Sunday, May 23, 2010

Astros/Lexington offering ESL classes to players

Pretty cool article in the Lexington Herald-Leader this morning about The Apparatus' efforts to help their Spanish-speaking players with their English.

Allen Rowin, Coordinator for Player Development:
"The first year is always the toughest. They are away from home, they are struggling with a new language, and they are trying to play baseball at the same time. If we can ease their minds on some of the language and culture, hopefully that will help them out on the field, too."

And one quote, which makes me laugh:
Jose Trinidad, 22, a right-handed Legends pitcher from the Dominican Republic, said he spends a lot of time practicing English. He wants to avoid repeating an earlier incident when someone thought he was calling them "a bad name."

But, Trinidad said, "I was only talking about someone going to the beach."