WebJunction

I was kicking around Webjunction looking for a home for this story I had. Unfortunately I couldn't find a topic that seemed appropriate so I figured, why not make a new one. Anyway, if anyone has ever had a interesting / unusual problem or situation /crisis that they successfully resolved, or need help resolving, I guess this is the place to put it. And, without further ado, here is my story...

Last night I had a problem with one of my ESL students who happens to be from Peru. She works at a local Blimpie sandwich store during the day, and comes to the ESL class at night. It seems that her boss wants her to work nights and he doesn't care that his schedule will disrupt her English studies (as a matter of fact, I get the impression that he doesn't want her to learn English at all). She is a very talented student who is
making good progress so I feel bad about losing her.

Has anyone ever had a similar problem? Any ideas what to do?


Matthew

Dear Matthew:

Unfortunately, we don't really know why the boss is giving your student such a hard time. Many fast-food owners/ managers expect their employees to be the accommodating parties when it comes to shift assignments. Perhaps the problem is due to a lack of communication. Has your student been able to completely and clearly convey how important the ESL classes are to her?

Your comment that the boss might not want your to student to learn English at all is also worth noting. A close friend of mine used to work at a restaurant in Utah. The woman boss employed a number of Spanish-speaking illegal aliens and kept them tied to her by making them work long and hard hours, paying them little, and charging them extravagantly for their room and board. Obviously, it was in the boss' best interest to keep her employees exhausted, poor, ignorant , and isolated.

I'm assuming that your student needs to work and might have trouble finding other employment easily. If the problem is one of communication, the assistance of a go-between might be helpful. Otherwise, she has a tricky dilemma on her hands.

Good luck!

Maria

Matthew,

I empathize with your frustration. I wonder if there are any ways you could keep her involved even if she isn't able to attend the regular ESL class. I know some libraries have informal talk times to help ESL students improve their conversation skills. Someone else mentioned software earlier, I know the Seattle Public Library uses Rosetta Stone software. They have several public access computers that are dedicated to ESL students and they provide tutorials on using the software to new users.

I took a quick look at the Rosetta Stone site and they have both software and online subscriptions. http://www2.rosettastone.com/en/offer/google2

Laura

Hi,
I'm with Danbury Library in Connecticut. We are in our second year of "Talk Time" - a conversational group for ESL students modeled after the one I visited at Seattle Public Library. We meet every Thursday evening here in our program room. It is a drop-in program. Each week we have a different topic that we discuss in small and large group settings. We speak only in English - so participants need at least a foundation in English. A group of dedicated volunteers act as small group facilitators. It's been very successful and is a lot of fun. Our participants practice listening and speaking in English - and we all learn from each other about our respective cultures. You can take a look at our website and click on the pdf link for a little more information.
Elissa

I checked up on the language software that my library is using --it's from the [url http://www.ellis.com/products/free_stuff.htm ]Ellis Company[/url]. In the ESL lab, there are a dozen separate modules of these programs --for vocabulary, pronunciation, role-playing, and more than I can remember. The library staff conducts a brief training session with an interested student on how to use the program, but then leaves the student to pursue the course independently.

You can watch the 12-minute video on the site to get a better idea of the concept. My library seems to think that it's a good product.

Interested in knowing if there are any libraries in the U.S. that provide ESL instruction to patrons as an extension of the services they offer.

Sorry, in advance, if this post sounds a little shrill.

Having lived in South Korea for three years, I can relate with the "have nots" more than the "haves". You see, Mr. Bunker, always has the ability to ILL a book from another library or, worst case scenario, go to the local Barnes and Noble megastore. The Tagalong, Japanese, Hindi speaker doesn't have the same access to reading materials that the English speaker does in the U.S. And, when they do, the cost for the book is substantially higher than the English equivalent. In our system, non-fiction circulation is basically flat-line and over half our circs come from media (DVDs, CDs, and Videos). We are basically providing access to entertainment instead of information (it's cool, to a point, because entertainment is part of the mission statement). But, one could argue that some of this money would be better spent providing services to a population that can't spend $19.95 a month for an "all you can eat" Netflix account or drive to the local Book Box Store. A new collection development policy might be - purchase non-fiction requests only and use the rest of the money to acquire books for our non-English speaking patrons.

This all comes down to the question of Outreach. Why bother outreaching to a community that we aren't going to provide service for? Just talking about outreach to spanish community should imply that we are willing to provide them with books and magazines (and perhaps the ESL frosting to the library cake). My first library job was at the Berklee College of Music and our director had a basic sniff test for any collection we wanted to start - how are we going to maintain the collection past the initial investment. If a library is going to rely on the generosity of the population to provide money and donations to maintain the collection, I don't think the library should bother. Any collection the library is going to provide to the community should be funded through the library's budget. If the community wants to donate money or books to expand upon the library's investment, that is fine. But the library should be making a yearly "good faith" investment into the collection.

Ultimately the library is a business - our business is circulations. You and I both know that circs aren't the best indicators of how a library is doing, but it is a number that the pols can understand. This year in Paramus, we added 413 new Korean books to the collection and every single one of the has circualted at least once. The collection as a whole has averaged 7 circs per item. How many libraries can claim to have 100% circulation of a collection that isn't video?

Once again, I apologize for the shrillness of the post (this is my favorite soapbox), but this is a topic I feel strongly about. I lived in Korea for three years and it was lonely and isolating and sometimes I just wanted to come back to the U.S. so badly that I would have left my job for the price of a plane ticket. When I was in Korea, no one expected mre to speak Korean. But in America, we expect everyone to speak English. Isn't this strange.

Making collection development decisions, even without language and culture coming into it is always hard! In 20 years of working in libraries I've never seen a situation where we had even close to what we needed to provide everything we wanted to our community.

This is part of why it is so important to have a collection development policy--ideally one that is strongly tied to the library's stated mission and to a strong understanding of the community. Just as with challenges to materials, a collection development policy helps staff when folks complain. It can make it clear that the library has really given careful thought to the needs of all of the folks in the community.

This doesn't make it easy--but it can be a big help!

Fascinating topic and interesting responses. Being currently a faculty member at a library school, this type of information is most helpful to me. I only hope we can find a way to better incorporate your suggestions into the curriculum. Thank goodness for OJT that all of you do!

This is an unfortunate situation. Of major importance is that your student not
become discouraged by her employer's lack of support. If there is any way
she can get involved with a day class this may be the answer. Even if it
is not taught by you Matthew, she will feel your support and probably take your
suggestion. There are always these road blocks( i.e. people with backward thinking!) that come up, but they can be surmounted. Good luck!