Aurora man's promotion launched English-learning success

Jorge Blancas snaps his fingers, tilts his head and pauses.

"How you guys call it?" he asks rhetorically as he searches for the word.

This is something Blancas doesn't do as often as he once did - straining for the word, struggling to communicate, searching for someone who speaks Spanish instead.

The kitchen manager at Aurelio's Pizza in Naperville has been taking English lessons through Literacy DuPage for the past year and a half and recently was recognized as one of two Learners of the Year, a select honor among 400 students.

He's greatly improved his vocabulary, his sentence structure and his use of correct verb tense, his tutor Laura Rivas says, and now any English-speaker who listens closely to the soft-spoken man can easily understand him.

"He's improved a lot and he feels more confident in his English skills," Rivas said. "He wants to be fluent."

And he's well on his way.

Between long shifts leading the kitchen, Sundays spent at his church and meetings spent counseling former drug addicts in a 12-step recovery program, Blancas still finds time for a two-hour English session with Rivas each week. He's noticing the improvements and so are his employers.

"The frustration has gone down for him," says Tom Moberg, Blancas' boss and general manager of Aurelio's Naperville. "He's gotten really good at English and communication."

Now two other kitchen employees are considering following Blancas' lead and signing up for their own tutoring through Literacy DuPage, a Naperville-based nonprofit organization that provides customized English assistance for adults who lack command of the language.

For the example Blancas sets to other English-learners, and for the leadership he provides in the kitchen, Literacy DuPage leaders who have recognized Blancas' progress say he's someone to be thankful for.

Blancas, 34, hasn't always seen himself that way.

A former drug addict, Blancas didn't learn much English when he moved to Chicago from Mexico about 17 years ago and to Aurora one year later. It was easy to find jobs in kitchens where everyone else spoke Spanish, just like him.

At his previous jobs, Blancas said everyone took inventory in Spanish, wrote orders in Spanish and kept work flowing quite nicely.

The Spanish-only life lasted until he got a job at Aurelio's Pizza in Naperville nearly four years ago.

"When I started here, it's a little complicated because I have a lot of guys who speak only English and they don't understand me," Blancas said.

He signed up for an English as a Second Language class at Waubonsee Community College, but wasn't able to commit the time and didn't finish the course. He says he works 50 hours in a slow week and 60 or more in a busy one, so he didn't have the time to go to English. English would have to come to him.

It didn't, until Blancas was offered a promotion.

Celeste Mattern Wagner, owner of Aurelio's restaurants in Naperville, Oakbrook Terrace and Woodridge, wouldn't take back Blancas' higher paycheck when he tried to turn it in after his first few weeks in his new role. He told her he wasn't able to handle a promotion that required him to write kitchen reports and orders in English and communicate clearly with an English-speaking crew of teenage employees.

Wagner didn't let him back down that easily, but worked her connections in several Naperville nonprofits to get him some help. She set up a Literacy DuPage tutor to stop by Aurelio's once a week during the quiet hours of the morning or afternoon to help Blancas upgrade his language skills.

While he otherwise would be cooking catering orders, ensuring food quality, cleaning, training new employees or checking on his crew, Blancas joins Rivas at a table on the south side of the restaurant and practices writing in his second language.

"His tenacity and his story" made him stand out among other Literacy DuPage learners, said Therese McMahon, executive director. The fact he's now learning English after living in America so long without skills in the language is inspiring to other students, who often struggle to make the time to improve their literacy, she said.

Blancas sees it all as part of God's plan for him. From a drug user to an English-learning role model and 12-step sponsor, Blancas realizes his life has taken several turns for the better.

"God changed my life, and I think that's why he put me right here," Blancas said, surrounded by his co-workers and the strong scent of banana peppers and pizza sauce in the Aurelio's kitchen.

"He gave me a lot of good friends here ... so when I work here, I try to do my best."