Teaching has been the career of choice of my life. I have credentials as a K-12 bilingual teacher, who specialized in teaching Spanish to nonnative learners and ESL to Spanish speakers.

In Boston, I got a GED teaching position in Jamaica Plain. That was all very different from what I had been doing for more than 28 years back in my native country. Quite a different experience: coming from a place where the concept of minority has not much meaning and where the place I worked the learners were young and privileged who had all the means to succeed, to a place where young people were struggling to make it, felt like a 360 degree turn.

Teaching the GED did not only require knowing your subject and teaching techniques but also a thorough understanding of the socio-economic and deep human psychological needs of the participants. Besides helping learners with their subjects, teaching became more finding ways on how to motivate them to gain confidence, self esteem, desire to become more economically independent, in other words, to succeed. In doing that, I identified myself with the people I served, affectionally tied to them.

Working for the Adult Literacy Hotline gives me the opportunity to be in touch with those who want to start or continue learning. More and more young people are seeking literacy programs and more volunteers are willing to join. The satisfaction I get from giving them the information they need to find literacy resources available and educational opportunities in their communities is gratifying. It makes me feel good.

Isilma Morales is the hotline coordinator at the SABES Central Resource Center. She can be reached at: imorales@worlded.org