Teaching English and creating hope
They came at night. Smelling of soap and hope. Their clothes were a mixture of clean, but well-worn work shirts and pants, or dazzlingly colored Sunday best. Twice a week they came from the strawberry or blueberry fields to my classroom. There they greeted me with broken, respectful English. I was their teacher. One of the passages to another, better kind of life. Rarely missing class, month after month, they went from two- or three-word sentences, to asking and responding with more confidence and clarity.
I was a high school English teacher in Florida for 25 years. Two nights a week, however, I taught English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESL) classes at an elementary school surrounded by the strawberry fields they toiled in during the day. I felt the weight of my responsibility to help them become a part of America. It was the most rewarding experience of my life.
I come from a home where Slovak was spoken with regularity between my mother and grandmother. My mother did not speak English until she went to school. I try to imagine what it was like for that little 6-year-old, listening to a teacher she barely understood, but I really can’t. Perhaps that is why teaching English to non-English speakers was important to me.
It is this experience of teaching and getting to know the hundreds of mostly Hispanic night school adults that wants to say to those who fear them to take a step back. There are those who would have you believe they are all criminals. They are not. Like most of us whose ancestors came from countries experiencing famine, war, or hopeless futures, they come for that chance at a better life. This great country of ours has enough room and jobs for them.
I am not Pollyanna enough to think they don’t have their criminal element. All races have those who do not and will not respect law. It is not fair to place that label on all of them. A look at history will show that many of our ancestors were treated with fear, hatred, and discrimination. Can the chain be broken?
My last night of teaching night school was the month of my retirement. Instead of a classroom, I was invited to the home of one of my ESL students who was close to being able to take her citizenship test. It was a night of empanadas, tortillas, and joy.
I hope she passed that test. I hope they all became citizens, and their vision of a better life became a reality. I hope we can give them the same chance at a better life that was given to our ancestors. I hope.
Sharlene Lehman is a Uniontown resident.