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Maria GonzalesMaria Gonzales is thirty-two years old and a native of
Mexico. She and her husband both
work full-time in a local factory. They
have four school-age children. Maria
has lived in Kentucky nearly three years and her husband has been here far
longer. Most of Maria’s family is still in Mexico.
She attended school there as a young child but quit to go to work at age
ten when her father died. I
liked school, but my Mama don’t have money, I can’t go to school.
I worked. I am cooking and
cleaning, for ten years, cooking and cleaning.
A little money, no good. Maria’s husband came to Kentucky and worked fifteen years
before bringing Maria and the children here.
Maria has attended English classes through a local church for
approximately six months.
Her children are learning to speak English in school and Maria is
eager to improve her English skills so she can help them with schoolwork.
Also, one of her children was injured last year and Maria was unable to
communicate with the doctors. I
want to be able to speak English with my daughters and sons.
Last year, my son, he had accident.
He bled, and he’s over there in the hospital and I don’t know how to
speak English.
I don’t know for the hospital and for the medicine.
He’s okay, but I need to speak English to care for him.
He’s all right now.
No more accidents!
Maria’s experience illustrates the importance of English
language skills for increasing numbers of Hispanic families across the state.
While Maria’s children enjoy school and are doing well, her
eighteen-year-old brother-in-law had a very different experience.
Romero attended school in Mexico through the ninth grade but then moved
to Kentucky. He entered high school
here but didn’t attend very long. He
didn’t like it, he didn’t want to go back.
He couldn’t speak good English and didn’t talk with nobody, didn’t
have no friends. Nobody speaks
Spanish down there, and he quit. While a number of Kentucky elementary and secondary schools
provide ESL services, others do not. Language
was clearly a barrier that prevented Romero from remaining in school.
Like Maria and her husband, Romero works full-time. Although he is single and without dependents, Romero contributes financially to the household, a common pattern among the Hispanic families in this study. Because of their recent arrival in the state, Hispanic workers are frequently employed in the lowest paying and least desirable workplaces. Although non-English speaking individuals face many issues common to other undereducated adults in the state, they also have special concerns that revolve around language. While the need for ESL classes is their primary one, these adults are also often in need of GED services. Maria indicated she would like to obtain a different job--“Maybe work in a store”--and obtaining the GED might be useful in this process. None of the non-English speaking participants in the study were aware that the GED exam could be taken in Spanish. In fact, few of them understood the meaning of the GED as a credential. Adult education programs seldom provide ESL classes and the need for these services is increasing in many parts of the state. |
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