George Roberts has been teaching ninth-grade Earth science in Gardston, Iowa, for 10 years. This year, as chair of the Gardston High School's science department, he agreed to have all the English Language Learner (ELL) students assigned to his classes. George's goal was to learn more about the needs of these students and arrive at a set of techniques he could share with the rest of his science team. Understanding the rural community of origin of his Mexican ELL students can help George learn more about his students and teach them better. This article reports on a visit some of the authors made to the shared hometown of George's students in hopes of uncovering aspects of the students' former lives that stand to impact their experience in his classroom.