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Here is an excerpt from a paper by current student Linda Lowe-Portillo entitled "ESL Outside of the Classroom", regarding her new job as a workplace trainer for Spanish-speaking construction workers.
Here I am two to three weeks into my new job at CJ Miller and loving every minute of it. I am the Cultural and Diversity Trainer. I'm serving as an ESL teacher for the Spanish speaking employees, training them in basic English commands before they go out on the job site. I'm also driving around in a
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red truck with a Nextel, hard hat and steel-toed boots, monitoring the progress of the foremen and their workers. I am on call, I guess you could say 24-7 helping the workers with a lot more than their work progress. There are so many factors involved in living in a foreign country that I would never think twice about; for example, getting a driver's license, opening a bank account, and dealing with the day to day issues of daily living that go far beyond the work environment. Some of the workers tell me about what is going on with their families, how happy they are that I am there
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to help them and how much they want to succeed in this country.
As well as working directly with the L1 Spanish speakers, I am serving as a cultural trainer for the American foremen. I am working with them to promote cultural harmony in the face of discord and misunderstanding. I am the link of communication between two groups of language speakers and I have to be sensitive myself in how I handle both sides. It's challenging, as well as rewarding, and I look forward to each day that I can make a difference.
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