Avalon Elementary in Collier County shares some success stories

Luz Martinez, a mother enrolled in the Literacy Council Gulf Coast ESL class at Avalon Elementary, wanted to improve her English so that she can help her daughter with homework. Luz was so happy when her class learned how to alphabetize words. Before enrolling in the class, she did not understand what alphabetize meant. Her first-grade daughter even had difficulty explaining the meaning to her.

Luz told the class that last week, her daughter brought a homework page home requiring her to alphabetize a word list. Luz was so happy that she could help her daughter complete this homework assignment correctly!

Finding work

One of the mothers in our program cleans houses for a living. The art teacher came into our ESL class (which is held in the art room) and asked if anyone would be interested in cleaning his home. One of the moms spoke up and said that she has now learned enough English that she could understand he and his wife.

After class, they talked further and now she has a job cleaning their home every week!