IN THIS ISSUE: Amy's Ramblings Education Updates Legal Updates Social Services Updates Tip of the Month Volunteer Spotlight June's Vignette Bits and Pieces HOGAR STAFF: John Odenwelder Program Director jodenwelder@ccda.net Education Services: Amy White Group Manager awhite@ccda.net, x235 Kristen Gasimov Manager/Office Manager kgasimov@ccda.net, x249 Diana Gibson Manager dgibson@ccda.net, x239 Katie Mathews Manager kmathews@ccda.net, x243 Erin Maradiegue Manager emaradiegue@ccda.net, x251 Jorge Membreño Manager jmembreno@ccda.net, x252 Sheila Sullivan Manager ssullivan@ccda.net, x238 Legal Services: Michelle Sardone Group Manager msardone@ccda.net Cindy Brown Paralegal cbrown@ccda.net Nancy Carbajal Receptionist ncarbajal@ccda.net Maria Cutipa Intake Coordinator mcutipa@ccda.net Dan Macguire Staff Attorney dmacguire@ccda.net Patty Mueller Staff Attorney pmueller@ccda.net Enrique Vargas Paralegal evargas@ccda.net Social Services Dawn Dumas Manager ddumas@ccda.net (703) 443-2481 Angie Marchetto Intake Coordinator amarchetto@ccda.net (703) 443-2481 Hogar Immigrant Services 6201 Leesburg Pike Suite 307 Falls Church, Va 22044 T: (703) 534-9805 F: (703) 534-9809 www.ccda.net If you would like to have this newsletter sent to a different email address or if you would like to unsubscribe from the mailing list, please email emaradiegue@ccda.net.

Amy's Ramblings Friends, supporters and comrades of Hogar, welcome to your joint June/July issue of e-news. Much like you, E-news will take a vacation during the month of July. Not to fear! We’ll be back bringing you Hogar news and updates in August. Hogar would like to welcome the 2009 Exxon Mobil intern, Lucila Fernandez! Lucila is a fantastic young woman with loads of energy, enthusiasm and compassion for the immigrant community. She is in charge of managing the 2nd annual Family Soccer Day and starting computer lab hours for Hogar students. Check out her bio below! Hogar staff would like to extend thanks to all of its volunteers and in particular has highlighted ESL volunteers for this issue. Across our 13 sites, hundreds of volunteer teachers are making a difference in the lives of immigrants. Take a look at some of the pictures from end-of-semester parties! Are you saddened by the thought of no Hogar until the fall? Sign up to volunteer at the upcoming Naturalization Workshop in Arlington – more details are listed under Legal Updates. There is also a heart-warming story about a student from Bolivia who is studying English at St. Joseph in Herndon. Have a safe, super, spectacular summer from everyone at Hogar! Abrazos, Amy White Group Manager, Education Services Education Updates Hogar Welcomes Exxon Mobil Summer Intern Lucila Fernandez Lucila Fernandez is a current junior at George Mason University, majoring in Global Affairs with a concentration in Latin America and a minor in Spanish. Due to inspiration from a recent trip to Costa Rica, Lucila is also currently gearing up to pursue an undergraduate certificate in Environmental Management. As the daughter of South American immigrants, Lucila has a vested interest in the immigrant community and the Latino community as a whole. Lucila expresses her love and dedication for Latino culture through the Hispanic Student Association, a student organization which strives to unite, educate, and empower the Latino community. As a member of the HSA, Lucila launched two annual traditions: a soccer tournament and a drive of school supplies and clothing for children in Costa Rica. She also spent the last year organizing a cultural dance team for a campus wide dance competition held this past spring semester. Though Lucila loves everything about Salsa and Tinkus dancing, her focus is on the health of the Latino community within and outside of the United States. For this reason, she co-founded a Mason branch of Latinos on the Move, a networking group whose mission is to raise funds for development projects in Latin America. Thus far, Lucila has raised hundreds of dollars for a center for blind children in Bolivia and for a soccer training camp for young teens in Honduras. In her internship, Lucila hopes to broaden her understanding of the local immigrant community and learn how to better service their needs. Feel free to stop by and say hello! Feel even more welcome to approach her with a soccer ball—Lucila is obsessed with everything soccer! Legal Updates Legal Department's Hard Work Pays Off This month, the Hogar Legal Department has seen positive results in three cases after several months of preparation. One client had a permanent residency application approved by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, a second client was approved for permanent residency by an Immigration Judge, and a third client successfully completed his citizenship exam. Congratulations to our new LPRs and new citizen! ________________________________ Last Naturalization Workshop Of The Summer Hogar is hosting a Naturalization Workshop June 27 at the Fairlington Community Center, located at 3308 S. Stafford St., Arlington, VA 22206. Please pre-register by calling (703) 534-9805 x250. This is the last Naturalization workshop until September 12, so please encourage qualified lawful permanent residents to come! Social Services Updates St. Joseph's Donates Generously To WRO The Western Regional Office has been very busy with the end of school and the beginning of summer. Perhaps the most exciting donation of the start of summer was the very generous donation of Chef Boyardee from St. Joseph’s school in Herndon. They donated cases of No. 10 cans of ravioli for deserving families. We have already distributed several cans and the joy on the faces of those receiving has been wonderful. We are so thankful for our partnerships with the local community, without them, our office would not be the same. Tip of the Month Turning Trash Into Teaching Treasure: Using Old Magazines in the Classroom Old magazines can be a great resource for teaching activities, and a great way to get rid of some clutter around the house! Before you recycle your old magazines, consider bringing them with you to ESL class to offer some hands-on fun. Here are a few ideas you might like to try! Personal Collage Materials: magazines (all types), scissors, glue or glue sticks, construction paper or paperboard This activity is great as an introduction during the first week of class. Have students cut out pictures that represent their lives. They can cut out pictures of people representing family members, foods they like, activities they enjoy, or even the type of work they do. Then have students write 5-6 sentences describing the pictures, and introduce themselves using the sentences. These can be very simple, and this works well on the first day of an intermediate class (when they are already comfortable with varying sentence structure). It always helps when you bring in your own! Scavenger Hunt Materials: magazines (all types), scissors Come up with a list of about 5-10 items from the current unit's vocabulary (or that tie into the lesson). Students must use the magazines to look for pictures of the vocabulary words. The first team to cut out all the items on their list wins. Recipe Mix-Up Materials: cooking magazines or old cookbooks, scissors (optional: glue, colored paper) For units on recipes and food, have students cut out the preparation instructions from a recipe in strips (by sentence). Mix them up and switch with a partner to put their recipe directions back in order. As an optional touch, students can glue the recipe in the correct order on a colorful piece of paper and add it to their recipe collection. Grammar Review--Countable and Non-Countable Nouns Materials: magazines, scissors, glue, colored paper Cut out pictures of common food items and create a collage with one half being countable nouns, the other half being non-countable nouns. This can be done with other pictures/vocabulary, but it is easiest and most commonly done within a food/grocery shopping context. Volunteer Spotlight Hogar Immigrant Services would like to express its gratitude to all of the ESL teachers at all 13 class locations for the generous giving of your time to help teach English to hundreds of immigrants. You are the spirit of Hogar! Clockwise from Top Right: St. Mark's Site Coordinator Ida Hiller presents teachers with certificates; St. Mark students enjoy a scrumptious buffet; St. Leo teachers Lynnette Marquina and Aida Kirkwood present a student with his certificate of acheivement for the successful completion of the semester; St. Anthony students and teachers pose for a group photograph; Hogar's Falls Church Site Coordinator and Advanced Teacher Katie Mathews receives a hug of appreciation from her student. June's Vignette “Bolivia has nine departments and three regions…” Her eyes brightened as she voiced the words, “There is the altiplano, the valle, and the yungas—riiight here.” A slender finger taps lightly against the paper, guiding the focus of her audience to a small map of this faraway land she spoke so dearly of, the land she left years ago with only luggage and prayers of a better life. On this cold afternoon, she spoke of the potatoes and variations of maiz, cueca dancing, and the sometimes unbearable dry weather. Students and teachers alike listened intently. *** Lidia Villaroel-Pardo came to the United States almost seven years ago, taking up an invitation from a friend in Virginia. Finding the situation in her native town of Cochabamba too desperate— there was not enough food to go around and the prices were too high— Lidia packed up her few belongings and boarded a plane headed to Washington, D.C., ready to embark on a new chapter of her life. From the beginning, Lidia was determined to guarantee her survival in this new, mysterious and unfamiliar land. Not wanting to take her friend’s kindness for granted, Lidia asked around for news of a job opportunity. A tap on the shoulder of a stranger on the bus next to her, an inquisitive look at a fellow pedestrian, a favor asked of a friend here and there. Her persistence paid off, as Lidia found work as a nanny in different households around the area. Being with children was a specialty and passion of hers, carried with her from her days teaching in Bolivia. As lucky as Lidia was to find a job, getting to work proved to be a frustrating problem. The language barrier felt like an iron curtain of communication; Lidia could not direct a driver or catch a bus in the direction she desired to go. Americans seemed to be easier to deal with; they were more patient with her stumbled words and thick accent. Other immigrants were more difficult. Once, Lidia managed to get a ride from another woman whose English was also far from perfect. Before she could correct the driver’s direction, Lidia found herself being dropped off in the wrong neighborhood and at a loss for words. The desperation of not knowing how to communicate with her well-intentioned driver was suffocating. Furthermore, Lidia could not truly connect with the children she cared for. She longed for the ability to sing and read to them in English. It did not take long for Lidia to realize that English was vital to her everyday survival in the United States. Driven by the desire to succeed in her new environment, Lidia decided to commit herself to learning both conversational and written English. This determination made Lidia stand out in the classroom. Lidia was quick to make an impression on her teachers; on the first day of class she planted herself in the front row, ready to meet the challenge of learning head on. Lidia always turned in her homework on time and in a manner that exceeded the expectations of the class. Teresa Yacuob, one of Lidia’s teachers, recalls that her first assignment, “was type written, clearly showing me and her classmates her diligence to learn the English language and perfect a marketable job skill.” For the final assignment, a touching piece on her native, beloved country of Bolivia, Ms. Yacuob was further amazed by Lidia’s adherence to meeting short term goals; Lidia met with her teachers on occasion to prepare the presentation for the big day. While speaking with Lidia Villaroel-Pardo she talks of her lifelong devotion to learning. Lidia explains, “I have always liked language and the English language itself intrigues me. I want to know how is it that teachers in the United States instruct their students in reading and writing. This is why I enjoy being in the classroom so much.” Now at the intermediate level, Lidia is translating verses of her poetry she wrote in Bolivia into English, a relaxing past time of hers. She also plays children songs repeatedly, memorizing the verses line by line to sing to the children she cares for. She cannot wait for the next semester of classes in St. Joseph to start, and does not understand how sometimes her peers are not as impatiently excited as she, “It is so important to learn English. I see them sometimes and I ask, ‘How could you not want to learn?’” Spreading her knowledge is Lidia’s newest mission. Now that she is a little further advanced in her speaking, she hopes to soon feel comfortable enough to assist in lower levels of ESL classes. Meanwhile, she is saving her money diligently to send home to her nephews in Perú, praying that one day her money will help them gain an education in English and an opportunity to follow her footsteps to the United States. “One day, I will return to them and tell them all my stories and experiences of this adventure.” *** “…and that is my country, Bolivia,” Lidia took a final deep breath, closed her hands together, and grinned to thank her audience for their attention. A smile slowly emerged on Lidia’s face, proud of her accomplishments and enthusiastic to realize that her ability to learn English is as endless as her drive to do so. Lidia serves as an inspiration for both students and teachers. Her eagerness to learn and profound interests in the English language, literature, and system of education gives Hogar and its sites meaning. Teresa Yacuob explains, “Above all, she makes me and other teachers smile because she touches on our reasons for why we volunteer.” Bits and Pieces Donate Your Computers To Migration And Refugee Services The diocesan Office of Migration and Refugee Services needs working computers and laptops of Pentium 3 or higher for refugee students in Northern Virginia. MRS will also be collecting working printers, paper, and monitors larger than 17 inches, as well as educational software. This collection will go through August, so do your spring cleaning and give them a call! For more information or to see if your computers qualify, please call: (703) 841-3871 or e-mail j.estrada@arlingtondiocese.org