Mrs. Kikugawa's ESL Struggles

I don't talk about it much, but often (once a week or so) after my usual tutoring sessions I'll talk to Yosuke's mother a bit about English and ESL. (Come to think of it, I mention her enough that she deserves her own nickname. I'll call her Mrs. Kikugawa.)

She's taking a free ESL class for adults at a church, and she usually has a question or two for me. I love how it works out - a bit of free tutoring for her, free (much needed) Japanese practice for me. I enjoy the discussions, too. We complain about the difficulty of learning a second language while simultaneously complimenting each other on her progress.

Mrs. Kikugawa doesn't speak much English - I'm not sure if it's lack of confidence or ability - but she appears to be pretty decent with grammar based on the work she's shown me. I really respect how hard she is working. She's a homemaker, so she doesn't really need to learn English because she can get by without it. In fact, she may be fighting a losing battle. She'll be back in Japan in three years. Is three years enough to learn English for an adult? Most of her time is spent at home, immersed in a Japanese-speaking environment. As far as I can tell, her only English practice comes from the ESL class.

I'll make a point of trying to help her more, and maybe see if I can get her to speak English with me so she can have a chance to practice. The only reason I haven't is that I imagine if I spend too much time helping her, she'll want to pay me for it, and I don't really want to earn a tutor's pay for being a conversation partner. Anybody could do that! I'd just like to continue helping her for free, especially considering that she provides me with the only Japanese practice I've ever gotten in the US.