THE ENGLISH TEACHER

When he arrived in America, Steve knew no English. He was fortunate that both his father and Emera spoke both Slovak and English, and as we have learned there were other Slovak families living in Fort Dodge.  His younger sisters and brothers did not speak much if any Slovak, so they must have been a big help teaching Steve to communicate in a new language.

At Steve’s wake, I visited with Mike Bednar. He told me that when he himself, was about 9 years old, he had helped Steve, who was then 17, learn English by reading the newspaper comic strips with him.

But it was a next-door neighbor that taught him the most. Betty Miklo told me this story about meeting his “English Teacher.” She thought she was a regular teacher, but based on her age, I suspect that she was a helpful neighbor or a girlfriend who taught Steve how to read and speak in English.  Here is the story in Betty’s words:

Betty, “Now, not many years ago, when I still was going to the Wolfe Eye Clinic, there’s a lady heard my name as she’s going to the doctor.  Then, when I was reaching for my coat, I was ready to leave, she recognized the name Miklo.  She came up to me, she says, “Do you know Steve Miklo?”  I said, “He was my husband.”  “Oh, I taught him how to read.”  Lived next door to him and she says, “He didn’t want to learn out of the little kids books” – She must have been a teacher. – “He didn’t want to learn out of the little kids, he just wanted to get to regular reading right away quickly.”  And how he loved to read, you know that.”

Bob, "Yeah."

Betty, "He read and he read and he read and he knew what he was reading.  So, anybody comes to this country and doesn’t know the language – there’s no excuse for not learning."

Bob, "Well, at his funeral Mike Bender was there, Earlene’s dad, and he told me that he taught him how to read because he taught him how to read through the comic strips in the newspaper."

Betty,  "Well, that could have been, could have been somebody else taught him something too.  Yeah, but this lady taught him how, and he did tell me that a neighbor lady helped him.  Now, he never told me about Mike, so that’s a thing I learned tonight, Mike helped him too."