Marta Perrone is a Spanish American who has developed this audiovisual kit focused on development and training in the area of home organization, cooking, cleaning, laundry, table setting, serving and child care.  She has been recognized for her work by the Day Laborers Organization.  Her first book Help! How to Find, Hire Train and Maintain your Household Help won the Mom’s Choice Award in 2009.
 
The kit contains 4 volumes:  Professional Presentation Guide; Home Maintenance Guide; Home Organization Guide; In the Kitchen plus a bonus book on Basic Child Care.
 
Each volume consists of a book and accompanying DVD with plans to add workbooks in future editions.  The DVDs contain:  intros by Marta; a powerpoint type presentation in a classroom setting with Marta as teacher; a role-playing section for the job interview;  Marta and other actors demonstrating how to perform different tasks; a vocabulary review section – Spanish & English.
 
The thrust of the kit is preparing people to work as housekeepers but also to maintain their own home.  Much of the information presented is essential to immigrants who may not be familiar with the process of job hunting and employer/employee relationships in the U.S.  The kit is full of useful information from describing cleaning products to simple recipes to how to dress for a job interview.  It is not a stand alone English Language Learning course, however, but would be advantageous in conjunction with another method.
 
I have to admit to being a bit put off by the idea of the kit as targeting Latina women.  I would like to see Marta add some male actors performing household chores.  However, I appreciate the fact that Ms. Perrone addresses housekeeping as a business and housekeepers as employees who should be prepared and treated as professionals.  Since so many Latina women do work in this area, the kit would be a solid addition to large public libraries serving them.
 
Recommended.