She Has Golden Memories of an Ecuadorean Exchange Student

Deborah Ives wears a gold pendant. It reminds her of a family in Ecuador.

She got it as thanks for sending the family’s daughter to college—something Ives promised to do if Adrianna Cabrera, a foreign exchange student she hosted, could pass the required standardized English-language test.

“Her English was terrible, so I made a deal with her,” said Ives, a Rotary Club member and volunteer at the Friends of La Mesa library. “I developed the Ives method of teaching and we watched every movie. First we’d watch it with Spanish subtitles; then we’d watch it with English subtitles.”

If Cabrera didn’t understand a part, Ives would rewind the movie and explain it in “pigeon Spanish.” Her unconventional method worked—especially for one question.

“One of the questions on the [Test Of English as a Foreign Language] was on Sleepless in Seattle, and she was so excited because she’d seen that movie,” said Ives, also on the city’s Commission on Aging.

It’s been about eight years since then, but Ives and Cabrera still keep in touch. Ives, who added poodle Helix to the mix, has since taken in other students. It makes for a full house, but it’s something she loves.

“What it amounts to is these young students keep me young,” she said.