Jennifer Pasillas, Putnam City West High School

Teacher Feature
Jennifer Pasillas, ESL Teacher, Putnam City West High School

Jennifer Pasillas knew when she was in high school that she would one day be an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. Now in her third year of teaching at Putnam City West, Pasillas works on a daily basis with students, parents and other teachers to help students learn English and become successful in their education and their lives.

My main reason for becoming an ESL teacher is that I remembered seeing the ESL students at my high school and sympathizing with them. They seemed lost and didn’t have anyone in the school to speak up for or help them. I decided that I wanted to be their advocate and to make the transition between their countries to ours a little less frightening. Jennifer Pasillas

Like most teachers, an ESL teacher is a little bit of everything. I am a teacher, a counselor, a translator, a mentor and a mother to these students and even to their families.

My students are unique in that many times I am the only teacher at the school they can communicate with because I speak their language. Usually for the first year or two that an ESL student is at our school, I am the one the students and parents come to for any and every need they have, academically or otherwise.

ESL classes are very important, especially at the high school level. Every year, I get a classroom full of students from all over the world, some who are well educated in their own country and others who can barely read in their own language. They range in age from 14 to 19 and they have varying English abilities. Without an ESL classroom for these students, they would be lost and forgotten in a large high school. Not only would they fail their classes, but they would probably just drop out.

I give my students tools they can use to help themselves or learning strategies to help them survive and obtain the information they want. I always encourage my students to work hard, and I try to give them work that is just above what they can do so they are always working to accomplish an obtainable goal. This allows them to feel proud of achieving something without the work being too easy.

If I try to make what I am teaching my students applicable in their lives, they seem to respond better. If I can give them an example that they can actually use or have reference to in their own lives, the students seem to retain the information better.
Jennifer Pasillas

When we review material for a test, we often play a competitive type of game with the information. Students seem to enjoy this because they get very excited and serious about the information.

Parent involvement is very important in my teaching because my students have to work so hard to achieve success at school. It is important to have the parents' support and good communication with the parents. We really need the parents' help in making sure the students are coming to class, studying at home and not spending a lot of time outside of school working at a job. The parents of my students are usually very supportive of this once they understand how important it is for them to be a part of their student's education.

I plan several "Hispanic Parent Nights" throughout the year and hold the meetings in English and Spanish. I use this opportunity to meet the parents of my students and of other Hispanic students at my school. I let them know if they ever need anything I am the person they can contact and communicate with in their language. During these parent nights we talk about many different subjects we feel will be beneficial to the parents, such as college, financial aid, graduation requirements, etc.

I make a lot of phone calls for other teachers to students' parents who only speak Spanish. Many times these students are not even in my classes. I also have the students come in for help on exams or other assignments they are having problems understanding. I work with teachers by giving them ideas on how they can modify their instruction and their assignments to help their ESL students succeed.

I feel I communicate well with teenagers. I’m really able to help them and make a difference in their futures by giving them the skills to succeed. One of the biggest things I stress with all the students the value of higher education, whether it is college or a vo-tech school. I just want them to realize how important education is after high school.

Every day I see success stories, but my students' greatest achievement and the one I'll be most proud of is when students begin their freshman year with me, speaking no English and struggling through four years of high school to finally end up graduating and even going on to college. That is why I am here. Since I have only been teaching for three years I haven’t had the pleasure of witnessing such a success. However, I have had students graduate that I have taught as sophomores or juniors. To see them achieve such a huge goal is the greatest joy and my purpose for teaching.