Learning English Unlocks Doors
“It was the key because you know, if I was not able to learn English and communicate, I was not able to do all the things that I feel that I’ve been accomplish and doing all this time.”
This week, we (Jo, Linnea, and I) conducted interviews with 10 women who have walked the journey of learning English as a Second Language (ESL) since moving to the U.S. Through our initial outreach to 20 local organizations working to support immigrants and refugees in various ways, including language learning, we built trust and connections that led these women to step forward as volunteers to share their stories with us. When we asked them why they volunteered, many of them told us that they wanted their stories to be heard - and wanted to take advantage of any opportunity to practice!
Timeline — where we are now
Themes
Below are three high-level themes that we have identified across ten interviews. We gathered this data through in-depth interview questions and a participatory exercise using visual stimuli. Please note that there are grammatical errors in the quotations below. We intentionally used the participants’ English words verbatim to honor their learning experiences.
1. The process of intentionally writing down unknown words supports learning.
“But sometimes I don't know this word, I write it in my paper. [...] After that I look in the dictionary, this word. [...] Sometimes, I don't know how to pronounce how to the meaning. I write it on here. [...] In my pronunciation class I asked my teacher.” — Amira
Mitra’s notebook where she writes and learns new words.
“I wrote down all of new word on my notebook. Write it down one side English other side is Dari. I practice when I wash the dishes. Just I look at it when I forgot, for example, after two days when I need that word [...] I grabbed my other notebook. I looked the word. For example like this, when you are "frugal", it's new word for me.” — Mitra
Irena has a list full of words in her notebook. On one page, she wrote:
Other = a different one
Another = more of the same
2. Having a safe space to practice English is critical to move forward in learning.
“For me it [classes at ACC] was very hard. I don't feel comfortable when I was talking with a teacher in front because I feel shy because maybe I don't know speaking very well. So maybe somebody is better than me. ” — Victoria
“I think when you have these community programs, that really helps the community because then you feel like you're part of the community. And they’re doing that for you because they care for you.” — Isabel
“When I read that essay I was stuck. I was stuck on that. All of my classmates laugh at me. Ashamed, I was ashamed.I was scared or afraid. One day I said, ‘I don't want to go to the class anymore.’— Mitra
3. Having an English-speaking community or network is critical to learning.
“Because we live among more people who speak more Spanish I think we forget how to speak English. [...] You don't need any more English, because everything is in Spanish or they talk to you in Spanish.” — Elena
“In my job, in my language, in my relationship with the other persons. Here in Austin the most people in the places speak in Spanish. So for me it's easy, but no is good.” — Victoria
A positive learning experience from Marisol about having friends who speak English.
“We moved to art and craft shows and all these art and craft shows primarily had more Anglo people. They speak English and I still have a lot of friends that speak English. [...] I will say three or four years after doing that, I feel like little by little I start understanding what they were saying to me and feeling comfortable to answer back.” — Tessa
“It was mainly Spanish, but then I kind of was forced to learn it because I have to work with the church staff and some of them speak English and Spanish [...] that’s when I feel that I need to learn the language. Because I feel like it was good that I was helping in Spanish, but at the same time, I feel like if I'm gonna be a bridge or a connection between the English speakers and the Spanish speakers, I need to be in the middle, right? So I learned.” — Isabel
Next Steps
Conduct one interview on Friday, April 15 and one interview on Tuesday, April 19
Continue synthesizing the research data to develop themes and insights
We plan to observe and participate in Conversation Class through Ladies Let’s Talk on Friday, April 22
