Woman finds joy in teaching English to adults

Teacher Carolynn Taylor-Mangum traded a classroom for her kitchen table.

The Baltimore native taught kiddies in Maryland for 34 years and loved it. But now she's living in Yuma and teaching folks in her kitchen. That's because Taylor-Mangum is still teaching English, but this time around it's to adults who have moved here from Mexico.

"I am loving the chance to teach people who are learning English as adults," the veteran educator said. "Having these students has just been a really rewarding experience."

Taylor-Mangum volunteers for the John E. Byrd Center for Community Literacy. Students simply go to her Foothills home, pull up a place at the kitchen table and enjoy a reading lesson over a cup of coffee.

While many teachers seem done with the business of grammar and punctuation lessons by the time they retire, Taylor-Mangum said she just wasn't ready to hang up her red pen yet.

"I was sick of the politics going on with teaching and I was frustrated that the school could be better. But I was not sick of teaching - definitely not."

Taylor-Mangum also adores the nation of Mexico, which makes working with Mexican students all the more thrilling.

But teaching English while learning Spanish has proved a bit of a delightful challenge, too.

"This is totally new to me, so I'm just exploring and trying to find new ways to make it work."

Taylor-Mangum isn't about to give up, either. She not only adores teaching, it's something she has always known to be her calling - even as a child.

"I played school with my dolls when I was a little girl!" she recalled, laughing.

Taylor-Mangum made that dream come true, too. She grew up and graduated with the equivalent of a master's degree in education.

Her childhood dream thankfully didn't steer her wrong.

"I loved watching kids learn, watching their eyes as the light bulb turned on. I loved finding ways to get that light bulb to turn on."

Taylor-Mangum mostly taught elementary-age students, but she did a stint at a middle school in Baltimore. She mostly taught English and art, often finding some pretty unique ways to make learning fun for her charges.

Taylor-Mangum used a skit from comic pianist Victor Borge to teach punctuation, for example. Each piece of punctuation had a corresponding weird sound, like "swoosh pop!" meant a question mark. When she taught about artist Michelangelo, she put pieces of cardboard underneath tables so students could climb underneath, get onto their backs and paint their own Sistine Chapel.

But there was another reason Taylor-Mangum was always sure to mix mirth into her lessons.

"I always felt like I was competing with television and the class clown. I had to fight for the students' attention."

Fun learning likely proved a welcome blessing to the lives of her students. The elementary school where she taught was an inner-city school, and her students brought a countless array of emotional scars to the classroom.

"There were just little guys but they were exposed to poverty, drug abuse, alcoholism, murder," she said, adding that teachers were forced to offer families classes dedicated to the simple basics of good parenting. "Many parents just didn't know how to help their children."

Taylor-Mangum and her husband moved to Yuma two years ago, but that wasn't their first spin through these parts. They first came through here in 1991, when the couple drove almost to the tip of Baja California to witness a solar eclipse. They made the trip in 22 days, locked up pretty snug inside not a huge RV but a little Chevy Chevette.

"We found out when we got home that friends had a (betting) pool as to whether or not we would come back divorced!"

The couple chose to live in Yuma because there were looking to escape driving in a city with a beltway. They also wanted to move to the region they always loved to tour, so every day would feel like a vacation.

"There is no snow, not too many leaves to rake and this is a small town," she said. "Plus it's wonderful to be so close to Mexico. I love the color, the customs, the fiestas and the holidays. I love the scenery and the little villages, too."

The couple don't travel as much these days, but they still enjoy a quick pop below the border for a few hours or a few days.

"Hey, we're living on Social Security!" she guffawed as she pinched her fingers together. "I have a pension that is this big."

But don't expect her to fly anyway. She has never set foot on airplane and prefers going by car, although she herself doesn't drive.

"I just prefer to keep my feet on the ground," she said, adding that she learned how to drive a few years ago but still doesn't get behind the wheel. "I will when everyone else gets off the road!"

For fun, Taylor-Mangum makes beaded jewelry and reads books by authors such as Tony Hillerman and Clive Cussler.

But truthfully, with several tutoring students from the literacy center, she doesn't have a lot of time being wasted either.

"I just think it's great working with adults who want to learn. With kids you have to motivate them. These students are ready to work and they ask a lot of questions if they don't understand something."

The rewards of volunteering are something she recommends to her fellow retired professionals, too.

"If you have the time to knit blankets for babies in the hospital or go visit people - just do it. Get involved with Helping Hands. It's a great feeling, too. I volunteer for my own satisfaction and I can tell you that the fulfillment is great!"

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Darin Fenger can be reached at dfenger@yumasun.com or 539-6860.