didn’t speak as fluently as they did. So I just got quiet.

“I didn’t feel like I could compete academically. Even though I still felt I was smart, I had lost confidence. I stayed on par as far as my assessments. I would pass everything. I just didn’t blossom. I wasn’t a leader.

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“I’m originally from Querétaro, Mexico. When my family moved out here in 1989, I was around 4 years old. At the time, I was speaking just Spanish at home. But I was trying to learn the English language.

“I remember attending kindergarten at Yeager Elementary in Houston, and it was rough. I was trying to learn my ABCs, but I wasn’t learning fast enough for the teacher. So for my punishment, she would hit me on my palms with a ruler.

“My mom tells me how I didn’t want to go to school. I would wake up every morning with a different excuse like, ‘I have a headache’ or ‘My stomach hurts.’ Finally, she realized that something must be going on at school. So she set up a meeting with a counselor and the teacher. Of course, the teacher denied it.

“After that, my dad got a job here and we moved to Baytown. Things were a lot different and much better. Still, I guess you could say that I learned English the hard way.”

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Occasionally, when seeking interviews for The Baytown Project, I’ll introduce myself to someone and get this response: “No speak English.”

That’s when I kick myself for never having followed up on my high school Spanish classes. Because of the communication gap, I’m probably missing out on some great stories.

When I met 28-year-old Alvaro Posse recently at Holloway Park, it was quickly apparent that we would not fully connect because of our native languages. But we gave it a good try.

I learned that he moved here from Honduras two months ago. He lives with his mother and works at the new Hilton hotel in Baytown.

He also is working hard on his English-speaking skills and plans to take classes at Lee College. What he knows so far he credits to viewing English courses on YouTube, and watching movies and listening to music from America.

“I like music. Country, rock, all kinds. Hotel California, Nirvana, Metallica.”

He is able to read signs and does OK writing in English. The big challenge is getting the right words to come out of his mouth.

“My problem is speaking English correctly. It is difficult. I need more training.”

Alvaro seems eager to learn. We talked about connecting again a year from now, when his English should be much better. Who knows what stories I’ll hear then.

The post Learning English from American movies, music appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“When we were growing up, my parents would speak Spanish when they didn’t want my sister and me to know what they were saying.

“I would ask my mother, ‘How come you never taught us Spanish?’ She said that when they were young, they both spoke English and Spanish. But they had a hard time because if they spoke Spanish in school, they would get in trouble. So she decided that was something she didn’t want us to experience.

“Of course, we picked up a lot over the years. But I barely passed all my Spanish classes. It was horrible. People were like, ‘You’re Mexican. How do you not know Spanish?’ They would automatically think that I could or should speak Spanish fluently.

“To this day, my Spanish grammar isn’t that great. But if I needed to, I could put together a sentence.

“At one point, I wanted to take the beginning Rosetta Stone lessons. I just never got around to it. But I still try to learn my Spanish.”

— Selena Aguilar

Related:

• Helping the needy runs in this family
• Hopeless romantic not soured on marriage

The post Spanish not taught at home by concerned parents appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I always wanted to learn languages, ever since I was a kid. This is embarrassing, but I used to pretend I could speak Spanish. I’d watch Telemundo and be like, ‘Oh, I understand.’ I just really liked the sound of it. Maybe it was because my parents both spoke a different language. They speak French Patois because they’re from the West Indies, Dominica.

“Then I started to develop this interest in Japanese. Originally, I liked the video games. Then I became interested in the cartoons, the anime and manga. But what I think really made me decide to commit was listening to the music. I had a lot of favorite Japanese musical artists, and I wanted to be able to understand what they were singing. So I studied Japanese at UT, including a year abroad in Japan.”

She moved to Japan following graduation, and taught English to junior high students and adult women.

“Working with the women one-on-one was pretty cool, but teaching the junior high kids took a lot of getting used to. Honestly, I didn’t like teaching. I care about helping people reach their goals, but I just didn’t think I was a very good teacher.

“I was a shy, kind of nervous person. So it was hard for me to go up to someone and ask questions, especially if I didn’t know the person. But I made myself do it. I just forced myself. There’s that thing that says the more you do something, the more you get used to it, and the less scary or difficult it becomes. So I made it a habit every day to find some kid who I’d never talked to before and go talk to him.

“When I first got to the school I was thinking, ‘Why am I here? I don’t even like kids that much.’ But by the end of my second year I was like, ‘My babies. I’m going to miss my babies.’”

— Jennifer Challenger

Related:

• ‘They were going to have to pay me to go to college’
• Anime, manga lover at peace with her ‘weirdness’
• Daughter ready to step up to help with Alzheimer’s

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