Disaster Recovery Grants Project
A Program of The Barbara Bush Texas Fund for Family Literacy
Final Report, September 2009
Lone Star College – North Harris
The objective of this project, as written, was:
- to pay instructors so that they can extend the classes at eight of the college’s sites in the Spring semester.
Lone Star College accomplished the objective of extending instruction past the end of the Spring Semester to recover the contact hours lost during the storm due to classes being closed. The college was able to attract the students to stay in classes and thus recover the instructional hours they had lost back in September. The award of these funds was critical for the adult education program at Lone Star College – North Harris.
Narrative Project Success
This program enabled success of not only the students, but also the program itself. Lone Star College – North Harris Adult Education Program met ten of the eleven performance measures that determine program success, helping the program to earn a continuation grant from Texas Education Agency to fund their next program year. The following are student success stories from one of the classes: Single mother Alejandra Del Valle is a most tenacious student who is very proud of learning English and being able to communicate. This is Alejandra’s story in her own words:
“Hello, my name is Alejandra. I am a Mexican woman. I was born in Matamoros, Tamaulipas on July 28 1982. I have 26 years old and I love to study and talk too. I came to the U.S. in the last 3 years. Life has not been easy for me here. As for all people, it is not easy to come to another country, where the life is totally different; leave your family and have to learn to speak English in order to communicate. For me, it is very important to learn English because otherwise, I do not see a good future for me, and I think that people who come from other countries should think about doing something for their lives and move forward.
In my case, I learned a lot in my classes thanks to the dedication of good teachers who have taught me patience. I am very grateful to them. I hope to keep learning more and I will be able to help all who need it someday. I think it is so ugly that people discriminate us because we are not born in this country and we do not know to speak their language. They think that we are fools and that never we will learn. But I think that people actually learn and strive to come forward……. Sometimes we find more support from people who are not our family and I am very happy and grateful to people who gave me support. I am very grateful to God that put them in my path. Everything is possible with effort and dedication and with the help of God.”
Another related success story, this one related to the health literacy, was contributed by Jorge, whose wife recently gave birth. Jorge said that he could communicate with the doctors and ask questions on his own, instead of relying on his U.S.-born wife to help him with translation. Now Jorge feels empowered through participation in the ESL classes to help his son with homework, watch movies in English with his son, and communicate in English when the need arises.
