Se Habla Espanol?

While growing up, I was raised in San Antonio, Texas, where the majority of the culture was not necessarily the Hispanic Culture but, over the years has seen an increasing Hispanic Influence. Spanish was spoken mostly in the rural regions; no ESL (English as a Second Language) classes were taught while I was in school; however, by the time I moved to Austin, Texas, and substituted through the AISD (Austin Independent School District), it was clear that Spanish was becoming more prominent as they had ESL Programs in all the schools within the AISD system.

That being said though, I returned to San Antonio in 1997, I discovered that, while waiting in the lobby of my bank the Hispanic influence had become even stronger. I picked up a brochure while waiting in line for something to read, only to discover that it was written entirely in Spanish! Additionally, I discovered that the Hispanic population had become so strong that the job hunting process was stymied by the employers asking, are you bi?? (and they meant, "are you bi-lingual??). Job hunt after job hunt after job hunt during the last subsequent years (more than 7 years now) consitently turned me down because I wasn't bilingual. Suddendly, I was on the recepient end of being discriminated against.

One of my greatest pet peeves is that, if they are suddenly going to make it a requirement for employees to be bilingual, then they should be offering "SSL" (Spanish as a Second Language) to help those who never took Spanish and/or need to brush up on it (like me) because they never used it on a regular basis throughout the years for free -- just like they implemented the ESL Programs in all the schools within the AISD system.

Being back in the Austin area, I may have found an answer to a free program being taught in Round Rock, Texas. Their Senior Center is offering free classes -- just pay $8.00 to the annual membership of the Senior Center AND about $10 for the workbook. Not a bad deal!! :)