SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador—It’s a few minutes after 10 a.m. and Frank Ticas has just finished teaching his first English class of the day, on the perfect progressive tense. As a dozen young Salvadorans, most in their early- to mid-20s, file out of the classroom towards the institute’s front door, Ticas wishes them well.
The 41-year-old sports a shaved head, goatee and jeans. On his right upper-arm, a scorpion tattoo peeks out from beneath the short-sleeve of his blue FC Barcelona soccer jersey. “Hey, see you tomorrow, man,” he says. “Have a good day. Be safe.”
Ticas speaks fluent English, owing to his childhood in Los Angeles. He was deported to El Salvador when he was 24, in 2000. Now he teaches English to young Salvadorans who are trying to figure out how to get ahead in a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world, where most young people are either drawn into gangs or touched by their violence. At the school, “English Cool,” all the English teachers are deportees. They don’t just want their students to learn English; they want them to dream of a better future.
[For more on this story by Jessica Weiss, Andrea Patiño, go to http://www.univision.com/univision-news/immigration/the-deportees-who-want-to-make-el-salvador-great-again]
Photo: Frank Ticas was deported to El Salvador when he was 24, in 2000. Now he teaches English to young Salvadorans. Andrea Patiño.
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