Ozark Literacy Council

Jose Orellano

I am from El Salvador. 

I’ve been in the United States for 28 years.

I came here to U.S. to get away from the war in my country.  When I came here I couldn’t speak English and I had to work.  In 1996, I came to Arkansas for a better job, better life to live.  I heard about OLC and I started to come to learn English.  Now I feel better about myself.  Now I don’t need a translator.  I can do it. 

Thank you OLC and teachers for giving me this opportunity to learn, write, read, and speak.

Paul Johnson

My time as a tutor at the Ozark Literacy Council has been short but unexpectedly rewarding.  Having retired several years ago, I moved to the area late last summer with plans to begin volunteer work at two or three organizations.  As it turned out, OLC happened to be my first point of contact, and an organization with which I immediately felt at home.  So it was then that I have come to focus all of my volunteer time towards OLC.

Having spent some years in corporate adult vocational training, I had been exposed to the rewards of witnessing the growth of motivated students, yet was still unprepared for the experience with these students of English as a Second Language.

I am currently teaching one evening class and working as a private tutor with three students, meeting each twice weekly.  One of those students is a raw beginner, a man in his mid thirties.  Progress is slow but steady, and it is clear that he is spending time at home working through assignments.  We are now on the verge of being able to carry on a real conversation in English, a day I eagerly anticipate, for then he will be able to not only advance at work, but perhaps more importantly speak to his two pre-teen boys in English.  They, I am told by his wife, are very proud of the effort he is making, seeing it as a monumental indication of the love he holds for them.

The second student is intermediate.  She has a large vocabulary, an excellent command of grammar, but is not comfortable speaking English.  As she is preparing to begin college in September, we are working two goals simultaneously.  She has written several papers for me in order to diminish one mountain she will soon face.  Now we are working to get the words to roll easily off her tongue, and doing so by introducing her to the world’s great literature.  At the moment she is reading aloud to me from a collection of Zola short stories.  To hear her become at ease in speaking English is thrilling in itself, but to watch her also respond to the literature both intellectually and emotionally is a personal satisfaction to me that is beyond description.

My third student is very advanced.  Her mastery of grammar is such that she can correct me at times, her vocabulary is massive and her ability to work out the spelling of a new word is amazing.  Our task is to smooth out the bumps, to help bring her to a level perhaps just one step removed from being a native speaker.  Through a combination of close listening, reading and nudging pronunciation we are making progress.

Between these three and those who attend the weekly evening class, my life has become much richer.  I knew going in that becoming an ESL tutor would have a direct impact on the life of the students.  Just as well, I knew from my career that it would also be rewarding for me to watch their growth, but that was merely an objective observation.  What I did not anticipate was the deep, soul satisfying emotional return I am gaining from working with them, from being drawn into their very lives as they transform themselves, as did our forefathers, from immigrants to Americans.  

Suzie Boggs

The first qualities about Suzie Boggs that strike an observer are her youthful appearance (she looks closer to 25 than her actual 55) and a smile so bright and cheerful it lights up a room. She studies reading and writing at Ozark Literacy Council (OLC) with her tutor, Margaret, with whom she has been paired since 1998. At that time she could not read at all, but wanted to learn very badly—not simply for pleasure (or computer games), but so she could manage her medications. 

Suzie and her tutor began working on vocabulary words and progressed slowly and steadily, capitalizing on Suzie’s love for all things feline. Beyond things about cats, Suzie uses reading for simple recipes and managing her checkbook. It has also helped her with other classes she has taken, such as Bible study and scrapbooking. Learning to read has also helped Suzie in her job as a janitor at a local optical lab, where, due to being around hundreds of chemicals, reading is a critical skill. 

When asked what she enjoys about coming to OLC, she says she simply “likes the work and likes learning to read and write better.” Margaret acknowledges Suzie’s writing has improved 100%, explaining that now “Suzie writes quicker, neater, and it’s legible for others to read.” 

Coming to OLC has also helped Suzie’s social and life skills in ways that cannot be measured. Her longest OLC friendship, with her tutor, had been of enduring importance. Both Suzie and Margaret admit, however, in all the years they have studied together, they have only had one argument: a recurring one that surfaces around November every year when Suzie starts wishing for snow.

Yelena Moiseeva

Yelena Moiseeva couldn’t speak any English when she came to the United States. While growing up in Uzbekistan, she studied German at grade school and university because it was considered a necessity to learn a second language. However, she was not allowed to choose which language she would learn. Students were divided at an early age into three groups: One group was told to study German, another group was told to study English, and the third group was told to study French. Yelena’s husband was in the English group; she credits this with helping him in his field of physics in the following years. 

With some fluency in English, Yelena’s husband was awarded a fellowship to a university in Japan; the family moved there in 1998. Yelena began trying to learn Japanese, but it was nothing like German! She relates how difficult it was to live in a country and not be able to speak the language, not be able to find what you want at the store, or perform even the most rudimentary tasks of everyday life. Life in Japan was challenging in ways she had not imagined. 

Upon completion of his fellowship, Yelena’s husband found a job at the University of Arkansas and the family moved to Fayetteville in July 2001. Yelena’s son was 10 years old and had studied English in his Japanese school, so he was his mother’s translator. She laughs when telling how easily children can learn a new language: “Alex used to watch cartoons and programs in Japan. Every program is bilingual, so he learned English easily and very fast!” 

Yelena was very excited to move to the United States and liked it very much, except for one problem: her English. Her husband was very busy with his new university position, her son was adjusting in school, but Yelena was isolated at home with a baby daughter and was unable to communicate with anyone in her new home. “I cannot explain what the problem of being mute is like. I was not able to explain things or talk to friends. I was alone,” Yelena relates. 

She stayed at home with her daughter for one year, determined to learn English by studying books. She laughs at her early attempts: “It was so hard because I was studying in my own way with a German accent and Japanese sentence construction!” She admits she was studying the wrong way but didn’t know what else to do. She would watch television and be struck by what she heard. She states, “It was all one long sound, one long speech! I couldn’t hear words—just one long sound. I was depressed because it seemed that I was not alive anymore. When you can’t understand, you are not exactly a normal person.” 

After living in the U.S. for five months, Yelena met some other Russians and was thrilled to have social contacts. There new friends told her about Ozark Literacy Council (OLC), where a person could go learn English free of charge. She began attending classes every evening, studying English grammar, pronunciation, and conversation. She was frustrated at first and felt intimidated by was she perceived as all the other, more advanced students, who were reading, listening, and speaking at a higher level. Still, she persisted and came to classes for a year and a half, enjoying the chance to improve her English skills while making new friends at OLC. Due to a change in her family life, however, she had to stop coming to class for a year and when disappointed to “lose some of her English skills.” In 2005, she was able to return to OLC when her daughter began kindergarten. As her English continued to improve, so did all the other aspects of her adjustment to life here. 

In March 2006, Yelena’s success as an English-language-learner elicited an invitation to attend a special luncheon for a women’s group and present a short speech about being a student at OLC. While answering some of the questions from women at her table, Yelena mentioned she was waiting for a tutor and asked one of them, Jackie, if she would take the job. The two hit it off right from the start. Yelena says, “It was good luck meeting her here [OLC]. It is a really big deal having an individual teaching correct pronunciation and grammar.” Her English improved so much that when a position for secretary at OLC opened open, Jackie encouraged her to apply for the job. Yelena states, “I never thought it was possible to work here. I thought it was a dream or a joke and that I would never have a chance to be accepted.” She was then interviewed and offered the job! 

When asked what OLC has meant to her and how it has affected her life, Yelena answers quietly and with a wistful smile, “OLC has changed everything in my life—everything.”

Felicitas Vega

Felicitas Vega was just eight years old when she arrived in the United States from Mexico with her family to work in the south Texas wheat fields. The migrant farm-working family moved to thirteen states working in the tomato, onion and cucumber fields. Felicitas’ only formal schooling was at age 10 for two and a half years in Pharr, Texas. She married at age 13 and had her first child at 15. 

While growing up, Felicitas picked up a bit of English. Unfortunately, she lost that when her husband insisted she and their five children speak only Spanish in the home. The family moved to find employment and Felicitas, while raising her children, worked in slaughterhouses in Nebraska and Minnesota. 

In 1996, her husband brought Felicitas and their children to Arkansas “to start a new life.” She was hired at Danaher Tool where she found friends and helpful souls who encouraged her to learn English. Unfortunately, Felicitas also found out that her husband had brought his girlfriend and her children to Arkansas too. This fact, along with Felicitas’ weariness of turning all of her wages over to her husband, prompted her to end her marriage. After three years at Danaher, she was promoted to team leader, a position she held for four years until she injured her back and neck. 

A caseworker at a rehabilitation center told Felicitas about Ozark Literacy Council (OLC) and the free English classes there. She had never thought about going back to school or getting any formal education—it seemed too far out of reach. All she had envisioned for herself was working, and she knew she was capable of doing any job given to her—until she hurt her back. 

Felicitas says she walked into OLC with her usual attitude that she would keep coming until somebody looked at her the wrong way or until things got difficult. She says something felt different, but she was not sure what. While sitting was painful, she began attending every class offered at OLC. One day in class when she couldn’t understand a point in the lesson, the instructor looked her in the eye and said, “C’mon! You can do it!” She had never had anyone speak to her with words like that. Something happened inside of her, Felicitas relates, because that day her life changed. She says the teachers kept after her, giving her confidence, telling her she could accomplish whatever task was in front of her. She started feeling like she didn’t “want to let the teachers down” so she just kept trying harder and kept coming back every day. 

Felicitas says, “I want to do [good] for my teachers and for my tutor, Carolyn, so they will be proud of me. Now I can do it for myself. I used to be the kind of person who had no hope, no dreams. Coming here makes me realize there is still a chance for me…to be able to work again, to have a meaningful job, not depend on what the government can give me, to support myself. To me, the OLC feels like home.”

When asked to sum up what OLC means to her, Felicitas confidently replied, “hope.”

Milena Quadros

My name is Milena Quadros.  I am from Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 2006, my boyfriend came to America and went to the university. Last year, he came home to Brazil and we were married. I was married one week and the next week, on July 4, 2007, we moved here to the United States. It is too expensive in Brazil to take English classes, so I never learned the language. I had never taken English classes before moving here.           

A man who works with my husband at the Altheimer Lab told me about Ozark Literacy Council. He said that I needed to go learn English because I cannot understand what people are saying, and they cannot understand me. It’s very difficult for me to talk to people. 

So, here I am learning English. I love the teachers—oh my goodness! I love Miss Kim’s Creative Writing class; it is always fun. I need to learn to write in English so that I don’t have to think so hard! Practical English with Miss Deb is very nice. A lot of times, I read on the paper specific words and I don’t know what it means, but this class helps me with so many phrases. Oh, it’s very good! 

When I first arrived here, I felt so uncomfortable.  I told my husband that I wanted to go back to Brazil. I did not like this place and I didn’t think it was for me. It is very hard to learn when I can’t understand the language. But my husband said that I just needed more time to learn, read, and study. So now I go to the supermarket and people understand me when I have a question! One day I went to Harps to look for an umbrella. I could not find one, so I asked for help. The man understood my English and I bought an umbrella!  

I want to speak very well English. I cannot have a job here, but when I learn to speak very well English, I want to go help at the animal shelter. That is one of my goals.  I will be very proud soon, in June, when my mother comes here on her vacation to see me.  I will be able to help her! 

I love America!  I love Fayetteville!  I love coming here [OLC]!

Katarzyna Janowska

My name is Katarzyna Janowska.  I have been living in the U.S. over three years.  My husband has gotten a post-doc position at the University of Arkansas. For my husband, this was a great opportunity to work with one of the best scientists in the world in theoretical chemistry. For me the trip to the US was going to be the biggest adventure in my life so far.  I had hoped to improve my English too.  I was trying to learn English and learn about America, American culture and take care of my 1-year-old baby at the same time. 

When I came the U.S., I could barely understand English, and I could say only a few simple words. The most useful sentence at that time of my life was:  I don’t understand, sorry.  Before my moving to the U.S., I did not realize how awfully hard it is to live in another country.  The trouble is not only the language barrier and a different culture, but also the infrastructure of the city. In my home country, I had took my son for walks in the stroller and we could go to the doctor or shopping. Even with a baby and without a driver’s license, I was independent. But, in the U.S. I had to depend on my husband. 

In 2006, my family made friends with a man who was a student at Ozark Literacy Council (OLC).  He told me about OLC and I decided to give a try. The school is pretty close to my house which is very convenient.  I have been a student at OLC since January 2007; I take two classes every week and some tutoring sessions. 

My life has changed a lot. One year ago, writing one simple sentence for me was very difficult. I have worked with my wonderful teacher on my writing skills, and  now I can write quite long assignments. I am not afraid any more of filling out application forms. I have started using my phone to make doctor’s appointments or just to talk with friends. I have also stopped avoiding shopping at the deli or bakery section. I still have some trouble being understood from time to time, but now I can deal with it. Now I have my driver licence and Employment Authorization Card and I am working on a resume. I have my independence back. 

If I have some problems or questions I know I can ask people who work at OLC.  They are part of my American family. I am so thankful and honored to be one of the students at OLC.