Community Walks: Teachers Learn from Guatemalan Families

Standing on a busy intersection in an industrial part of town, Juan*, a senior at Oakland International High School (OIHS), discusses what it’s like to work as a day laborer: how to get picked out from the crowd for jobs, how to avoid getting cheated and how scary it is to operate heavy machinery. Juan worked as a day laborer for a year after arriving in the United States before enrolling in high school. He still goes to look for work at the parada, the corner where day laborers gather to be hired, on days he isn’t in school or when making the rent is tight.