Doris Chen

My interviewee has been working at Beyond Literacy (BeLit) as an intake coordinator for years. He came to the United States when he was 25 years old, and he did not know how to speak English at all. He said he struggled a lot because he could not communicate with people. Then, he started taking ESL classes and worked very hard to improve his English skills. He said that as an intake coordinator, one of his main jobs is to meet new students, give them assessments and talk to them one-on-one after their assessment to schedule their classes. He explained to me that explaining things to ESL learners can be very challenging and time-consuming. When students have difficulty understanding what he says, he always tries to talk slowly, repeats several times with drawings or pictures, and comforts them. He said, “providing a welcoming, friendly environment is key to having a good conversation with ESL students, as they usually lack confidence and are afraid of asking me to repeat”. He further added that he has been learning simple words and sentences in different languages so that he can start the conversation with students using their language, and that helps build trust. He understands how hard it is for new English learners to generate a grammatically correct question in their mind in order to ask, so he encourages each student to ask whatever they have in their mind and tells them it is completely ok to make mistakes. He says sometimes it can be frustrating when the conversation doesn’t go smoothly, but he knows he was one of them years ago and he believes everyone is able to learn and improve. His personal experiences and his passion are what keep him going every day.

When we were talking about providing a welcoming environment, he digressed to talk about his recent dentist’s appointment. He said that he had not seen a dentist for the past 30 years, and he had so much anxiety before this dentist’s appointment because he felt very guilty. However, from the moment he saw the dentist, he felt welcomed. He said the dentist was very nice and friendly, checked his teeth, and did not judge him at all. He felt so comfortable that he actually fell asleep during the procedure. He then said, “people feel good when they are welcomed, and that’s what I try to do every day”.

I asked him what his most meaningful memory is working in this community, and he said every time when the students fulfilled their goals and went on to the next step in their lives. Then he gave me some examples: some went to community college after getting a high-school degree, some pursued nursing degree, some found better jobs, and some passed their citizenship tests. He said what’s good about this community is that no matter where you start from, if you try hard and have opportunities to learn, you can change your life.