'English Only' City Ordinance

A recent article about the proposed "English-only" ordinance in Lino Lakes by Ruben Rosario: 'English-only' proponent might try comprehending facts only

How would this ordinance impact immigrant/refugee communities living in Lino Lakes and the surrounding areas?

Guest Blog Post: Pat Strandness, tutor at MLC Learning Center - North Side

Recruiting volunteers for the Minnesota Literacy Council has allowed me to meet and hear the stories of numerous literacy volunteers throughout Minnesota. It is fascinating for me note the similarities and difference to my own volunteering experience. Thanks to Pat Strandness, tutor at MLC Learning Center - North Side, for sharing her story in today's guest blog post!

I have been teaching since 2000. That’s when I left a career of a few decades of teaching high school English. It was a nice round number, easy to remember. I also remember one morning that I taught, the morning of 9/11, which was fairly early in my volunteer teaching career. I’ll always remember that day – drawing that picture of the buildings and the airplane and trying to explain what was happening.

I’ve taught at a few different sites, I taught at MLC Northeast and at Pillsbury House, but Sumner’s been my home. For me one of the rewards of teaching is the inspiration I draw from my students. I sometimes feel that I get more out of it than they do; the corrective perspective it offers on my own life. My own small grievances are brought into perspective when I know more about their lives and their resilience.

When you were a child . . .

Today learners wrote about things pertaining to their childhood. They seemed to enjoy this topic and became quite animated while sharing their answers.

When you were a child, what was your favorite animal?
• Peacocks
• Birds
• Baby goats
• Cows and calves
• Horses on my farm
• Tigers (though this was hotly contested by some students who said they hated wild cats because they attacked humans)
• Brightly colored fish
• Camels
• Chickens

What did you like to do when you were a child?
• Play with my friends
• Swim in the river
• Help my dad feed the animals
• Cook with my mom
• Play games with my sister

Where did you like to play?
• Under my bed
• In the yard
• At the park
• Near the river
• Under the kitchen table

What did you like to eat?
• Candy
• Mangos and papayas
• Honey and bread
• Cookies and pizza
• Milk
• Spaghetti
• Bananas


I was struck by how many answers were similar between students from vastly different parts of the world. In some respects, children are children the world around.

A Lesson in Empathy

On Sunday I returned from a respite from volunteering and work; I was lucky enough to spend the last two weeks in August on an amazing European vacation traveling in France and Italy! While I have previously traveled quite a bit, it was the first time I went to countries where I or someone I was traveling with did not know the language. While nearly everyone we encountered was extremely patient and kind as I struggled to express myself through pantomiming and my hastily assembled handful of French or Italian phrases, I was reminded of my students learning English.

Every small task, from ordering meals to purchasing train tickets, became a potentially exhausting endeavor, often rife with miscommunication. Clearly most of these encounters were not life threatening and provided more laughs than headaches, but I couldn’t help thinking about learners in my class who struggle to use English to make doctor’s appointments, read prescription labels, decipher bank statements, enroll their children in school and perform other essential functions.

I hope to remember the range of feelings that accompany navigating a country in a language foreign to me, especially the challenge, frustration, and at times humiliation of not being able to express myself, acquire information or even just chat with people.

Clearly vacationing in Europe does not even begin to compare to the varying experiences of the immigrants and refugees in my class learning English, and while most Europeans I spoke with knew at least some English, many students’ native tongue is not spoken by, or sometimes has never even been heard of by many United States citizens. However, being immersed in the language barrier challenge for two weeks has given me an even greater admiration for the students’ determination. I suspect the experience will translate into more patience in the classroom.

Journey to Minnesota

Today was the final lesson of the grid activity series; the questions revolved around their journey to Minnesota. All of the students were quite candid in their responses, and I felt like I was able to connect with some on a deeper level as they relayed their stories to me.

The first question asked how they got to Minnesota. We explained the word “route” and had the students list all of the cities they traveled to before finally arriving in Minnesota. No student had journeyed through less than three cities prior to reaching Minneapolis. Faizah had gone to nine cities, starting in Mogadishu, Somalia and traveling to Nairobi, Kenya by bus, and then by plane to New Delhi, India to Bangkok, Thailand to Taipei, Taiwan to Los Angeles, California to Chicago, Illinois to Washington, D.C. then finally to Minneapolis! Maria wrote that she had walked and taken a bus all the way from Ecuador to Guatemala to Mexico to the United States. Fareeza had come from Iraq to Syria to France to New York to Minneapolis.

They then wrote about when they arrived in Minnesota. The length of time varied from three months to forty years. Juan arrived in 1970 and worked on a cattle ranch in Texas. Bekele, from Ethiopia, came in January 2009. I was shocked to find out how long some of the students had been here because the length of time in the country did not correspond to their English level in many cases.

They wrote about who traveled with them to the United States. Many said siblings, family members or friends. Makda came with her five children ten years ago and told me that now one of her children has graduated from college with a business degree and the other four are currently enrolled at the University of Minnesota.

I was surprised by the amount of detail each person recalled about their trip to the United States. Their stories were as varied as their backgrounds. People reported being sick, tired, happy and depressed about what they were leaving behind. One student recalled hating the airplane food and another said they liked watching the movies on the plane.

We ran out of time before doing the final question, which was a shame because it asked about what they brought with them to the United States. I think their responses would have been fascinating.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Today there were four new students in our class of fourteen. One had moved up from the beginning class, and the others were new students to the school. Today we continued talking about what things were like when the students were children. It was an excellent way to incorporate past tense verbs, and we used the chart mentioned in the previous posts.

One of the most interesting questions the learners answered was what they had wanted to be when they grew up. We compiled quite a diverse list of professions: artist, teacher, cook, seamstress, writer, doctor, doorman, tailor, soldier, dancer, disk jockey, etc. Ayanna said she had wanted to be a mechanic or an electrician. Faizah said that she had wanted to be a nurse, but instead she was now a cook. The new student from the beginning class, Lina, said she had wanted to be a police woman. Aziza insisted that she had wanted to be a soldier or a business woman. Makda said that she had wanted to be a teacher and that in Ethiopia, she had taught young children at the mosque near her home. She said it made her sad that she was not currently teaching here in the United States. I can just picture her teaching young children, and she seems like she would be a patient and wonderful teacher. We didn’t talk about what they were doing now, but it would have been an interesting discussion about what opportunities they feel they have here.