At California's community colleges, more than 290,000 students take free, non-credit English as a Second Language ... or stop showing up to class altogether. So far there’s no statewide data ...

Some use cellphones to join class from as far away as Algeria ... Together, they’re all working to learn English at the Washington English Center (WEC) with the help of dozens of volunteers.

“So we try to just speak in English. If there is something I don’t know, I try to ask somebody to learn more.” Mauricio is utilizing a program offered by the Mets designed to ease language ...