ABSTRACT
Roxanne’s grammar-based class met 10 hours each week at a community college. The class was part of a government-funded ESL program for refugees and immigrants, some of whom had had to wait months to get into the program. The classroom was crowded, with 26 students seated at long tables all facing the front. The student cohort was notably diverse linguistically and culturally, comprising immigrants and refugees from 13 countries: Brazil, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Gambia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, Somalia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Half the students were women and half men, and their ages ranged from early 20s to early 70s (for more details, see Appendix C). They had been living in the United States anywhere from a few months to a few years, and while many were currently working and several were retired, most intended to go on to further study. In my interviews with the students, nearly all volunteered that they were pleased with the class and that they considered Roxanne a very good teacherkind, patient, and enthusiastic about their learning.
