Hispanics are participating in the English as a second language in-home program created by a 73-year-old Florence Phillips who learned Spanish in her 50s and Swahili in her late 60s as a Peace Corps volunteer
There’s no place like home
Program helps Hispanics learn English at home
by SHEILA GARDNER
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
6/15/2004 11:32 pm
Caption: Florence Phillips, from right, teaches English on Thursday to Celia Ortiz, Viridiana Mendoza and Irma Ortiz, among others, in the Ortiz’s Carson City home. Six people gathered around to learn English as a second language. Lisa J.Tolda/RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
It’s 5 p.m. on Thursday at the Ortiz house on Merrit Drive in Carson City.
The blinds are drawn against the late afternoon sun. Six people are crowded around the dining room table laughing and talking.
Even though it’s the dinner hour in many American households, members of the Ortiz family, ages 19 to 70, are learning English.
“I want a job and to be a citizen,” said Miguel Ortiz, 70.
It’s a remarkable accomplishment for Ortiz who couldn’t speak any English in February when the tutoring began.
He’s participating in the English as a second language in-home program created by a 73-year-old Carson City woman who learned Spanish in her 50s and Swahili in her late 60s as a Peace Corps volunteer.
Florence Phillips found herself without a project after three tours with the Peace Corps and a stint as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer working with the Washoe Tribe in Carson City.
“I went to Hispanic services in Carson City in February and put out fliers for in-home teaching at no cost. Now we have 10 students and five
volunteers. It’s growing fast. I am hoping to take this into our 15 rural counties.”
Phillips said older students sometimes feel intimidated in a classroom setting so tutors go to their homes.
“The older a person gets, the more shy they feel or think they are stupid to sit in school,” she said. “Some of them want to become citizens and that motivates me to teach them.”
Phillips works twice a week with Ortiz, his wife, Celia, 60, their daughter, Irma Ortiz, 40, and daughter-in-law Viridiana Mendoza, 19.
In other parts of the house, Carlos Ortiz, 35, works with Kathleen Thompson, 65, and Mayra Lizaola, 24, studies with Sue Young, 59. Carlos Ortiz and Lizaola are more advanced and work one-on-one with their tutors.
“This is where it all started in February,” Phillips said. “We started with Mr. and Mrs. Ortiz and little by little this daughter shows up or that son.”
Miguel Ortiz spends at least an hour a day studying English. That’s in addition to his full-time job as a maintenance worker.
“Miguel studies very hard and does a lot of writing,” she said.
He can recite the alphabet and count in English to 100.
“I get very emotional,” Phillips said as Celia Ortiz recited her telephone number in English and responded correctly to a request to “go in the kitchen and come back and sit down.”
As part of their homework, Phillips instructed the students to watch at least five minutes of news a day.
“At first, I said five minutes of anything, but Celia came back saying ‘Scooby-doo!,’ so I changed it to news,” Phillips said.
Volunteer Charles Burt, 56, a teacher with the Carson City school district, accompanied Phillips as part of his training.
“I wanted to keep up with my Spanish and eventually become an ESL teacher,” Burt said. “It’s fun and it helps people.”
Even after she puts in long hours as a cook, Lizaola said she finds time to study 30 minutes to an hour a day.
“The pronunciation is difficult,” Lizaola said, “but it is very important for me to learn to communicate.”
Tutor Sue Young, who raises produce during the summer for the local farmer’s markets, has had a semester of conversational Spanish at Western Nevada Community College.
“I thought, ‘Well, I’ll try,’” Young said. “Mayra is learning English and she’s teaching me Spanish.”
Phillips needs more volunteers able to devote about three hours a week for tutoring. Participants are screened by Retired Senior Volunteer Program and will be trained with Phillips before they are sent to a home.
“We have a waiting list of at least 14 people,” she said.
Volunteers need not be fluent in Spanish.
“My belief is if you can speak the language (English), you can teach the language,” she said. “It’s informal and it’s developing your own program. We’re teaching the basics, how to go to the store, what the words are for dollars and cents. This way they will be able to shop on their own, go to banks, read, help their children and their grandchildren.”
In addition to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, Phillips partnered with Western Nevada Community College for help with textbooks and other supplies. There is no cost to students and the volunteers work for free.
“When I get there, sometimes I am tired from whatever I have been doing that day, but the time I leave, I am so high from the wonderful progress, warmth and welcoming that these people give us,” Phillips said. “At this table we have fun. This is like therapy.”
Sheila Gardner, Carson-Douglas bureau chief for the Reno-Gazette Journal, can be reached at 885-5561 or sgardner@rgj.com Her column was delayed a day due to space limitations in Tuesday’s paper.
