What's New

By: Joseph Wenzel IV, Press Staff
05/17/2007
     
MIDDLETOWN - A class of immigrants has come to together to form a family and work together to find a better life in America. Middletown Adult Education, located at 398 Main St., offers English as Second Language courses (ESL). The year-long program ended Friday, and no classes will be available for the summer. The students will reunite tonight to celebrate and come together as a "family."
The "Student Success Celebration Today" event will be held at the Church of Holy Trinity, located 381 Main St. The event will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and an International Pot Luck dinner will be served.
The advanced level of ESL includes men and women who were born in Puerto Rico, Cuba, France, Peru, India, Haiti, Poland, China, Mexico, Ghana, South Korea, Brazil and Hungary. The students in the class range in age from mid-20s to the oldest ever being an 80-year-old grandmother.
The group spent their last two classes reading stories about their new life in America and the transitions they made from their old life in their home country. The students explained how difficult it was to communicate when they first arrived and how they still encounter challenges today.
"When you want to express something, you know you can say it, but can't explain it," said Karine Billaut of France.
"You have to explain everything," said Aleksnadra Elizabeth Olko of Poland.
But even with the struggles that these students have encountered since moving to the country, they all knew why they moved here. "To have a better life," the class said in almost unison.
Ashalatha Eswarappa of India was told that America was dirty and had no trees - plus Americans were rude. She said that is different than what she has experienced since moving to America.
"I was surprised to see trees," Eswarappa said. Cristina of Peru was also surprised. When she arrived at the airport, she saw more cars than people, which is not the case in her country.
Olko said she was surprised with how people in America are obsessed with items being big.
"Everything is big here," the class again shouted out.
One of the most difficult challenges for these students is being away from their families. Several of the students discussed how important family was to them. Marie Auguste of Haiti left her husband and two children behind to try and make in America. She is only able to talk to her husband two to three times a week.
Elizabeth de la Caridad Lacera Pedroso of Cuba has had an even harder struggle. She is barely able to talk to her family because of the problems that America has with Cuba. She said she spends hundreds of dollars to talk to her family.
"I left everything to live with a different family," she said. Some of the students live with families in America that is not their own. But many times, the families have cultural differences that are not what the students are used to. These cultural differences bother the students and can create problems in their new home.
Starting in September, there will be day and evening ESL classes available at the Middletown, Old Saybrook and Rocky Hill branches of Adult Education. For more information about ESL courses or to see what else is available at Adult Education, call 343-6044 or visit their Web site at www.maect.org.
To contact Joseph Wenzel IV, call him at (860) 347-3331, Ext. 222, or e-mail him at jwenzel@middletownpress.com.