- A Note from Sally
- Amy's Ramblings
- ESL Update
- Tips of The Month
- March's Vignette: Overcoming Miscommunication
- Bits and Pieces
- About Us
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the volunteers of Hogar Hispano for making my last six years working with you so wonderful! I have really enjoyed getting to know the volunteers and students, and being a part of the Hogar community. When I first started at Hogar Hispano, I didn’t know what to expect, and frankly, I was afraid!!! The job seemed overwhelming.
Then, I met you, the volunteers, and I realized that we were in this ministry together. Your dedication and willingness to do what it takes to help our students has been truly inspirational for me. I have learned so much from you. Every time you teach an English class you give something very special to our students.
You give them your friendship and make them feel welcome. I have learned that volunteer power can make a huge impact on the lives of those we serve. I think what I loved most about my job at Hogar is being surrounded by volunteers who always said “yes” when we asked for help. I appreciate you volunteers being flexible and not missing a beat as we made program changes or when you were asked to work in less-than-optimal circumstances.Recently, I was blessed with a new opportunity. I have accepted the position of the Associate Director for Community Services for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington. In this new job I will be overseeing a number of programs run by Catholic Charities, including Hogar Hispano. Although my office is now in the Chancery building on Glebe Road in Arlington, I will never be too far away from the ESL program at Hogar. My heart will always be with the ESL program.
We have a new ESL Coordinator. She is former English ETC Grant Manager Amy White. I know Amy will lead the ESL program to new heights. Her energy and enthusiasm is infectious! She has been with our program for a while now and knows the ropes. She started out as a volunteer in this program, and so she has a really good perspective of what you, our volunteers, need in order to be successful in our mission. Please contact her and get to know her. Stop by the office and meet her.
Thank you for all the good times and fun! Keep up the good work!
Sally O'Dwyer
Associate Director for Community Services
Greetings volunteers! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Amy White and I’m the new ESL Program Coordinator. After six years of exemplary dedication to Hogar Hispano, Sally O’Dwyer has stepped up to serve Catholic Charities as the Associate Director of Community Services. Sally will certainly be missed around here, but we know she will bring the same sunny enthusiasm to her new position that she did to Hogar Hispano.As many of you know, I started out as a volunteer teacher. I found my calling as an ESL instructor in college. At Ohio State University I helped start a free ESL program for immigrants that included a team-designed curriculum and donated dictionaries. After graduating from OSU with a degree in Spanish and Portuguese linguistics, I went to Mexico to pursue a TEFL certificate. Upon completion of the program, I moved to Mexico City where I lived for a year teaching English in a private language school. I feel very blessed to have served as a volunteer and will always feel fortunate to have been a part of something so wonderful.
Exciting things will be happening at Hogar this year! With our highly energetic staff, we hope to accomplish many great things! As part of our vision for the coming year we’d like to have a greater presence outside of the beltway as our demographic is moving away from the city. We are also hoping to diversify our classes and have had our flyers translated into Korean and Vietnamese with more languages coming soon!
Finally, I would like to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of you. You selflessly give your time each week to help teach and welcome extremely vulnerable people into our community. Thank you for continuing to believe in our mission of service and I look forward to serving alongside you.
Un abrazo fuerte!
Amy White
ESL Program Coordinator
ESL Training Opportunities:
Sign up for workshops offered here at Hogar Hispano! They are an excellent chance to learn, be inspired by fellow volunteers, and knock out that 10-hour training requirement! All classes are held in the Hogar Hispano office (6201 Leesburg Pike, Suite 307, Falls Church, VA 22044). If you are interested in attending any upcoming sessions, please RSVP to Erin Maradiegue at 703-534-9805 x251 or emaradiegue@ccda.net.
Saturday, March 24, 10am-12 pm
Immersion Works!
Trainers: Amy White and Sheila Sullivan
“I don’t speak Spanish. How am I going to teach ESL? Are they really going to understand me if I just speak English?” These are common questions that ESL teachers face every day. Many who don’t know Spanish are skeptical that they can be successful ESL teachers. This presentation will show participants that it is possible to teach students using only English in the classroom. A lesson will be given completely in Portuguese, demonstrating how using body language, realia, and repetition eliminate the need to speak the native language in class.
Saturday, March 31 10 am-12 pm
What’s Your Perspective?
Trainer: Erin Maradiegue
What is culture and how does it shape your outlook on the world? Most likely, your background is different than that of your students, and you will have distinct perspectives. In this presentation, we will try to gain a better understanding of their perspective, as well as your own, to improve your ability to teach and relate to them. You will participate in fun and reflective activities offering insight into your own culture and a look through the eyes of your students.
Saturday, April 14, 10 am-12 pm
Best Practices Swapshop
Trainer: Diana Gibson
It can be difficult to know what activities will work in the classroom and which won’t. This session gives you an opportunity to hear from Hogar staff and experienced volunteers what lessons were the most successful for them. After hearing from our panel we’ll give you a chance to share some of your own ideas with each other. Come share your thoughts and experiences with other volunteers!
New Staff at Hogar Hispano
Cindy Brown began working at Hogar Hispano in early December 2006, and has been helping the ESL volunteers at All Saints, Christ the Redeemer, and St. John Neumann ever since. A 2003 graduate of the College of William & Mary, Cindy majored in Latin American Studies and Spanish, and she has spent time campaigning for working families and traveling across the country and the world. Previously, she enjoyed the beer and the great students in Prague where she spent a year teaching ESL. Cindy loves chocolate, especially when it is filled with interesting flavors like margarita & apple cider. She also does a great impression of the mid-90s cartoon character “Eek! the Cat,” and her sunny personality leaves those around her smiling as well.
If you have begun volunteering with Hogar Hispano since November 1, 2006, then you have been in contact with Sheila Sullivan, our volunteer coordinator and organizer of orientations and boot camps. Sheila is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan and a graduate of Michigan State University. Being new to Virginia, she is excited about exploring the wonders of the East Coast. Sheila interned at a refugee services agency during college, and worked as a legal assistant for a criminal defense lawyer after graduating. She received her TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certificate in Vancouver and discovered her passion for both teaching and using her teaching skills to support her travels to exotic places. Sheila gained teaching experience on the oh-so drab and boring Northeastern coast of Brazil where she also studied Portuguese and the brilliant rays of the sun. Our little Portuguese ambassador has been a vegetarian since age 4 and enjoys yoga and swimming. We are very pleased to have Sheila on the Hogar team.
Diana Gibson was welcomed to the Hogar family in January 2007. She comes to us after making the rounds of the U.S. of A. From Washington State, to Idaho, Alabama, and finally back to her home state of Virginia; Diana has kept busy herself busy. Between working for an interfaith non-profit, co-directing a Girl Scout camp, and teaching children outdoor survival skills (and how to make soap) she has picked up a variety of skills that we here at Hogar Hispano are eager to take advantage of. Diana is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, where she majored in geology (yes, geology) and minored in Spanish. Diana’s favorite part of her new job is the interaction with the immigrant community, and she also looks forward to teaching the Advanced ESL class once a week, here at the Hogar offices. Diana’s kind and gregarious personality is a welcome asset to our cozy quarters and we all look forward to working more with her.
Erin Maradiegue is the newest addition to the Hogar Hispano staff. Erin is a native of Falls Church and graduate of the University of Virginia, where she studied religion. While at UVA, she volunteered as a tutor for migrant workers. After graduating, she took a job with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a “Quaker Lobby in the Public Interest”. During this time, Erin began volunteering as an ESL conversation class teacher with the Northern Virginia Literacy Council. A couple of years later, South America beckoned and Erin moved to Chile to teach English to middle-schoolers and kindergarteners. She returned to the States in December and started at Hogar in February. We are excited to have Erin join us.What the heck is Back-chaining and how do I use it in the classroom?
While pronunciation is not the sole focus of any ESL class, it is a factor of all foreign language classes that cannot be ignored. All students of a foreign language want to learn the proper way to pronounce words so that they can be better understood by native speakers. One tool you can use to teach it is called back-chaining. Back-chaining is a technique in which you start with the last word of a sentence and go backwards, repeating the previous words as you introduce each new word until you form the entire sentence. Won’t this confuse students? No! In fact, cognitive theory shows that students tend to forget what is coming at the end of a sentence. By starting at the end of the sentence and working back you are giving students more repetition of the last couple of words – the same words they tend to forget. Through this repetition the students have the pronunciation of the words reinforced multiple times. For example:
Original sentence: I need to pick up my prescription at the pharmacy.
Back-chaining sentence: Pharmacy. The pharmacy. At the pharmacy. Prescription at the pharmacy. My prescription at the pharmacy. Pick up my prescription at the pharmacy. I need to pick up my prescription at the pharmacy.
Don’t be afraid to correct pronunciation along the way! If students are having problems with the word “prescription” repeat only the word that’s causing problems.
Back-chaining can also be done with single words, such as “communicating.” By breaking the word into syllables, you can point out common sounds like the “-ing” sound.
Original word: Communicating
Back-chaining word: -ing. -cating. –municating. Communicating.
This technique may also be used to help students understand the intonations of the English language, as well as memorizing basic sentence structures. If the sentence is a question, you can say the last word of the sentence with a high intonation and lower your tone with the remaining words to demonstrate that English speakers raise their tone at the end of a question. Turning this into a group chanting exercise makes it more fun for the whole class. It is especially good for beginning students who are often more shy about speaking in front of a group.
The Value of Teacher Cohesiveness
By Rebecca Walters, ESL teaching volunteer at Hogar Hispano
During my second semester teaching the 7:30 pm beginning-level English class at Hogar Hispano, I have noticed an immense difference in both the confidence I have in my own teaching abilities and the responsiveness of my students. This may be partially explained by the fact that I have one semester under my belt, but I believe a greater part of the change comes from the relationship I have established with my fellow teachers. They have been an outstanding group to work with, and I strongly believe that our team cohesiveness shines through in our teaching and positively impacts the students.This semester, we made a valiant effort to stay connected through teaching observations, group meetings, and electronic communication, via both email and the Wiki (Wikispaces interactive websites—see an example at www.hogarhispano.wikispaces.com or www.wikispaces.com to start your own at another site). By sharing information about what approaches have worked and which games have been popular, each individual can save a great deal of time and energy! Because we feel comfortable around each other, we have also made progress in working through conceptual issues that have posed challenges to the students and worked together to give specific students the special help they need. I would strongly encourage other teachers to stay connected to your colleagues at your site; not only do you get to meet a lot of wonderful people and make some good friends, but a strong relationship will reflect in your teaching and your students will benefit!
March's Vignette: Overcoming MiscommunicationIn late January, 2007, ten women from a local housecleaning service walked out on their employer and into Hogar Hispano’s office. They came seeking resolution to a grievance in their workplace, and they were determined to create a fair and just working environment for all the housekeepers.
As part of their daily routine, the women would drive to cleaning assignments using their personal vehicles. During work hours, they were required to put large company magnets on their car while they parked in apartment complexes and private developments. The women initially voiced their concerns to their boss about having their personal property exploited for advertising. In response, the (only-Spanish-speaking) women were asked to sign a letter (in English) which they thought stated that they could be fired if they chose not to put the magnet on their car. In reality, it informed them that they would be at a lower risk of ticketing and towing in private developments if they chose to identify their car as a “commercial vehicle” by using the company’s magnets.
Mistakenly thinking that the statement was akin to a threat, the women quit their jobs immediately and left their employer with a days worth of undone jobs, and no one to do them. At such an impasse, the women presented a case of discrimination to Freshta Nawabi at Hogar, who handles such cases through her work with the Department of Justice, Office of Special Council for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC). They had heard about Hogar’s OSC services through a friend who had attended one of Freshta’s many community presentations about employment/workplace discrimination. Freshta immediately called the employer to hear his side of the story, and to arrange a time for the housekeepers and their boss to meet and talk it out.
Freshta discovered that this was not a case of discrimination at all, but of miscommunication and a misunderstood company policy. Because the employer spoke only English, and the employees only Spanish, they had been previously communicating through a bilingual receptionist at the company. The receptionist had not apparently understood or did not translate the information correctly. Through Freshta and Enrique (a Hogar Hispano paralegal who interpreted for the meeting) the boss explained the magnet policy. Hopefully, they would get fewer parking tickets and save money if they used it.
While meeting in an open and trusting setting, the employees had other concerns that were voiced and resolved. One of these concerns was that when two or more housekeepers shared a cleaning job, they took a cut in their hourly pay. The employer agreed to change the pay scheme in their favor: the deduction for two housekeepers cleaning together was originally a penalty of $5.00, but the employer lowered it to only $2.50. Additionally, the company agreed to allow more time for employees to communicate, and regularly meet with management so that they could address problems and grievances in the future. All those present were pleased with the outcome that Friday. The women were rehired, and started work again on the following Monday.
The women were very excited to learn about the benefits of this program and be able to get help from our office, and luckily, no official case needed to be filed. On that day, we facilitated communication, resolved a conflict, and ended up bettering the situation for all. The housekeepers’ situation is a perfect example of why there is truly a need for the services Hogar Hispano provides. With Freshta’s OSC program, we can educate employers and employees about workplace discrimination, and resolve differences when they do arise. Additionally, by helping immigrants improve their English language skills through our ESL classes, we can help reduce workplace miscommunications in the first place.
If you suspect that you or one of your students have been denied employment because of appearance, accent, national origin, or immigration status and you and your students have a legal right to work, please call the OSC workers' hotline at 1-800-255-7688 or Freshta Nawabi at 703-534-9805, x 241, for assistance. Employers can call the OSC hotline at 1-800-255-8155. More information on the anti-discrimination provisions of the INA can be found at the OSC Web site at www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc or at Catholic Charities' Web site at www.ccda.net under “Programs and Services.”
A Word on Immigration Legislation
Bob Ashdown
The Catholic bishops characterize the current immigration system as seriously flawed. In my opinion, our immigration laws and their implementation policies and procedures are ineffective, unenforceable, and inhumane; fail to legally provide the workers our country needs; and lead to exploitation. Immigrants today have few safe, orderly, or legal options to migrate to the United States, resulting in abuses and exploitation as well as deaths along the US-Mexico border. Families continue to be separated for years because of extensive backlogs in the immigration system. The bishops ask Catholics to advocate with members of the 110th Congress for comprehensive immigration reform that includes
- An earned legalization program for the undocumented population that is workable and includes a path to citizenship that is fair and achievable.
- A future worker program that permits migrant workers to enter safely and legally and that includes worker protections and the option for participants to pursue a path of citizenship.
- A reduction in the backlog and waiting time for family reunification.
- The restoration of due process protections for immigrants taken away by the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act
- Policies that address the root causes of migration, including economic development in sending countries.
During the recently concluded General Assembly session, the House of Delegates passed a number of bills that were killed in the Senate, at least for this year. The Virginia Catholic Conference went on record opposing bills that would have
- Restricted the ability of the children of undocumented migrants from attending state colleges or universities or receiving in-state tuition if they currently attend high school in Virginia. These bills would penalize children for their parents’ action.
- Made it difficult for undocumented workers, who were injured on the job, to receive worker’s compensation even though they were eligible for it. This bill would have allowed Virginia to “have it both ways” – benefiting from the labor of the undocumented while denying them basic protection.
- Prevented organizations that receive state funding, such as Hogar Hispano, from providing some services to undocumented migrants using that funding. This bill would have imposed administrative burdens on charitable organizations as well as forced religious organizations to compromise their principles or face the loss of state funding.
Buy a Hogar Hispano tote bag:Promote the Hogar Hispano ESL program and make a fashion statement at the same time! Tote bags are blue and black, and feature the Hogar Hispano logo. They're large enough to carry all of your teaching materials and more! The cost is $10 (plus $3 shipping). Send an e-mail to emaradiegue@ccda.net with your name and quantity needed or simply call 703-534-9805 x251.
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ESL Coordinator awhite@ccda.net, x235 |
Associate ESL Coordinator ssullivan@ccda.net, x238 |
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Associate ESL Coordinator cbrown@ccda.net, x239 |
Associate ESL Coordinator dgibson@ccda.net, x250 |
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Associate ESL Coordinator pspencer@ccda.net, x243 |
Associate ESL Coordinator emaradiegue@ccda.net, x251 |
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6201 Leesburg Pike, Suite 307 Falls Church, VA 22044 703-534-9805 Fax: 703-534-9809 www.ccda.net |
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