Entrepreneurs: Shun Zhen Liu (Susan) and Li Hua Liu (Cassie)

Armed with new English language skills, Shun Zhen Liu (folks in Wyoming call her Susan) and Li Hua Liu (or Cassie), purchased and are successfully running the Hong Kong Buffet. These Chinese women attended Teton Literacy Program adult ESL classes. Susan has been meeting with her tutor for three years now!

In China, both had been businesswomen, Cassie an accountant, and Susan, a shop-owner. When they arrived in the United States, it was difficult to find work since neither spoke English. Their native tongue, Mandarin, does not include the same sounds or characters as any language in the Western hemisphere. Faced with a challenge that may have seemed insurmountable, they began working with Teton Literacy volunteer tutors on the basics: sounds, numbers, and the alphabet. From there they progressed to menu items and vocabulary.

“I like doing business,” Susan says as she sorts through stacks of restaurant receipts. Cassie sits beside her, filling and folding wontons with serene hands. “We want to try American business.”

Teton Literacy Program is proud to see students putting their English literacy skills to such great use. Susan not only achieved her business goal, but she also made her most important hope come true: she brought her daughter from China to Jackson. “My daughter is like me,” she says. “I tell her she will have a good tutor; that she can work hard and learn English fast.” Susan’s daughter has taken classes at Teton Literacy Program, worked with a tutor, and is now succeeding as a student in Jackson’s high school classes!