Learning the language of the land

Ugo Assi will be the first one to say he’s not Anglo-Saxon. If the name doesn’t give it away, the thick Italian accent would.

His English isn’t perfect, and at 70 that’s not likely to change. But a few grammar mistakes never stopped him from learning English and certainly won’t stop him from teaching it.

Assi has been a tutor for the Bonita Springs Literacy Council for more than a year, and he’s an asset that’s hard to come by in recent days. This spring, an unprecedented wave of Spanish-speaking students have flooded the council in search of English classes, said Literacy Council Program Director Katie Verna.

“We’re packing the place,” Verna said. “Quite frankly many of our students come in saying, ‘Well there’s a lot of talk about immigration issues now, and the first and the most important thing everybody talks about is you have to learn English.’ I’m sure that’s a driving force.”

Immigrants can’t consider English optional if they expect to prosper in America, said Assi, who came to Bonita Springs from Italy in 1998 and became a U.S. citizen in 2005. He had worked for an American company in his home country so he picked up the language before he moved.

Since a reheated national debate on immigration flared up this spring, many immigrants feel motivated to learn English to “be in a better position than someone who just speaks Spanish,” Assi said.

Photo by Jeremy Lyverse, Daily News

Bob Sorenson, left, a volunteer with the Literacy Council of Bonita Springs, reacts after Pedro Everaldo Pu Y Pu’, right, from Guatemala, correctly answers a question during a English evaluation test at the United Way House in Rosemary Park in Bonita Springs on Thursday evening. The English as a Second Language classes are offered by the United Way several nights a week to those who want to speak English. “There’s two worlds here,” Sorenson said of Bonita, adding that language plays a big part in creating the divide.

“English is the language of this country,” he said. “(Many immigrants) understood that, so they’ve gone to learn English.”

Maria Franco, who has been studying at the Literacy Council for about a year and a half, said she began classes immediately after she moved to Bonita Springs from Colombia.

“It is very important because now I live here,” Franco, 44, said. “I want to get my citizenship and after that I want to go to university.”

Though the council has always had more students than tutors, the imbalance in the student-to-tutor ratio has sprouted neon-orange “Tutors Needed” signs outside the council’s doors. Just a year ago, the ratio of students to teachers was about 3-to-1, Verna said. The next tutor training session has 15 people registered, but there are closer to 150 students interested in classes, she said.

So much interest has been shown in Rosemary Park the council arranged a class in the neighborhood. Nearly double the amount of students expected came to the registration meeting last week, Verna said.

“It looks like the need is really strong and it’s going to stay strong,” Verna said.

When Alfred Lopez Jr. immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1985, he made a pact with his siblings to learn English as soon as possible. His promise led Lopez, a co-owner of the Bonita Bakery, to become one of only two bilingual employees at the bakery.

“Even when our employees get mail, they can’t understand it,” he said.

Most of the bakery’s staff understands some English but hasn’t used it enough to feel comfortable, Lopez said. Though the customers are usually Spanish-speaking, there have been occasions when English-speaking customers hit a wall with Spanish-speaking employees.

“We always try to tell our guys, ‘Try to cooperate somehow,’¤” he said. “Point.”

The awkward interactions aren’t ideal, but the motivation for learning language is personal, he said. Sometimes immigrants don’t find a drive to learn until they realize how much the language barrier limits their options, he said.

A hope of a better job, a better understanding of a child’s schoolwork and a better life are common reasons why students say they enroll in classes, said Jeanne Sachs, student-tutor coordinator at the Literacy Council. What has changed in her four years of employment, she said, is the seriousness of the students.

“We have even more (students) now, plus our students are becoming more dedicated,” she said. “They’re maturing. It used to be that they’d be satisfied with anywhere from six weeks to three months of tutoring. Now they not only want that, but they want more of it.”

Gladys Krause credits tutoring sessions, computer work and using the language as much as possible for how she learned American accents and slang. Though she had studied English before she immigrated two years ago to Bonita from Peru, everyday use is miles from textbook English, she said.

“You have to update your English to use it as other people do,” said Krause, 40. “My ear is trying to get more accustomed.”

The more exposure, the better, said Assi, who encourages his students to trade Spanish-language television for English programs. Immersion forces students to learn, and a common ground helps cultures unite, he said.

“If there is harmony, there is peace,” Assi said. “In order to have harmony, you have to have understanding; to have understanding, you have to have a common language.”

For information about classes or tutoring, contact the Literacy Council at 495-0999.