~ The Journey to Middle School Spanish - Part 3

Marilyn Gorgas-Cahill

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Gilbert & Marilyn Cahill

People often ask me how I ended up teaching Spanish, particularly as I was born in New Jersey, with a Danish, Greek, and PA Dutch ethnic heritage.  Well, here's the journey....  Part 3

At the same time, my father had been conducting Spanish and English Bible studies in the Morris County Jail.  He called me and asked me if I would be willing and able to tutor a Puerto Rican inmate who was attending the "Unshackled" program, as it was called.  This young man's name was Ulises, and he was completely illiterate either in Spanish or English.  After taking the required training through Literacy Volunteers of America, I began as an official volunteer with the jail's English as a Second Language program.  At the same time, I was invited to come to the Spanish Unshackled program with my guitar and sing with the inmates.  This phase of my "journey" lasted four years, and motivated me to return to school for more training in teaching English as a Second Language.  Since I had taken advantage of Ciba's tuition reimbursement program to complete a B.A. in Spanish Literature and Translation , I figured I may as well take a Masters program.  Fairleigh Dickinson had a great M.A.T. with a focus in Adult ESL, so I enrolled, again at corporate expense! My master's final research project involved visiting all the state prisons and county correctional facilities in New Jersey, observing ESL and GED classes and interviewing inmate students.  During this time I met Gilbert (another long story), got married (click for wedding pics), inherited two kids, and gave birth to a third all in the same year.  Corporate life was now out of the question. After Kathleen was born in February 1995 I began teaching part-time at County College of Morris.  Two years later Victoria was born with cerebral palsy (click for her website at www.purplewheelchair.com).  Life changed again, but once things settled, I took another part-time ESL job at Canfield School in Mine Hill.   The following year they added Spanish to my teaching schedule and I became a full-time public school teacher. I developed the entire Spanish program, and attained tenure, but by this time my youngest children were in the Duffy school in Wharton, and I wanted to be where they were.  I began teaching in Duffy in 2003, and after a year of smooth sailing, I was assigned to MacKinnon (middle school) - my first  experience with 7th and 8th grade........                                     Continued....

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