Laleh Matinkhosrani wants to know enough English so someday she can serve up lattes at her own coffee shop.

So the Lawrence resident, a native of Iran, is beefing up her language skills at the Lawrence Public Schools adult education program.

“I could understand people, but I couldn’t really speak English,” said Matinkhosrani, 44. “American people want to help the other people, whether it’s a citizen or a visitor. They help in a hospital, a school or the university. We find very kind people here.”

Apparently, word is getting out about the adult education courses offered in Kansas, especially among those for whom English is a second language.

Waiting lists for the 31 adult education programs coordinated by the Kansas Board of Regents have increased in recent years. Currently, there are about 500 people waiting to start in adult education programs, which include basic skills, GED preparation and ESL training. The programs are at capacity, serving about 10,000 students a year, said Dianne Glass, adult education director for the regents.

The waiting lists, which didn’t exist a few years ago, are driven by an increase in ESL students, which now make up half of the adult education students in the state.

Glass said the longest waiting lists were in western Kansas in places such as Liberal, Dodge City and Garden City, where the Hispanic population has boomed in recent years. But there also are ESL waiting lists in places such as Johnson County.

“It’s unfortunate,” Glass said. “I don’t think we always have services on demand, but it’s unfortunate that we don’t have the capacity to serve all the learners.”

In Lawrence, adult learning coordinator Linda McGuire said she’s managed not to have waiting lists for any adult students. But with a surge in ESL students — the center has seen 56 students during the first quarter of the fiscal year, compared with 64 for all of last year — McGuire said she hoped for more resources to prevent a waiting list.

Genaro Fernandez, left, reviews a writing exercise with instructor Nancy Guy at the Adult Education center. Fernandez is studying for his GED exam.

“A lot of people are surprised” about ESL increases in Lawrence, she said. “You think of it more as a western Kansas issue. But that’s not the case anymore.”

Federal funds

Kansas could secure an additional $900,000 in federal funds to expand its adult education offerings if the state invested $300,000 more a year in the programs, Glass said.

She said there likely were potential adult students in the state who weren’t aware of the courses offered.

From left, Pat Hull, Hameed Yusuf and Sue Lava, participate in a reading class at the Adult Education center. All three are working on obtaining a GED through the center.

“We can’t do a lot of marketing of our programs,” she said. “It’s word of mouth. Since most of our programs in the state have waiting lists, we don’t want to go out and do a big marketing campaign when we don’t have room in our programs.”

As the ESL populations continue to increase, the programs are continuing to cater to students wanting to secure a GED or to learn basic skills.

That’s what brought Pat Hull, a 55-year-old Tonganoxie woman to the Adult Education Center in the Lawrence High School annex. She lost her job at American Identity in Overland Park and now is looking for office work.

“Everybody wants your diploma or equivalent,” she said. “That’s the only thing keeping me from getting a better job. Otherwise, it’s back to the factory.”