The Brief

Wendy Tang pauses while presenting in front of class. It’s not an easy feat for anyone to speak in front of nearly 20 peers, even harder for someone whose primary language isn’t English. She laughs from embarrassment and discloses that she’s nervous.

Inspired by the “cajita” project, students have filled “sacred boxes” with significant personal belongings and artifacts that honor family struggles and triumphs.

This is the end of the unit on identity for the lowest credit language class for English learners at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC). These kinds of classes are meaningful for the students enrolled in them. They’re also in decline, as transfer reforms and other factors shape community college course offerings.

Giving voice to past and present

Tang moved from China to the U.S. on her own. Sharing various items with the class, she points to a small glass bottle containing blades of grass that she’s chosen to represent herself.

“I feel grass is the strongest plant because it doesn’t matter where you put the seeds. It doesn’t matter if there’s a lot of rain,” Tang said. “You just give them a little bit of sunshine and they will grow everywhere. Like the grass, you put me here, I can grow. You put me in another place and I can grow too.”

Students chose items to represent their past cultures, their adjustment to the U.S., and their futures. This project modeled sentipensante — a sensing, thinking approach to learning, professor and chair of Mt. SAC’s American Language program Elizabeth Casian said.

Their boxes are also informed by a True Colors personality test, which Casian uses to help students find more congruence between their values and lives.

Coming to the U.S. from another country is a chance to redirect one’s course, Casian said; immigrants who may have come from more collectivist cultures may not have pursued their individual dreams before, a defining characteristic of American culture.

A former student from Hong Kong told Casian that taking the personality test changed her life when she realized she was in the wrong career — banking. After getting encouragement from Casian, the student embarked on a career change.

Moving between countries and cultures

Through thoughtfully chosen objects, students shared a longing for family and friends, challenges they’ve faced, and changes in perspective. One student shared a picture from his brother’s birthday of them eating hot pot together, a reminder of his Chinese culture. Deanna Contreras brought a baseball hat from the Carl’s Jr. fast food restaurant chain. It represented her growing pains upon coming to the United States from Mexico.

“It was my first job here in the U.S.,” Contreras said. “It was really difficult because I was still learning. I didn’t know any English and a lot of people were mean.”

Referring to a U.S. dollar bill, the student Tang said that money has represented both her Chinese and American cultures. Her relationship toward money has changed. Once seen as an end in itself, she now sees money as a means for having life experiences.

Nguyen Huynh, who goes by Tom, poses by his cajita – a box that includes significant personal belongings and family artifacts that would be transported across borders. It includes a bottle of Vietnamese Chin-Su hot sauce that he attests can be used in every meal and a printed image of the “lady justice” which represents his future in America, where he plans to improve public safety as a police officer.

(

Bonnie Ho

/

LAist

)

“After coming to America, I tried to find life’s meaning. What’s the meaning for my life? Making money to buy a house — is that happy? Or is it making money so that I can go travel? The world is so big,” Tang said.

Another student from China, Wayne Wang, had a different perspective on money.

“My favorite perfume — Chanel!” Wang said, presenting the bottled fragrance to his class. Unabashedly laughing, he said it represents luxury and his love of money and beauty.

Across California, advancing in English more quickly 

Changes to English-as-a-second-language (ESL) credit courses have been underway since the implementation of Assembly Bill 705, which nominally took effect in January 2018 and aimed to get community college students to higher levels of math and English more quickly. For example, English-learners who graduated from high school in the U.S. who may have otherwise placed in a lower level of English in the ESL program now start at a higher level of college composition.

“It's now that we have to meet students where they are, whereas before, if you don't have these skills, then you need to get these skills in these lower level classes,” Casian said. “The reason why they pushed AB 705 through in the first place was that the more levels a student has to take, the more chances we have of losing them from college.”

Findings from a 2022 report by the Public Policy Institute of California on the early effect of AB 705 on credit-level English Second Language showed that colleges have been shortening ESL course sequences. Prior to the law, some colleges offered course sequences with as many as six levels or more. According to PPIC, in 2021, over half of colleges offered sequences of four levels or less, compared to just one-third in 2016.

Another consequence of AB 705 includes a decline in student enrollment at Mt. SAC’s American Language Program, according to Casian, who suggested that students may bypass the program for the English department. Casian said the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions also contributed to the decline. Based on data provided by Mt. SAC, student enrollment for credit-level courses in the American Language Program declined substantially, from nearly 1,400 in 2018-2019 to less than half (just over 600) in 2022-2023. (Students may be counted more than once if enrolled in more than one course.)

One concern of the effect of AB 705 is placing students in classes before they’re ready. While getting English learners to higher levels faster is beneficial, Casian said there is still value in offering lower-level credit ESL courses where students can build foundational skills.

A cajita project box.

(

Bonnie Ho

/

LAist

)

“I think that's a testament to what is still needed,” said Casian, who pointed out that while recent legislation asserts all students have a right to take transfer-level courses, not everyone should start there.

Referring to her class, she said, “If you can imagine these students in English 1A [a freshman composition transfer-level class] with the skills that they have, that's not equitable. So that's why we're still here. We're here to provide equity. We're here to provide that support to get students from where they are, to that next level where they need to.”

Second chances and wanting to connect

Damayanthi Jesudason moved to the U.S. in 1996 in response to the Sri Lankan civil war. Over the years, Jesudason said she has not passed a number of English learner classes due to difficulty writing essays and understanding grammar. She said she was also identified as having a learning disability.

Her English language level has affected her regular interactions with others.

“Even when I say ‘vaccine’ at the pharmacy, they don't understand,” she said. “So it was really frustrating me, making me sad because the other person cannot understand my pronunciation. So I thought of coming to class. In that way, I can learn.”

Taking this class has been a way to improve and get closer to her goal of working with animals as a pet groomer. Jesudason recites the maxim “practice makes perfect.”

Another student who goes by the name Ryder Freeman has found it to be a safe haven, a place to make friends. Freeman moved to the U.S. in 2022 and said he is a political refugee from China.

Before taking this class, Freeman stayed home and didn’t know that many people.

“After I took this class, I met my classmates and made friends with them,” he said. “That's a big change to my life.”

Topline:

The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."

Every year in Santa Ana, Luis Cantabrana turns the front of his home into an elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe that draws hundreds of visitors.

Along the front of the house, the multi-colored altar is filled with lights, flowers and a stained-glass tapestry behind a sculpture of the Lady of Guadalupe. Cantabrana’s roof also is lit up with the green, white and red lights that spell out “Virgen de Guadalupe” and a cross.

Visitors are welcomed with music and the smell of roses as they celebrate the saint, but this year’s gathering comes after a dark year for immigrant communities.

Luis Cantabrana stands in front of the stunning altar he built in front of his home in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Every year, his display draws hundreds of visitors.

(

Destiny Torres

/

LAist

)

Why do they celebrate? 

In 1513, the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, asking him to build a church in her honor. Her image — a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands together in prayer and an angel at her feet — miraculously appeared on his cloak.

To celebrate in Santa Ana, worshippers gathered late-night Wednesday and in the very early hours Dec. 12 to pray the rosary, sing hymns and celebrate the saint.

Cantabrana has hosted worshippers at his home for 27 years — 17 in Santa Ana.

The altar started out small, he said, and over the years, he added a fabric background, more lights and flowers (lots and lots of flowers).

“It started with me making a promise to la Virgen de Guadalupe that while I had life and a home to build an altar, that I would do it,” Cantabrana said. “Everything you see in photos and videos is pretty, but when you come and see it live, it's more than pretty. It's beautiful.”

The Santa Ana home's elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe draws hundreds of visitors each year.

(

Destiny Torres

/

LAist

)

Gathering in a time of turmoil 

Many also look to the Lady of Guadalupe for protection, especially at a time when federal enforcement has rattled immigrant communities.

“People don’t want to go to work, they don’t want to take their kids to school, but the love we have for our Virgen de Guadalupe,” Cantabrana said. “We see that la Virgen de Guadalupe has a lot of power, and so we know immigration [enforcement] won’t come here.”

Margarita Lopez of Garden Grove has been visiting the altar for three years with her husband. She’s been celebrating the Virgencita since she was a young girl. Honoring the saint is as important now as ever, she said.

“We ask, and she performs miracles,” Lopez said.

Claudia Tapia, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, said the Virgin Mary represents strength.

“Right now, with everything going on, a lot of our families [have] turned and prayed to the Virgen for strength during these times,” Tapia said. “She's a very strong symbol of Mexican culture, of unity, of faith and of resilience.”

See it for yourself

The shrine will stay up into the new year on the corner of Broadway and Camile Street.

California’s unemployment agency kept paying cellphone bills for 4 1/2 years without checking whether its workers actually were using the devices.

That’s how it racked up $4.6 million in fees for mobile devices its workers were not using, according to a new state audit detailing wasteful spending at several government agencies.

The Employment Development Department’s excessive cellphone bills date to the COVID-19 pandemic, when it shifted call center employees to remote work and faced pressure to release benefits to millions of suddenly unemployed Californians.

It acquired 7,224 cellphones and wireless hotspots by December 2020. State auditors analyzed 54 months of invoices since then and found half the devices were unused for at least two years, 25% were unused for three years and 99 of them were never used at all.

The investigation, which auditors opened after receiving a tip, identified 6,285 devices that were unused for at least four consecutive months, and said the department spent $4.6 million on monthly service fees for them.

From the beginning, the department had about 2,000 more cellphones than call center employees, according to the audit. The gap widened over time after the pandemic ended and the department’s staffing returned to its normal headcount.

As of April, the audit said the department had 1,787 unemployment call center employees, but was paying monthly service fees for 5,097 mobile devices.

“Although obtaining the mobile devices during COVID-19 may have been a good idea to serve the public, continuing to pay the monthly service fees for so many unused devices, especially post-COVID-19, was wasteful,” the audit said.

Department officials told auditors they were unaware of the spending, but auditors pointed to regular invoices from Verizon that showed which phones were not being used.

“We would have expected EDD management to have reconsidered the need to pay the monthly service fees for so many devices that had no voice, message, or data usage,” the audit said.

The unemployment department began acting on the auditors’ findings in April, when it canceled service plans for 2,825 devices. It has since implemented a policy to terminate service plans for devices that go unused for 90 days.

The California state auditor highlighted the mobile devices in its regular report on “improper activities by state agencies and employees.” The audit also showed that the California Air Resources Board overpaid an employee who was on extended leave as he prepared to retire by $171,000.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.