English Language Skills are Necessary - Recently a group of 40 Migrant Ministry volunteers gathered to hear case studies about some of the families we have accompanied over the past four years. The hope was to tap into the wisdom and experiences of those volunteers for new ideas to help our families achieve independence. The cases studied were focused on how families with and without work permits were finding jobs.

The conversation very quickly switched from finding jobs to the absolute necessity for our families to learn to speak English. It is one of the issues that have been difficult for us to find success. The success rate for adults particularly is very low. Also we know when our families have the choice to go to a job or go to a class for English lessons, they go to the job.

We do have a group of dedicated teachers meeting with individuals every Tuesday morning at Centro San Bernardino. We are grateful for their efforts. They each have assigned students who are in regular attendance. But it is a very small number compared to the need. There are a few others meeting with others trying to learn English at local libraries or other locations. Again it is a minority of the numbers of those who need the language skills.

We are grateful to all those willing volunteers working to help our families find jobs and learn English. And we are open to suggestions on how to increase our success with teaching new language skills. Thank you all.

Fall has arrived and the Migrant Ministry is now accepting warm clothes, including coats and winter gear. We are setting up a coatroom but need coat racks. Donations welcome!

Email us at [email protected] with any questions or comments.