By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — Mimi Pollack, a friend and occasional writer for San Diego Jewish World, is an adjunct faculty member at Grossmont College in neighboring El Cajon. She teaches English as a Second Language, which is popularly abbreviated as “ESL.”
Whenever I see that abbreviation,” I think of the word “easel,” and imagine that the course Mimi teaches is an easel. To extend this metaphor: the students are the canvases upon which Mimi, a language artist, paints conversational and written English.
One of Mimi’s techniques is to encourage her students to become pen pals with American friends who, presumably, already know how to speak and write English. I was one of those Americans whom she invited to participate in the project. If I agreed, she said, a student would write to me.
My pen pal, Aleksey Lebedev, turned out to be a native of St. Petersburg, Russia, who had followed other members of his family to the United States.
I told Aleksey, who was a bit self-conscious about making mistakes in English, that I had no difficulty understanding what he meant to say, even if a few errors in grammar and spelling crept into his letters. He indicated that he would welcome corrections from me. Why not? The whole point of taking an ESL course is to learn to speak and write English correctly.
In our correspondence, Aleksey had some interesting comparisons to make between life in San Diego and life in St. Petersburg. To give you the flavor of the correspondence, I will leave the errors unedited. Personally, I am never critical of such errors; I imagine I would make many more mistakes if I were seriously trying to learn a second language.
I have been known to mangle everyday phrases that I have picked up in a variety of languages, including Hebrew, French, Spanish, Tagalog, and Mandarin. When I try to speak in any of those languages, other people will grimace and put their fingers to their ears.
Aleksey wrote:
I see a lot of convenience in American official or business communication. The average American can handle many deals from his home by the male or by the internet, or he can make an appointment, if it necessary. In Russia this kind routine makes people and me crazy. Usually you have to be in person everywhere. Need some official paper? Open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4p.m. You welcome! I don’t remember how many times I had begged my boss to give me permission to go out early. Sometimes one trifling deal can ruin whole day or few days. For example, after arrival on your destination, you can realize, you not alone in the world that needs this little paper. Angry people in the line approve it immediately. It means, next day you have to arrive earlier. Certainly, official institution and businesses fight with this poor practice, but Russians still endure the inconvenience. At once, I had a doctor appointment. It was modern hospital, and they use own network to organize schedule and medical information. I arrived in due time and saw a little line near the doctor office’s door. It is not specific, but later I knew some people had due time two hours after mine.
Aleksey also told me that he had worked in shipbuilding in St. Petersburg, but needed better mastery of English to even hope for a similar job in the United States. However, even if he were to receive all “A’s” in his ESL courses, full-time jobs in the shipbuilding industry still would not be easy to obtain, at least not while the economy is in the doldrums.
After a semester of correspondence, I had the chance to meet Alexsey personally at a recent social function. He’s a tall, quiet, young man, who is quite likeable. He told me that he now plans to enlist in the United States Navy. He already knows about shipbuilding, likes being on the water, and he can interpret Russian if ever there is a need for it, so my guess is that the Navy will find some useful way to employ him. It all sounds like a great adventure to me.
If ever the opportunity should arise for any of my readers to be pen pal mentors to ESL students, I recommend the experience highly. Not only will you be doing a mitzvah helping someone adjust to life in the United States. You may also find it a pleasant learning experience for yourself.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com