Learning from the children

A family walks into a non-descript restaurant in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Humboldt Park, a little girl tugging at her mother’s hands. It is time for lunch. People are ordering food, and eating it, taking this mundane task for granted. But the little girl notices a young woman, standing apart from the rest, her eyes staring dejectedly at the menu, tears streaming down her cheeks. Detaching herself from her parents, the girl approaches the woman and asks what is wrong. The woman is hungry, but she has no idea how to order a plate of food. She cannot put together an English sentence. The girl smiles kindly, and helps the woman decipher the completely foreign-sounding items on the menu. A few minutes later, the woman sits down with a sandwich on her plate.

            “That is encouragement,” said Marisol Torres, who has learned a great deal of English in the past 18 years, “That little girl helped me not to give up when I was feeling  sad.”

            Torres, her four sisters, and one brother came with their mother to Chicago from San Juan. Puerto Rico in 1989 in the hopes of finding better treatment for her brother who has Down syndrome. The move completely uprooted the young Torres who was happy living in the world where she had grown up.

            “All my good friends and some of my family were there. I felt very, very sad when we had to leave, but my brother needed the care, and my mom needed a better job,” said Torres.

            For Torres’ family, Chicago turned out to provide all they had hoped. Her mother was able to find a job, her brother found the medical treatment he needed, and Torres had the opportunity to get a better education. But the road to a happy ending began with feelings of loneliness and disorientation.

            “It was very, very difficult. When I came I did not know any English. I could not even say ‘mother and father.’ I felt helpless,” said Torres.

            But Torres was determined to learn the language and build a life in Chicago. She began studying at the Association House in Humboldt Park, and continued to work diligently as she married and began to build a family.

            “I remember when my daughter was four years old. She would sit on the toilet every night and say ‘mom, repeat for me.’ She would do that over and over again. My daughter taught me so much,” said Torres.

            Today Torres has four children and works as a tutor at McAuliffe Elementary School teaching English and Spanish. She says that she finds the job extremely rewarding because she gets to help children learn both languages. For Torres, language is one of the most important parts of a culture.

            “My kids speak both languages. It’s very important that they’re bilingual. The language is a big part of their heritage. I always tell them, ‘Don’t forget that you’re from Puerto Rico.’”

            In Torres’ experience, learning the language was the most difficult aspect of moving to the U.S., but also the most rewarding. “I’m still struggling with my English,” she said. “But from my students and my kids I learn a little more every day. I love that teaching them means I can learn too.”