Student Voices

	Student Voices

Patricia Castillo and tutor Maida Pojtinger

Patricia Castillo’s shy smile belies her strong persevering spirit and enthusiasm for learning. Patricia is a young Mixteca woman from Oaxaca in southern Mexico. Mixteco is her first language, Spanish her second.

When she was ten years old Patricia lost her sight after a long illness. She came to the United States 5 years ago, in part to seek medical assistance in the hope that she might see again. That hope was disappointed, but Patricia did not give up her dreams. She just decided to learn English and Braille.

This is the third year that Patricia has been in the St. James Enhanced ESL program for blind and visually impaired refugees and immigrants. She is learning keyboarding on a computer at the Department of Services for the Blind, and is learning English and Braille with her St. James tutor Maida Pojtinger. To practice her English at home she listens to the radio, reads Braille books, and listens to books on tape. She used to call Cecilia Walsh, the Enhanced ESL Coordinator, whenever she learned new words and enthusiastically practice them in sentences. Cecilia is impressed with Patricia’s diligence, explaining that “on several occasions when tutors were no longer able to continue, Patricia persistently sought out new tutors. She has been a good self-advocate. She is a very determined and proactive young woman.”

Patricia’s ESL goals are to be able to talk with other people and find a job. She likes kids and had thought that maybe she would like to teach and take care of children, but she has been living with her 6 nieces and nephews and now thinks that maybe she would prefer something else. After she learns Braille and English Patricia wants to be able to help others. Perhaps she will become a St James tutor someday. Her advice to other potential ESL students is to be patient to learn. Patricia has another dream, she reveals at the end of the interview. She very much wants to learn to play either the guitar or the piano and become the first person in her family to play an instrument. She is looking for a music teacher and an instrument to borrow. Maida has been a tutor now for more than 7 months, and has been a wonderful match for Patricia because she too speaks Spanish as her first language and has experience teaching ESL to Hispanics. She is from northern New Mexico, where her Spanish family has lived for three hundred years. She began tutoring through DSB in January 2004 and began working with St James ESL in June 2004.

She heard about the St. James ESL program through Sylvie Kashdan (Kaizen Program for New English Learners with Visual Limitations), when she gave Maida Patricia’s phone number. When I asked her what she felt the greatest benefit of tutoring was she said she likes to witness the progress of her students. To potential tutors she says “This is a very worthwhile program and it will challenge you in many ways as a tutor but it is so fulfilling when you can finally have a conversation using only English words.” She enjoys the students and feels that she learns as much from them as they do from her. Maida says “sharing language and culture is a two-way learning experience,” and Patricia smiles in agreement. ◘

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