Jhon Cardona – Nonnative Speaker Becomes Master ESL Teacher

Demand is high for English as a second language (ESL) instructors, mainly because English is the most widely spoken language in the world. No field offers more opportunities to teach globally for a fluent English speaker than teaching ESL.

Jhon Cardona is a testament to that. He is an adjunct instructor in RIC’s ESL Intensive Program and has been teaching ESL for almost 20 years both in the United States and in his native Colombia.

He also teaches at RIC’s Workforce Development Hub, translates and writes for RIC’s Office of College Communications and Marketing, and teaches introductory Spanish at Salve Regina University.

Cardona likes to tell his ESL students about his own experiences as an English language learner to put them at ease.

He immigrated with his family to the United States at age 13, and though he attended a bilingual school the first year, by the time he was 15, he still couldn’t speak the language. So, he began teaching himself English.

“I sang along with CDs and looked up the words in the dictionary. I watched movies and would repeat the words, then I’d rewind the movies and repeat the words. I must have seen ‘Titanic’ nine times. By the third time, I had memorized it. Depending on the context, I would use sentences from the movies in conversations. 

“Within six months of practicing on my own, I was getting better at speaking. But it wasn’t until I began practicing one-on-one with a friend who was fluent in English that I began to gain real proficiency. Teaching yourself is great, but it’s just theory. You have to put that into practice. When I was practicing one-on-one, that’s when I knew I was really learning something.”

At age 18, Cardona returned to Colombia to attend college. Though his dream was to become a doctor, he took his aunt’s advice and went into teaching ESL. He attended the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, earning a bachelor’s degree in K-12 education, with concentrations in English, Spanish and humanities. He remained in Colombia, teaching ESL courses at the high school level, at ESL institutes, government programs and universities, and he earned a master’s degree in communication. After 18 years in Colombia, Cardona returned to the United States. He was 36 years old.

“When my students hear that I, too, was once an English language learner and that now I speak English fluently or that I left the United States to live in my country where English is not spoken, yet I speak fluently now, they know I’ve walked in their shoes. They look at me and think, ‘I can do that, too.’”

The course Cardona teaches in RIC’s ESL Intensive Program is Level II ESL. He teaches proficiency in four different skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. One of the most important qualities an ESL educator can have, Cardona says, is patience in teaching those skills.

“Although 95 percent of my students are Spanish speakers, each semester, I get students from other countries, Cape Verde, Syria, Morocco and Turkey,” he says. “I have a student this semester from Afghanistan. In his country, they don’t use the Roman alphabet. They speak Farsi. So, this student is working twice as hard as my other students because he first had to learn our alphabet before he could begin to read and write. At least Spanish speakers share the same alphabet as English speakers. But this student really struggles.

“So, ESL teachers have to be patient with their students,” Cardona says. “They must also teach their students to be patient with each other. In every class, I remind my students to allow their classmates to think, process and answer. When I was younger, I was a lot more impatient. But after almost 20 years of teaching, I’ve learned patience.”

It is also important to understand the culture and experiences of the students you are teaching, he says.

“My ESL Intensive class runs from 7-9 p.m. Many of my students are coming to class from work. They might not have had time to eat. They need to eat in order to process the information. So, I always give breaks. As an ESL teacher, it’s important that I know the life situations of my students,” he says. “There are times when I see that they are tired. I’ll stop whatever I’m doing and have them play a word game. I may put 10 letters on the board and tell them to make words from the 10 letters.”

Cardona also sends his students links to word game apps. He’s a big proponent of using technology in language classrooms. Language apps serve as an English language teacher and supplement the instruction students receive in class.

With his expertise and sensitivity, Cardona has come to play a pivotal role in the lives of his students. Seventy-five percent of his students take ESL to become proficient in the language so that they can communicate better in the world. The other 25 percent want to become proficient so that they can go on to college. Success stories abound in both groups.

“I ran into a student who studied with me at RIC three years ago,” Cardona says. “We spoke in English for a whole minute, walking from the building to our car. She said, ‘Look at me! I’m speaking English now and I’m enrolled at RIC!’ I’ve had students say, ‘Now I have a better job!’ or ‘After doing presentations in your class, for the first time I’m able to understand my child’s teacher!’ I get very emotional when I hear that.”

“This isn’t an easy job,” he adds. “I sometimes wonder how I got here. As a kid, I wanted to be a doctor. But life takes you where you were meant to go. I wouldn’t change anything. I love what I do. I love teaching.”

For information on RIC’s ESL Intensive Program or to learn about ESL courses at RIC’s Workforce Development Hub, visit our websites.