The Heart of the Matter

Lou Spaventa
*Teacher Profile #2: Santiago Jacksson

*I called my first effort an interview, but it was really a profile. I did not recount conversation verbatim in that interview, nor will I do much in this one. So, a profile it is.
(I have given the teacher a fictitious name to preserve his anonymity.)

Yesterday was full of lightning, thunder and rain - a rare meteorological event for September in South Central California. I met Santiago Jacksson outside the Campus Center at Santa Barbara City College. He was on campus to attend a meeting in his role as director of ESL and foreign languages for the Adult Education Program here in the City of Santa Barbara. Adult Education is a unique American enterprise. Its roots go back as far as Benjamin Franklin's idea of citizen discussion groups. Santa Barbara has one of the oldest and largest adult education programs in the United States. One can do yoga, study Italian, learn piano, and design jewelry through adult education. Such programs charge a small fee and usually last a few months. Courses typically meet once or twice a week. ESL classes are different because they charge the learner no fees. Instead the state pays for the classes, and programs are funded based on positive enrollment. That means that money gets put into the program budget in proportion to how many students attend classes each time the class meets. As a result, the issues that adult education ESL programs wrestle with are student retention and student persistence: keeping students in a class and having them move on to the next level of study in a program.

Background

Santiago Jacksson was born and raised in Southern California, one of three children of an upper middle class white couple in the LA suburb of Manhattan Beach. There was little diversity in Santiago's life until he reached university age. Before that, he was an indifferent student through his elementary years, but then was "scared straight" by his junior high school teachers. His grades went from Ds to As, though he hadn't cared much about his grades either way. He was also directionless as a teenager. He just wanted to do well in school. He knew he liked teachers who made him laugh and he knew he liked people. That was the extent of his self-examination.

At university, he majored in psychology because he needed to choose a major and he conceived of psychology as a people-oriented field. When he discovered that psychology at the university was focused on experiments, he became less enthused with the field. A psychology professor whom he trusted told him that unless he liked to continuously write papers for academic publication, even if the subjects of those papers didn't really interest him, then he shouldn't go on in psychology. At this point, he had to make a next move. His exposure to other cultures and languages was mainly limited to a series of foreign girlfriends: German, Mexican, and Argentinian, the last of whom he eventually married.

Into the Field

Santiago decided to study for a certificate in elementary education. A friend of his in the elementary education program was also teaching at the English Language Program on the university campus. Soon Santiago had become a language assistant, working with students in the ESL classroom. He went on to do more such work with a company called One Stop Immigration, which had set up a service program for recent Mexican arrivals who lived in the university area. During this period in his life, Santiago got the travel bug. He backpacked for six months through the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia. When he returned from his travels, he decided to enroll in the TESOL certificate program at the university he attended. At the same time, he applied for and got part time teaching with a private language company, EF, and the Santa Barbara City College Adult Education Program.

In 1996, Santiago enrolled in the MA Program in TESOL at the School for International Training (SIT) in Brattleboro, Vermont. He was still teaching at EF and Adult Education while studying in the summer for his MA. He said that a lot of what he did in the classroom he had learned by trying things out. Santiago feels there are two kinds of teachers: those who have reached a place where they are comfortable and do not wish to go further, and those who want to keep trying new things. Santiago describes himself as belonging to this last group. He came away from his SIT studies with a reinforced appreciation for reflective teaching, something he said that he had been doing instinctively before actually studying how to do it. At SIT, he also "got more tools" for his classroom.

Students and the Classroom

Santiago said that when he started teaching, he could make his students laugh. He thought of himself as a "stand up comic" in the ESL classroom. He thought his job was easy. After his studies, he came to recognize the role of reading, writing, and varying approaches in the classroom. Now, Santiago sees himself as a seasoned professional in the field. He has been teaching ESL since 1992. His guiding principle is "equity," by which he means that everyone should be treated fairly in the classroom. He sees his work in adult education as a chance to serve his community. The largely immigrant students that enroll in the ESL classes under his direction he characterizes as "hardworking" but sometimes "lacking motivation." As he has now been out of the classroom for the last few years although he still substitutes when an instructor cannot make class, Santiago encourages his instructors to do things which make their classes more communicative. That is the approach he favors. He promotes pair work, small group work, and using the language in discussion. He likes instructors to "lighten up" in the classroom.

While Santiago himself taught almost exclusively intermediate level ESL students, the great majority of students in his program are enrolled at the elementary and beginning levels. The State of California has mandated a curriculum to be followed in adult ESL. This curriculum is competency-based and integrates language skills. Santiago is very interested in applying the TESOL organization adult ESL standards to his program. These call for student-centeredness, equal participation, and frequent feedback to students. Currently, the program Santiago directs has about 5,000 students at 17 teaching sites throughout the community. He supervises 60 teachers, and a large support staff. Part of the money to run the program comes from a federal grant the proposal for which Santiago successfully wrote. His main worry centers around retaining students. About 50% of all students drop out of their courses during the term. He doesn't know why students persist although he says that the research in the field shows that students persist when they have identified goals for themselves.

Next Steps

Santiago enjoys his work a lot. He works odd hours - two days from 12AM to 9PM alternate with two days from 7AM to 4PM. His fifth day varies. He sees himself and his program as having "room for improvement." He is very interested in writing a book on retaining adult education ESL students. He feels that this particular subfield of ESL is open, that there has not been much research done on it. In addition to his work as director, Santiago consults with a company, Cal Pro, which puts on workshops in the state of California. Santiago is their consultant on retention in adult education ESL programs. He loves his job. His only conflict is between putting in the long hours he knows he could at work and spending time with his wife and three year old son.