MONROE - When Faviola Larraga moved to Monroe in August 2008, she carried with her a degree in chemical engineering from Monterrey Institute of Technology.

But that didn't prepare her for the challenges she faced with a new language in a new culture.

She soon realized, while volunteering as a lunchroom supervisor at St. Victor School, she needed and wanted to learn English.

"I had to know what the kids were having for lunch," Larraga said. Students' last names were a challenge, too.

"I could read a little English," she said, but the spoken language with its local dialects and accents was beyond her level of understanding. Even the English pronunciation of her own last name sounded foreign to her.

By November 2008, she was in a program offered by the Literacy Council of Green County, Ltd. and paired with a tutor who gave her free and personalized English lessons.

"That is the best thing the Literacy Council has to offer, because you learn what you need to learn," Larraga said in perfect English still laced with a Spanish accent.

Tutors with the Literacy Council use no standard books and no standard curriculum, said Ellen Hossman, executive director of Literacy Council of Green County.

"Life skills and work skills are the number one skills we work with," Hossman said. "Students ask for life skills."

Students are encouraged to tell their tutors what is happening in their lives and what they need to learn to solve a problem, she added.

Larraga said her tutors became "like extended family," and students can ask for help with simple, daily tasks, such as renting, opening a bank account or going to the doctor.

Her first time at a doctor's office here became like a game of charades, as she and the nurse tried to record a medical history for Larraga's child. Larraga didn't know what chicken pox was or what "pass out" meant, and she didn't know an interpreter might have been available to her.

She began noticing many parents without English struggling with the same communication problems she once had.

"I thought maybe I could help them," she said.

Larraga has now become a tutor for Literacy Council of Green County, teaching Spanish-speaking adults the basics of English. She explains in Spanish the ways of English grammar - confusing even for native English speakers at times - and the local culture, thus punching a hole in the communication wall, which can lead to grasping the new language and fitting into the community.

"It is a big step to feel confident to speak English," she said.

That confidence leads to more involvement and better communication with the community, she added.

"When you feel confident speaking English, you get involved in some activities," Larraga noted. "Getting involved helps a lot; going home to be alone after a lesson doesn't help."

Larraga is one of the 38 tutors currently working with 64 learners through Literacy Council of Green County. Four students are native English speakers learning to read. Another 16 adults learners are waiting to get into the program.

"Faviola is wonderful," Hossman said. "She can laugh if she doesn't understand something, and she will ask (for help). She will accept help from anyone - even kids."

Larraga continues at St. Victor's School, teaching Spanish in 4K through fifth grade. Younger students are more apt to use the Spanish they've learned when meeting her on the street, she said.

"What little they know, they use outside the classroom," she said with pride.

Larraga has advanced to reading "tough books" written by the English author Jane Austen, and she is tackling the nuances of English, especially as they come into play when writing emails.

These experiences she will pass on to her adult students as they learn that Green County's culture is more than just its language.