Student Story: Esther del Castillo Labrador
Imagine moving to a country where you don’t speak the language. That’s the situation Esther del Castillo Labrador found herself in when she moved to Northwest Arkansas in 2016. Although she already spoke Spanish, German, and French, she struggled with her English language skills. “I studied English grammar in school,” she explained, “but I couldn’t speak very well.” And that’s when luck intervened. Shortly after moving to Fayetteville, Esther opened her front door to find a Spanish language newspaper on her doorstep. “It was good chance,” Esther said, especially since she’d never received a Spanish paper before. As she started flipping through the pages, she stumbled across an advertisement for Ozark Literacy Council. “I didn’t know anyone, so no one could tell me about OLC. When I saw the advertisement, I knew I wanted to go to class there.” Because Esther had arrived in the U.S. just a month before,