Cambodian immigrant overcomes language barriers and excels

May 31, 2007

Kimchou Sok had just a high school education from her home country of Cambodia and two years of high school English when she arrived in this country. It was hard for her to get around or even buy a few goods at the store because she just didn't understand enough of the language to get by.

So almost immediately after she arrived, she enrolled at Greenfield Community College to take English as a second language courses.

"My husband graduated from there and he said that it is a very good school — quiet, small classes. All the teachers help students learn more," Sok said. "I agree with him."

Now, two years of English courses and a couple of semesters of regular classes later, she is graduating with at 3.6 grade-point-average in computer science and is planning to attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the fall.

Sok, 27, moved here in the fall of 2002 to join her husband Chambona Er, who emigrated here from a Cambodian refugee camp and graduated from GCC in the late 1990s. Since she started at GCC, Sok has been a familiar face in the Peer Tutoring Program center.

"I set up appointments to make up material I did not understand. Everybody is so nice," Sok said about the tutoring programs at GCC. "I go to the Learning Center all the time — every time — so they help me a lot."

Montserrat Archbald, staff assistant in the Peer Tutoring Program, said Sok isn't much for talking about herself, but her dedication to school is obvious to all who meet her.

"She always made use of all the resources she could in order to learn. She works extremely hard," Archbald said. "She always comes in for help in all her college courses. She does a tremendous amount of work on her own and with the peer tutors."

Sok said she would recommend GCC to any new immigrant wanting to learn English and improve their education so they can make it in this country. She said it's difficult to get by in this country if you don't speak English and GCC was a great place to overcome that challenge.

"I want to thank so much all my professors and everyone at GCC. They are very helpful," Sok said.

For information on English for Speakers of Other Languages, contact Kit Carpenter at (413) 775-1226.