Chamber hopes teaching workers English pays off

You don't want Roberto Delgaldo in your class -- he messes up the curve in a big way.

The employee of the Filtration Group tripled his English comprehension score in after-work English classes, and on Wednesday, received a diploma for finishing his first semester.

"I think I need a better grasp, better communication," the native Spanish speaker said. "Verbs are hard."

The 20 students who graduated Wednesday have spent the semester staying after work at least two days a week for English instruction to better equip them as both employees and parents of schoolchildren.

Filtration Group, a Santa Rosa manufacturer of air filters, paid employees their regular wages for the first hour of the two-hour class.

It was worth it, said Maria Gallardo, who has worked as a packer for Filtration Group for two years and hopes to help her granddaughter when she reaches school age.

"For the first time, (I) was able to talk to an American in English, and he understood. That was a very big deal to (me)," she said through an interpreter.

The three-part program was coordinated by the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce, Santa Rosa City Schools and the California Parenting Institute.

Instructor Marjam Karapetien teaches the course through Lewis Adult School and Community-Based English Tutoring, a state program that provides free or subsidized English programs to those who will assist schoolchildren.

Other companies have hosted literacy events and given away books, but Filtration Group was the first local company to put all three elements together.

"We thought, 'Why don't we pitch in and help the parents help their children graduate," said Estela Prado, the company's human resources administrator.

But the company had an eye for the business benefits too, she said.

Prado said Filtration Group hopes workers can improve their English enough for the company to be able to promote them.

The Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce hopes to use the program as a model for other area businesses as part of its year-old English Language Learning Initiative.

"By the end of January, we want to say, 'This is the A-to-Z program that we can market out to businesses," said Kelly Bass, chamber spokeswoman.

"The face of our community is changing," she said. "If we embrace the issue now and work on what is going on in our work force, I think that we are really going to benefit."

The language class is broken into two areas: education literacy and workplace literacy.

"So that when we talk about safety, the names of machines, the process and materials, they are able to understand more about their work," Prado said.

Staff Writer Kerry Benefield writes an education blog at extracredit.pressdemocrat.com. She can be reached at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.