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ESL Initiative

Started in Spring 2010, the Jericho Road Ministries ESL Initiative offers small group, conversational English classes to address the practical English language needs faced by our adult refugee clients on a daily basis. This program was born out of conversations with clients in which communicative English skills were identified as one of the biggest needs in the refugee community, even among refugees who were not new arrivals to the United States. Many of the students who attend our classes have been in the US for a year, or even more, yet still find themselves struggling to use English to ask for directions, schedule an appointment, or communicate with their child’s teacher about a problem at school. Refugee mothers with young children, who stay home while other family members go to work or school, often face some of the biggest barriers to learning English.

The ESL Initiative strives to address this reality by taking into account students’ self-identified English needs and offering instruction in an encouraging setting, and at accessible times and locations. Classes take place in student homes or other neighborhood locations and are co-taught by volunteers from local churches, universities, or the community. Each class cycle runs for 6-8 weeks and students choose from a variety of “life skills” topics of focus such as healthcare, housing, grocery shopping, and public transportation. The goal of this program is that as students participate in small group, conversational English classes in an encouraging setting with peers of the same ethnic group, their confidence, willingness, and ability to use English in everyday situations increases and we empower them to live more fully as members of their new community.

Since the beginning of this initiative, over 100 clients from 8 different language groups- Burmese, Karen, Karenni, Chin, Somali-Bantu, Arabic, Nepali, and Swahili- have participated in our small group ESL classes.
About two out of every three of our students are mothers with young children.
The majority of our students report an increase in their conversation, confidence, and ability to use English to complete everyday tasks after even one 6-8 week class session.
For a significant number of our clients, this is the first English class they have been able to attend in the United States.

Get involved in the ESL Initiative! Click here for volunteer opportunities.

For more information on the ESL Initiative, contact Anna Matejova at: mailto:anna.matejova@jrm-buffalo.org?subject=ESL%20Initiative