Like other learners in the portraits, work and change in work situation as an immigrant-learner of English plays a significant role in Jorge's identity (re)formulation.

Jorge graduated from university and was a veterinarian and teacher in Cuba. Since coming to the U.S., Jorge has worked as a custodian in several places. The change from having a profession in Cuba to working just to pay the bills was hard for Jorge - " a big crash" as he described it in a 2006 interview.

This sense of disjuncture in job status was voiced by Jorge's colleague ("Octavio") to Jorge during a classroom activity. In this activity, students were to circulate around the room to ask one another biographical questions, including questions about their current work situations. Octavio, a fellow Cuban, commented to Jorge in passing:

O:	"We are just doing this kind of little work just temporarily. This is not our profession" ((in Spanish))
J:	"I know" ((in English))

In an interaction from the classroom, when going through hypotheses that students have about one another's lives, Jorge reports to two classmates how much he works (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer).

Jorge reported at an interview that he did not like this particular janitorial job at all because of the long late-night hours, because he was not respected, and because the job required only a little English. The next job he got (2004) was working in a veterinary clinic and he enjoyed that work because, he says, he was "treated like a professional" (W4).

Jorge reported that one of his goals was to become a laboratory technician. These are his own words when asked about goals in the summer of 2005 (JoW3):

Jorge:	The goals were I gonna take ENL class [for-credit English classes] maybe two or three terms. Um go again to take a a test for getting to the class lab technician class.
I:	Lab technician okay.
Jorge:	Because I did a training ( ) as a phlebotomy.
I:	Okay.
Jorge:	And when I enter in this kind of (+) the career. I think it's easy for me
I:	Okay.
Jorge:	because I was veterinarian in Cuba.
I:	Okay.
Jorge:	I have some knowledge about it
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As he said, he took courses and received certification to be a phlebotomist but told us (March 2006) that he would continue to work as a custodian in the veterinary clinic where had worked for several years because of the good salary he received and because he was slightly apprehensive about change.