Friday evening was "Jim's" last time at English class. We will miss him a lot! He has been offered a job as a cook at a restaurant in Santa Cruz and the distance is just too great and the hours just not right for him to continue to attend. Jim's Chinese name was a tough one to pronouce so Tom called him "Jim" and he loved it. Whenever we'd say," Hi, Jim. How are you doing tonight?" He'd grin from ear to ear. Most of the students in our class go by English names since arriving in San Francisco. They just find it so much easier to tell others, "My name is Bill, or Anna, or Susan..." A few have very short, simple Chinese names so they use those...like Su and Ye.
The number of students attending the classes has increased over the past several weeks. However we never know exactly how many will be there. Smetimes a student will get an opportunity to clean a house or do some other chore and make some money and they need to take whatever opportunities come up. Even those that have regular jobs sometimes have extra work they need to take care of. Most live very, very modestly. So a regular job for Jim was welcome news for him.
It's been a full two months since Jim started attending English classes. When he first arrived, he could read some English, but he couldn't speak it. Over those two months, Jim has attended City College two days a week and our English classes three times a week. He's such a likeable person. He has a gentle heart and he's not afraid to work very hard. City College does a great job teaching grammar and we do pretty good at teaching conversation. Between the two, Jim is proficient enough in English to work in an environment where he needs both Mandarin and English.
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