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 Health & Beauty | January 2007 
English is Big at Naco, Sonora Rehab Center
 Associated Press
Sierra Vista, Ariz. - Some teachers might be taken aback if a man burst suddenly into their classroom with a box of apples and started tossing them out to students.
But Sandi Riggs, an English teacher at a Mexican drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic known by its Spanish acronym CRREDA, used the intrusion as an opportunity to reinforce a lesson about verbs.
"What's he doing?" she asked her class, which at that moment numbered 18 men and two women, ranging in age from 15 to 53.
When they couldn't think of the verb, she coached them. "He's throwing apples," she said, and asked them to repeat.
For the past two and a half months, the 66-year-old has been making a weekly trek across the border from her home in Bisbee to teach English to clinic residents in Naco in the Mexican state of Sonora. A retired Cochise College instructor with 44 years of English teaching experience, she was at a friend's birthday party when she first heard about the fledgling English class that needed a teacher.
Since she had been looking for an activity that fitted her interests, Riggs eagerly volunteered.
Staff members at the clinic say the English class has been a positive addition to the center's rehabilitation efforts, and they give much of the credit to Riggs's patient and enthusiastic teaching style.
The class, everyone agrees, has become a weekly highlight for students and teacher alike.
"Every time I go in, I wonder, 'Is it going to be fun tonight?' " Riggs said. "And it always is."
When Riggs walked into the classroom on a recent Monday evening, her students were poised to begin.
They had filled the first few rows of metal folding seats, and many sat with notepads open and pens in hand, reviewing some of the more difficult words that they had learned in a previous lesson. About half sported baseball caps, and all wore jackets or sweat shirts. If there was a heat source in the roughly 12-by-24-foot concrete-walled assembly room, it had yet to be turned on.
Later, Riggs turned on her boombox and led the students in a spirited jazz chant featuring the refrain, "Shh, Shh, the baby's sleeping." Then she divided them into groups with an assignment for each student to act out an English verb so the others could guess what they were doing.
Asked if she was distracted by the seemingly chaotic nature of the class, Riggs said: "It's really not chaos, they're just very vocal. I like their energy and the way they work together. As a teacher, you don't want them to calm down."
Perhaps part of the reason the English class is met with such enthusiasm is that it provides the clinic's residents with a break from their grueling rehabilitation program. Residents are not allowed to leave the building during the first three months of their recovery, and so an opportunity to interact with outsiders and think about something other than rehab can indeed be a welcome break.
Having homework and an educational goal also can aid in the larger effort to stay clean, participants say.
"When you are on drugs, all you think about is drugs," said 39-year-old Francisco Gutierrez, a native of Puerto Vallarta, state of Jalisco. "But when you're thinking about English, you can't think about drugs."
Steven Eli, a 19-year-old Honduran who came to the border to cross into the United States but instead got involved in drugs, said he hopes English can help him find a better, chemical-free life.
"You can get a good job if you know English," he said, before pausing to add, "And if you go to the other side (the U.S.), it's easier to meet girls."
But clearly another reason why the English class has been such a hit is Riggs. Gutierrez called his instructor "a beautiful person," and student Julieta Perez praised Riggs for her patience.
"The class changes the routine of the center," said Raymundo Pineda, coordinator of the center in Naco. "(The students) want to learn, and they really enjoy it."
"Plus," he added, "they have a good teacher." |
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