Today was the end of the year for my ESL classes. The Hispanic ladies prepared lunch for us as a thank you. One of my students, Adaly, presented me with a dozen roses. With tears in her eyes, she said she was going to miss me...five months. We don't start the new year until the end of September. I got her phone number and told her I'd call her during the summer so we could practice her English. That seemed to make her happy.

Adaly has a heartbreaking story. She came to the US from Guatemala, leaving behind three children under the age of 10. She has three children here and a good husband who doesn't beat her. She completed twelve years of school in Guatemala and would like to get a job. Her husband wants her to stay home with the children. I told her if she continues to work hard on her English, I'd help her get a job in a school when her youngest is in school full-time. Annie is now two years old so I figure we've got at least three years to perfect Adaly's English.