SOW Tutor Who Started as an ESL Student Herself Now Helps Others Learn English

Story by SOW Tutor Janet Barret

When Maria Pena came to the United States from Mexico, she could barely speak or recognize any English.  However, in a few months of self-study she was on her way to understanding English, and another few years later she was writing her memoirs.

The realization that she had to do something came in her first days here when she was hungry, but didn't have much money or a means to eat.  She went into a convenience store and chose a can of something by recognizing the word "tuna."  She brought it home thinking it'd hold her for a few days, and made a sandwich.

While she was making it she noticed there was a picture of a cat on the can.  "It tasted kind of funny," she said.  She shrugged and kept eating, being that hungry.  A visitor to her home started laughing when she saw the can and explained to Maria that she had eaten cat food.        Maria was humiliated, but more so, determined to conquer her language barrier. 

A priest she met at the store helped her by giving her 10 words to learn in English.  The next day he gave her 20 words.  She went home and studied, listened to the radio and watched T.V. in English.  "I read, read, read," she said.  " I studied the alphabet and by December I was fully conversant."  She was soon reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in English.

Today Maria is a cook at a school in the city.  She and her son are volunteer tutors in Summit, Illinois with School on Wheels.