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CEESA members tutor LC’s housekeepers in English

February 12, 2010

by Joshua Kaplan

Students tutor housekeeping staff, Skyline Building Maintenance employees, in English as part of the student-led Coalition for English Education and Social Advocacy (CEESA).

The housekeepers are predominantly Spanish-speakers, but some are native English-speakers who want more help, said Vice President of CEESA Tala Al-Mangour (’12). 

Al-Mangour thinks that the tutoring is worthwhile. It is her second year of tutoring her tutee, Sandra, and Al-Mangour said that she has become friends with Sandra in addition to helping her learn English.

Also, tutoring helps create ties between the housekeeping staff and students, according to CEESA tutor Alison Dubchansky (’12). “Tutoring is a great opportunity to make Skyline employees feel that they are a part of our campus and that we appreciate all the work that they do,” Dubchansky said in an e-mail.

Al-Mangour encouraged students to join.

“Don’t feel weird about not knowing Spanish well,” she said. 

The only requirements for anyone seeking to become a tutor are some knowledge of Spanish and free time to tutor from 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at least once a week.

CEESA also does social advocacy for the Skyline housekeepers. A former group, Justice for Janitors, which became a part of CEESA, helped the housekeepers unionize, said former CEESA advisor Kelly Hoover.

As far as current advocacy, CEESA President Hannah Kaiser (’12) said that she is “in the very earliest stages of trying to start a project that may help the housekeepers become employees of the school.”

Each tutor works with a tutee for half an hour, working on subjects on which the tutee wants to focus. Most of the tutees learn from different tutors twice a week, sometimes more often.

The tutors are fairly independent, rarely all meeting together, Al-Mangour said.

Tutors submit weekly progress reports after tutoring sessions, which occur during the worker’s break in the residence hall that he or she cleans.

Students run the English-tutoring organization started by Satya Byock (’04) in the early 2000s, now school-sponsored and supported. Last semester, CEESA had 10 tutees and 15 tutors, according to Kaiser. 

Dubchansky said that teaching her housekeeper English has allowed her to practice her Spanish, as well as her teaching skills.

As far as improving teaching skills, Dubchansky said in an e-mail, “It is tough to teach a foreign language to someone in such short sessions (30 minutes), but it has forced me to be prepared for every session, knowing in advance what I will teach at each one.”

For more information email ceesa@lclark.edu.