Adult education can be a difficult trail for any of us to start.
Whether we’re 18 or 80, the path is not always clearly visible. There are brambles in the way, overgrown bushes, fallen trees, and strange creatures jumping out at various moments to keep us on our toes. No matter how equipped we might feel we are, there’s never any guarantee we’ll be in the same shape at the end of the trip as we were when we started it. But the true education we acquire happens during the journey. It’s less about reaching our destination than it is about what we learned while getting there. However we define adulthood, or education, some of the more vulnerable among us have always been English language learners.
Consider this image from our collective past. It’s the immigrant new to the United States, yourself or family that exists only in faded black and white photos. So many of them came here and had no choice but to abandon their native language and subsist in menial jobs. They formed communities where they could speak their language, eat their native food, worship with like-minded people, and rarely leave the confines of their zip codes. It’s a cycle that has persisted for many generations here in the land of the free and home of the brave.
The promise of welcoming the “wretched refuse” and “huddled masses” has been there long before Emma Lazarus offered us those lines for “The New Colossus,” her 1883 Petrarchan sonnet for the Statue of Liberty. How do we offer the most equal opportunities to those who come here looking to make their own American dreams a reality? For those immigrants who arrive here as adults and actively seek out ESOL classes, their tentative grasp of English is palpable. They are nervous. They feel like time has passed them by and their chance at a better life will only happen with a clearer understanding of English. They are here. They are eager to contribute more than just recipes from their homeland or renditions of their favorite native folk songs.
The clearest truth is that ESOL classes are the best way our neighbors can cut through the weeds and forge a path towards a better life. As an adjunct college English instructor who has worked at a dozen colleges and universities in Boston since 1998, I know first hand that statistics and quotes from professionals are only the first step toward understanding the complexities of ESOL classes in the age of COVID-19. Where I have spent my years teaching? Northeastern University, Bunker Hill Community College, Urban College, and more.
Let’s take this recent comment from Sam Dalsimer, global head of communications for online language app Duolingo:
“…[M]ost language learning has happened in offline settings, like schools or language institutes. For the past 10 years, much of that offline learning has been shifting to online environments…”
While Dalsimer certainly has a vested commercial interest in promoting his app, his observation does not note the increasing importance of online classes over the past two years. He observes that “the pandemic has simply accelerated shifts that were already happening.” Other reports clearly indicate the importance of welcoming and accommodating an employment pool of limited English-proficiency workers. A 2019 report by the National Immigration Forum noted that “one out of every 10 working-age adults in the U.S.” falls into that category. Moreover, “their economic contributions account for nearly $2 trillion of total” of the U.S. gross domestic product.
Adriana, one of my students from Argentina, explains why she is taking ESOL classes: “I want to be able to get a job. If I don’t speak English, they won’t accept me … I want to live here and if I don’t speak English I can’t talk to anyone.”
Yessica, from Guatemala, works four nights a week and cares for her children. “I would like to have a job in the morning with benefits and continue learning English. I want to be an example for many Hispanic people who think they cannot do it.”
ESOL classes are an immediate way to improve yourself, become role models, and more definitively guarantee your hike through the shady dark forest will eventually bring you toward a different world, a better world.
Sarah, from China, notes that the ESOL classes “provide an English environment for me where I can improve. Our teacher shares American culture and learning materials that are very interesting and helpful.”
Our trail through the tangled forest of COVID has been (and remains) a numbing and dangerously unpaved path. The periodic rest stops every few miles might offer relief, but it’s temporary and deceiving. For the adult immigrant learner hoping to both acquire and apply English language skills, online ESOL classes are the best beacon to shine down a path that can sometimes be impossible to understand. It’s a maze of sudden turns and inclines, dangerous drops and dull stretches of no scenery and dark clouds. By supporting those of us who teach ESOL classes and those who need them, this path once filled with danger and sudden stretches of mud could become paved with gold. Once we learn how to walk, anything is possible.
Christopher John Stephens has taught adult English Composition and ESOL at various universities, colleges, and private institutions in the Boston area since 1998.
SAMPAN, published by the nonprofit Asian American Civic Association, is the only bilingual Chinese-English newspaper in New England, acting as a bridge between Asian American community organizations and individuals in the Greater Boston area. It is published biweekly and distributed free-of-charge throughout metro Boston; it is also delivered to as far away as Hawaii.