Meet Della

I currently teach English for OLC with the satellite program at Tyson. Right now, I am teaching a beginner class and a high intermediate class. I like it a lot.  I heard about OLC through my graduate program. The tutor trainer just scooped me right up. I was a part of the family from then on. I had been traveling abroad and had lived abroad for three years, so I felt really weird in this space in the middle of America, in Arkansas, and speaking English all the time. Then, I found this amazing international community here. These are my people. This is who I want to be around.

Literacy means the ability to function in society in many ways. Whether it’s computer literacy, financial literacy, health literacy, or social and cultural literacy, it means the ability to function capably. To be successful in Arkansas, you need to have a good grasp on the English language. While the United States doesn’t have an official language, everything we use is in English. I think it’s different in New York City, but in Arkansas, the vast majority of people are going to be English only. I think you can get much more out of your community if you speak the language more successfully. Bilingualism is so important. I’ve got students who have been here 20 years, so it’s possible to live here, but to get those higher paying jobs, even to pass the GED, requires a higher level of English. The community here is a family. It’s welcoming. It’s inclusive. It’s kind, just really, really kind. Cultures that might clash, or that you might think would clash, when you walk through these doors, all of that drops away, and you’re just here together to learn, to teach, or to do both. Students are teaching us, and teachers are learning as well. It’s a collaborative, open environment. It’s a family.

I serve immigrants that have been here for many years, isolated in their communities. These students feel disconnected from their own families. Their children and grandchildren are speaking only English. Their sons-in-law and daughters-in-law are speaking only English. That creates such a disconnect for them. They get so much joy out of learning English in order to communicate with their own families and to help their grandkids and kids with homework. Those are the really intimate moments that are so special and unique. They make me feel like this is such a worthwhile goal. This is a great thing we’re doing here. We’re helping this mother or grandmother not feel disconnected in her own family. Getting a driver’s license and getting a better job are all wonderful things, but on a day-to-day basis, these students feel like they’re getting pushed out of their own family because of the insurgence of English. That’s a really big motivator. Whenever they come back with positive stories of their own families, that’s really special.