Integrating Career Awareness into the

ABE & ESOL Classroom

“Just a Housewife” Jesusita Novarro

edited by Studs Turkel

adapted by Erin Vinacco

I start my day at five o’clock. I get up and prepare all the children’s clothes. If there are shoes to shine, I do it in the morning. At seven o’clock I bathe the children. I leave my baby with the babysitter and I go to work at the settlement house. I work until twelve o’clock, but sometimes I work longer. When I get back, I try to make hot food for the kids to eat. In the afternoon I’m by myself. I scrub and clean and cook and do whatever I have to do.

Housework is a tiring job when you do it well. If you don’t care, then it’s not so difficult, but I want my house to be really clean. I tell my children to pick up their clothes and hang up their towels. I don’t want to pick things up all day but it’s very hard. There is always something to do, so the house will be clean.

Some men work eight hours a day. There are mothers that work eleven or twelve hours a day. We get up at night when a baby vomits. We take care of the children, we clean the house and we cook the food. There are many responsibilities. When do I get a break, really? I don’t. This is more than a full time job. It’s day and night.

At the settlement house I visit homes and talk to mothers. I try to inspire them and show them what they have to give. I help them with different problems. One mother needed shoes, and I found shoes for her. Another mother needed money because her check was late. I found someone to lend her a few of dollars. I want to help mothers understand how they can help their community too.

Being a housewife sometimes makes me feel like I’m not doing anything. Many people think my life is easy and I’m lazy, because I don’t have a job. But mothers work too. My house is clean. I scrubbed all morning. My clothes are washed and ironed. I’m home and I work. I am a working mother.

Vocabulary

housewife ______

housework ______

responsibilities______

inspire______

settlement house______

______

______

______

Discussion and Comprehension Questions

  1. Does a housewife do work? What does a housewife do?
  1. How doe Jesusita feel about housework?
  1. What does Jesusita do at the settlement house?
  1. What are some of Jesusita’s skills? Look at your list of transferable skills.
  1. What are some things you do that you don’t get paid for?

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From Working People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel. Copyright 1974 by Studs Terkel. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Integrating Career Awareness into the ABE/ESOL Classroom - Northeast SABES December 2006