On any given day in classrooms on the New Brunswick and Piscataway campuses you may find upwards of 60 custodians working diligently at tasks seemingly unrelated to their jobs of keeping Rutgers’ facilities in order.
They are working hard to learn English as a second language through Project RISE – a Rutgers program that helps custodial and grounds staff to communicate in English through speaking, writing, reading, and listening – in order to improve their workplace skills.
Barbara Meyer, University Facilities training coordinator, oversees the program and teaches the students. She runs one-and-a-half and two-hour sessions each week on topics such as vocabulary, past tense verbs, reading with understanding, dialogues, memo-writing practice, giving and receiving instructions, and reporting emergencies.
“In their jobs, facilities workers need to speak to students, professors, and other staff in addition to their supervisors and co-workers,” Meyer said. “They also need to understand messages left on blackboards, such as ‘Do Not Erase.’ Often, too, they need to read or write memos.”
In addition to their ESL coursework, many custodians are working on citizenship preparation. About 30 people have gone on to gain U.S. citizenship in the years since 1998, when Meyer joined the Project RISE initiative. The program, funded by University Facilities, has been running since the early 1990s, except for a hiatus owing to state-mandated budget cuts from 2002 to 2004.
One of the newest citizens is Jennie Yeung, a Cook Campus custodian, who said that among her most pleasant memories of the Project RISE experience is “reading stories about special people such as Martin Luther King Jr., Nancy Pelosi, Cesar Chavez, and Helen Keller. I never knew about them before. I like learning about American history.”
“I joined Project RISE in 2000 because I wished to improve my English,” Yeung said. I became a citizen on August 16, 2005. My teacher helped me prepare for the test and interview.” She attends all of the sessions because they are fun, she added. “During this time I have learned more English, but I need more time to practice because English is very difficult.”
Another new citizen, Nancy Johnson, a custodian on the Cook/Douglass Campus, said learning to speak, read, and write English through the program has helped her understand her supervisor better. Johnson said that her husband, son, and grandsons still are in the Dominican Republic, but now that she is a U.S. citizen, she can petition to have the rest of her family join her.
University Facilities recognized the following additional custodians who became new U.S. citizens during the past year: Pablo Cubas, Pilar Estevez, Nairoby Marte, Olga Menjivar, Rosa Rodriguez, and Thomas Y. Tien.
Classes are conducted by Meyer in a climate that has everyone succeeding at his or her own pace, she says. Students receive a certificate for each year they complete their studies. Last June, 65 achievement certificates were awarded at celebration luncheons featuring international dishes prepared by the students.
Most of the participants are Spanish speaking, but there always are other native languages represented, including Arabic and Chinese. Although she conducts the classes in English, Meyer, a longtime teacher of adult education in New Brunswick and North Brunswick, often lets an advanced student explain a complicated issue to others in their native language.
“I try to provide a workshop environment in the classroom where student can feel safe and make mistakes,” Meyer said. “It’s important to make positive comments on papers and in notebooks to help employees feel good about themselves.”
Once each year, a national standardized test for adult learners in reading and listening is administered. Meyer said it is gratifying to note that not only have the students’ scores improved, but their confidence levels are boosted also, based on their mastery of the English language. Several former students have been promoted to foreperson.
While the program is voluntary for the staff, Meyer said one student summed up the basic reason for her participation. Reyna Mercado, a Cook/Douglass custodian, told her: “For me, this program is mandatory.”