BARRY WILLIAMS/Special

Hye Young Kim, left, goes over basic English words with Youn Hee Lee, middle, Keum Yi Lee and Woo Young Yi, back to camera, during a beginning English class at the Center for Pan Asian Community Services in Doraville.

One of the biggest misconceptions that Maritza Pichon works to dispel is the notion that foreign-language speakers have little desire to learn English. Her experience as executive director of the Latin American Association has taught her otherwise.

"In fact, a lot of times it's the language barrier that holds them back," she said. "And it holds them back not just at work, but from being involved with their children's school and lives. Even when their children speak English, many parents communicate with them in Spanish."

Since the Doraville-based Latin American Association was formed 30 years ago, one of its chief objectives is to teach English to Spanish speakers. And it has remained the most-requested service the association offers.

"When we do surveys, it's always the No. 1 thing the community is looking for," Pichon said. "So we run English classes every day during the week, in the morning and evening."

Students are charged a nominal fee of $20 to cover materials - and to keep them coming back.

"We've found that a small fee keeps them interested in coming back," said Josh Hopkins, the association's communications director, who has taught some of the classes. "And most of them want to learn; they are professionals who just migrated here and people who have lived here for years and want to speak more English to get involved with their community."

The community's enthusiasm for learning English is so strong that Pichon said the classes draw students from all over the metro area. "We have people who get on a bus south of the airport to come here and take a class," she said. Spanish-speaking residents of Atlanta are just one group looking to improve their grasp of English. At the Center for Pan-Asian Community Services, also in the Doraville area, language classes have always been in demand.

"These classes are vital for our community," said Chiawon Kim, the center's executive director. "There's a class going on almost every day to help Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean speakers learn English."

The center offers the classes twice a week at no charge when they can obtain funding for teachers and materials. But there have been times when funds evaporated and nominal fees of $20 to $40 were charged to cover the costs. The sessions are held in the evenings to accommodate the schedules of working students.

"We start with a basic class for those who don't know what's being said at all, and go through advanced," Kim said. "The key thing they understand is that to live in this country, you need to learn English. Without it, it's very hard to function."

And though teaching English is one of the primary objectives of the Latin American Association, the group also offers Spanish classes for English speakers. Many of those signing up for the Spanish sessions are putting the skill into practice in their workplace.

"It's not necessarily to be able to do business in Spanish, but it does open the door to making customers feel comfortable that you can communicate with them," Pichon said. "It works both ways." When corporate clients request onsite English classes for their employees, Hopkins said the association also suggests they add Spanish classes to the mix.

"Then we can have both students really using what they learned in the classroom," Hopkins said. "It gives both groups a chance to practice both languages.

"It not only helps people get to higher levels, it's also a way to bridge the cultural understanding gap."