Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Bridging a class divide, one English lesson at a time - washingtonpost.com


Bridging a class divide, one English lesson at a time - washingtonpost.com: In Honduras, Ana Carolina Ebanks was a public defender. But when she immigrated to the United States six years ago, the career did not come with her. Today, she has a job on the campus of American University, a short walk from its law school. She works in the student dining hall, making burritos.


"You know, when you come to this country, it's impossible," she said. "You can't work in your career. It's frustrating. I'm frustrated."


But now Ebanks has help in her bid to resume her law career. Through a program called Community Learners Advancing in Spanish and English, or CLASE, AU students are teaching English to the workers who clean their dorm rooms and cook their meals. Students meet the employees where they work, or in dorm lounges and conference rooms, to eat, drink and conjugate.