Foothill
Learning Alliance brings together tutors, English
learners at Azusa library
Pasadena Star News: 5.13.2017 by Anissa Rivera
Hope is a word that would earn you
nine points in Scrabble.
It’s also what Eugenia Arias had in
spades when she came to the United States in 1988. She was 20 years old and
eager to work.
“I started working as a babysitter
with a very special family,” said Arias, now 47 and an Azusa resident. “I took
care of a baby girl who was 5-months-old. I stopped taking care of her when she
was 11.”
Arias’ charge is now 27-years-old and
still in touch with her former babysitter.
It was that family who encouraged her
to learn English, even though she resisted.
“I thought English wasn’t that
important to me,” Arias said. “When I moved to Azusa about six years ago, my
son started to go to school. He needed help with his homework, so we got a
tutor for him at the library. That was how I started to learn English. It took
me two years to learn English.”
Today, Arias tutors English learners
three times a week at the Azusa City Library. She is one of about 40
volunteers who donate almost 2,000 hours a year helping others.
“I admire the group because they rise
up to the task and they are motivated to learn English,” she said. “And I’ve
made a lot of friends by speaking English. Even if we were bilingual, we would
speak in English to help each other grow.”
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