At the end of February I had the chance to attend a literacy conference in Pittsburgh with my fellow Literacy*AmeriCorps Central Texas members. The conference was hosted by the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, the creators of the Literacy*AmeriCorps (L*AC) program, and was attended by the other nationwide L*AC sites.
Several workshops were held during the conference, but I chose to participate in workshops that focused on ESL learners and refugees as well preliterate and limited literacy students. I also had the opportunity to take part in a shock Moroccan Arabic language course.
Matt with Literacy*AmeriCorps Seattle - Teaching us Moroccan Arabic
The language course was great as it emphasized the benefits of immersion over direct translation when learning a new language. Immersion is something I always try in stress in my classes at Maudie’s and it was a valued experience to be placed in my students’ shoes to see the benefits of what works and what does not.
Aside from learning new teaching strategies, the conference was a great bonding opportunity for the L*AC Central Texas members. As a group, our time is limited together as we work at different sites across the region. We usually only see each other for once a month volunteer service projects and bi-weekly professional development trainings.
Literacy*AmeriCorps Central Texas Members
I hope I can speak for everyone by saying that after the conference we got much closer as cohorts and as friends. I enjoyed hearing about each of their experiences and how it compared to my 6 months serving at ENGLISH @ WORK as an ESL instructor and staff member. Listening to their successes and obstacles reaffirmed what great work E@W does in Austin and how it truly makes a unique impact on the local community.
Tanlyn Roelofs
Literacy*AmeriCorps E@W Instructor
Tori, one of E@W’s beloved volunteers, got some welcome news the other day: she’s officially a Peace Corps volunteer!
Tori with a Whole Foods student
After months of waiting, getting medical records in order, and keeping us on the edge of our seats, Tori got word of her acceptance as well as exciting information on her region of service. Though the details are still in the works, we’re pleased to announce that come late June, Tori will be teaching English in Africa!
Tori has been a good friend to E@W since 2011 and currently assists our class at Whole Foods Lamar. Her patience, creativity, and warm spirit make it very clear - the Peace Corps is adding one gem of a volunteer to its ranks.
We’re thrilled with and for you, Tori. Austin and the E@W family will certainly miss you, but we’re so proud knowing you’ll continue to inspire countless language learners through the Peace Corps. Congratulations!
Feeling inspired? http://www.peacecorps.gov/
From the very moment we met Erlinda Cordero, a student in our Seton Southwest class, we were taken by her awe-inspiring positivity, motivation and energy. She speaks openly about her life philosophies, vehemently encourages others to be the best people they can be and to take advantage of every opportunity they come across.
One afternoon we had the chance to speak to Erlinda in more depth about her life and after our conversation we understood much more of why her presence is so striking. Erlinda came to the United States from El Salvador at the age of 23. She left her native El Salvador after many years of living through the Salvadoran civil war. The war cost many Salvadorans their lives, including her high school best friend, and left an incredible mark on the way Erlinda lives her life today.
She explained to us there were many times she and her family had to move to stay safe and even her schooling was disrupted because it became too dangerous to make it to school everyday. It was a constant struggle of fear, loss, and the unknown. After hearing this, we questioned whether or not we could have had the same fighting spirit Erlinda has today if we had lived through her experiences.
It’s a question in which we are not sure we know the answer to, but what we do know is that Erlinda throws herself fearlessly into new situations. She embraced the day-to-day challenges of living in a new place with an unfamiliar culture and language and said “I can do this!” And, she did! She not only excelled in the ENGLISH @ WORK program, but told herself that after her graduation she had to keep on going. She had to strive for more. The more panned out and just a few weeks ago we learned that Erlinda took her U.S. citizenship test and PASSED!
She gives credit to ENGLISH @ WORK for helping her to improve her English, but we can’t take that the full credit. Erlinda is strong, intelligent, and extremely dedicated to whatever she takes on and is exactly the reason why we do the work we do. All she needed was a bit of help in the language department and her dreams took on full flight!
So thank you to Erlinda for her willingness to share her story and most of all – CONGRATULATIONS!/¡Felicidades!
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If you would like to learn more about El Salvador, we encourage you to read our profile on the country.
When we think of Valentine’s Day we usually think of flowers, chocolates, cards, and our special someone. Those are all wonderful, but we wanted to put a bit of a twist on it as we spoke about the holiday of love with both our students and staff. So instead of talking about special Valentines, we asked - what do you LOVE about Austin?
It turned out to be a great activity and gave us the opportunity to speak with our students about the city we all very much love and call home. Enjoy the photos below and let us know which one is your favorite. Our personal favorite is Armando’s answer of “BUFFET PALACE.” Haha! So great!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Our St. David's South Graduates
Congratulations are in order for ENGLISH @ WORK’s newest graduating class! We were thrilled to welcome nine employees at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center to our growing group of E@W alums during a fun (and tasty!) graduation ceremony yesterday.
This hardworking team studied diligently over the past six months to gain greater English proficiency in service positions that ensure patient comfort and satisfaction at St. David’s. They consistently impressed us by their active participation in class and continue to bring smiles to patients as they apply what they learned in class out on the floor of the hospital.
St. David’s supervisors Victor, Anna, and Mauricio saved special recognition for Segunda, a housekeeper who maintained perfect attendance throughout the entire program. Segunda’s participation in all 72 hours of the course sequence (!!) has enabled her to engage patients and their families in new ways and is yet another reason we feel so fortunate to work with such motivated people through E@W.
Big thank you to Bob Williams and Gail Acuna who are part of St. David’s Academy for Clinical Excellence. They have always been so supportive and continue to advocate for both their employees and E@W. Also, thank you to the supervisors and to our students for always reminding us that hard work truly does pay off. Our St. David’s graduates are proof of it!
Keep up the amazing work!
A few days ago our Maudie’s classes finished up the customer service course. Before they moved on to the health and safety course, a few of us stopped by the intermediate class to visit and take part in speed interviews with the students. It was a great time and the guys did great! Here are a few photos from our visit -
One highlight of my week is teaching Beginner and Intermediate level ESL classes at Maudie’s Tex-Mex Restaurant. Twice a week for an hour and a half each class, I meet with a group of students at the Maudie’s home office. We gear our lessons specifically to the industry of our employees and to the positions they hold. For example, the Maudie’s curriculum is full of vocabulary about restaurants. There is also an emphasis on the type of conversations that back of the house and front of the house workers would have working various positions at a restaurant.
I think that our highly specific lessons make the class meaningful to our students. We are only two months into the Maudie’s class and already supervisors and managers have reported to me that there is more English being used by the employees who are in the class. For example, one supervisor told me that when they walk into a kitchen at any Maudie’s restaurant they are now greeted with “Hi, how are you? I’m good thanks!” where as before there might have been no conversation or a very limited exchange. Other supervisors report more conversation between the native speaking English employees and the native Spanish speaking employees. As a teacher, this is wonderful news! I am thrilled that the employees are taking what we learn in class and bringing it to the workplace.
Bex and Tanlyn with Maudie's students
A very memorable moment of the class has been being invited to attend the Maudie’s holiday party at Saengerrunde Hall in downtown Austin. Bex Rinas, a fellow E@W AmeriCorps staff member, and I attended the event last Tuesday. In addition to the catered dinner, Grupo Fantasma playing as the musical guest, and a host of photo booths and face painters- the true highlight was seeing my students and meeting their families. I truly appreciate that a business like Maudie’s would throw such an elaborate party for all of their workers. It was a special night for everyone involved!
We will take a short break for the holiday season and get right back into the swing of classes after the New Year. I look forward to what the next four months will bring and how much more the students will progress.
Happy Holidays everyone!
- Tanlyn
Literacy*AmeriCorps Instructor
