Iris Froham, workplace and community education coordinator for The Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, teaches English to employees at The Ritz-Carlton in Manalapan. The Ritz-Carlton sponsors the program and pays its employees to attend the classes. Photo by Tim Stepien
By Ron Hayes
The Ritz-Carlton hotel has a motto.
“We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”
Some of those hard-working ladies and gentlemen clean the rooms and make the beds. They drive the shuttles and tend the flowers. They work in the spa, or the kitchen.
And twice a week, some of those ladies and gentlemen gather in an ornate conference room beneath the main lobby and work just as hard to improve their English and prepare for American citizenship.
“We believe our employees are our No. 1 resource,” says Melanie Marks-Ginsburg, the hotel’s director of human resources, “so we want them to feel confident and understood. The hotel’s been open since 1991, and we’ve found many of our long-term employees had English as a second language, so I reached out to the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition.”
That was eight months ago. Since then, the coalition’s Workplace and Community Education program has completed two 10-week sessions and begun a third.
The hotel pays its ladies and gentlemen while they attend the classes, provides the books and supplies, and for three hours a week they are students, sitting before a peppy former teacher and principal named Iris Frohman, to wrestle with the frustrating peculiarities of idiomatic English.
“Do you mind getting me another towel?” Miss Iris asks Oscar Ceballos, who works in the spa.
“Yes, I mind …” he starts.
“No, no,” Miss Iris corrects. But imagine how confusing a phrase like “Do you mind” can be to someone for whom English is a foreign language.
Or the dangerous difference between “cabbage” and “garbage.”
“I made the salad with lettuce, carrots and …”
“No, no,” Miss Iris jumps in.
“I have 18 students and 10 different languages,” Frohman says. “Spanish, Creole, Arabic — two different dialects — Portuguese, French …”
Frohman speaks only English, and yet her unfailing patience and the students’ unfailing enthusiasm combine to make progress.
“No, I don’t mind,” Oscar begins, and Miss Iris shouts, “Yes!”
The Literacy Coalition has been teaching English and preparing students to take their high school equivalency test since the mid-1990s.
“We started with a grant to place literacy classes in hospitals,” says Darlene Kostrub, the coalition’s CEO. Today, the program is in 10 sites, from the JFK Medical Center to Frenchman’s Creek Country Club and the YMCA.
“We try to work with both employees and employers,” Kostrub notes, “so at one site the students may need a commercial driver’s license, and we’ll teach the terms they would find on that test. At the Ritz-Carlton, it’s hospitality concepts.”
The students aren’t the only ones learning.
“I’ve learned about determination, hardship and work ethics,” their teacher says. “I have one student who takes a two-hour bus ride to get here and two hours to get home.
And she comes in with a smile on her face.”
Sometimes, the lesson needed is small but significant. Spanish speakers may have trouble distinguishing their B’s from their V’s, for example.
“I will take the Velvedere exit home,” a student repeats.
“Bel-ve-dere,” Miss Iris corrects. She writes a B and a V on the blackboard, and then demonstrates the B and V sounds for the class.
“I will take the Bel-ve-vere....”
“It’s OK, to take your time,” she tells them.
“Bel-ve-dere.”
“Perfect! See, it’s all about repetition.”
Now they move on to a bit of American history, to prepare for the citizenship test.
“What is the supreme law of the United States?” Miss Iris asks. “I promise you they’re going to ask you this.”
“The Constitution.”
“Yes, and what are the first three words of the Constitution?”
“Pinta...?” one student guesses.
“No, it’s not a ship.” But no one laughs. No one is made to feel embarrassed.
A native of Colombia, Edgar Granados, 47, has been in the U.S. eight years, worked at the Ritz-Carlton for four years, and has taken the class since it started. And he’s also taking an English class online.
“When I first came to the hotel, my management didn’t understand me,” he says, “so I worked the night shift in housekeeping. Now I am driving the shuttle. Maybe next I will be a supervisor. This is a very important step in my
life.”
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