Center teaches English as a second language

Marlene Karas/ViewPatricia Rodriguez, one of the students in the English language learner program at Desert Rose Adult High School and Career Center, 444 W. Brooks Ave., works on constructing sentences during a recent class. Top, Francisco Flores, 28, completes worksheets during a class at Desert Rose Adult High School and Career Center. Left, Everyisch Lee teaches students how to gain U.S. citizenship at the school.photos by marlene Karas/View Top, Francisco Flores, 28, completes worksheets during a class at Desert Rose Adult High School and Career Center. Left, Everyisch Lee teaches students how to gain U.S. citizenship at the school.photos by marlene Karas/View Advertisement

Select students at Desert Rose Adult High School and Career Center are working toward a goal that many in the valley take for granted.

For those in the school's English language learner program, learning to speak English could mean the difference between obtaining employment and not.

Desert Rose, 444 W. Brooks Ave., is the largest provider of English as a second language classes at a single location in the area. Last year, the campus served 1,720 ESL students.

Because of that, the school runs 12 hours a day, year-round, and features English classes from beginning to accelerated. The school is part of the Clark County School District and is funded with out-of-state money reserved for adult education, meaning anyone 17 years old and over can attend.

"Adult education in the district provides various delivery models of English language so that different communities can be served," Sandra Ransel, principal of Desert Rose, said.

Classes inside the cluster of trailers at the campus cost $15 a year, and students can take as many courses as they want for that amount.

Ransel said adult English classes tend to focus on words and phrases that one might use in the workplace, as opposed to language courses taught to younger students, where more school-related topics would be covered.

Edgar Fabian, a 38-year-old student in the beginning course, said he decided to take the classes at Desert Rose because he wasn't able to communicate with people in Las Vegas who didn't speak Spanish.

On a Monday morning, his class was working on verb conjugation, while Betty Maridon's intermediate class was working on vocabulary and doing partner activities.

"I want to learn English because I want to find a better job," Kenia Escobar, a 21-year-old student, said.

Escobar said she is thinking about becoming a waitress when she gets out of school.

Her classmate, Francisco Flores, 28, said he's learning a lot in his course.

In the advanced English class, students receive credit from the school district while preparing for the English state proficiency tests, which are the same exams all CCSD high school students take.

"(The students here) are very motivated to finish," instructor Suzanne McDonald said. "They take as many classes as they can. They have to pass the same tests as everyone else."

Some of McDonald's students already have taken the proficiencies and are merely waiting for their test results. Isabel Trejo, 17, is one of those students.

"(Desert Rose) has given me a lot of opportunities that I didn't know I had in regular high school," she said.

Trejo plans to go to Le Cordon Bleu to become a traditional Mexican food chef, but first she has to wait for her results on those state tests.

In addition to ESL courses, Desert Rose also offers a class for students who are working toward becoming U.S. citizens.

For more information on the school or its services, call 799-6240.