It's more difficult than you might think. They are scared, so they don't interact much. And if they don't talk, they don't practice. I tutored a woman from Mexico City who had worked here for three years. She knew no English--that she thought. After working with her, I realized that she knew numbers. So we began there--working with time, prices, and simple conversation. She learned in leaps and bounds because with every little bit she learned, she could begin to understand and add more to her own comprehension and understanding. Her daughter learned English in Mexico and can read and write it well. But she doesn't understand it spoken very well and is learning to speak it so that she can be understood by others.