The ESL Center was featured in the Salt Lake Tribune this week! The ESLC recently partnered with the State Refugee Services Office, the LDS Church, and Granite School District for a pilot program offering refugees an amazing opportunity to develop job skills and learn English while at work! One hundred refugee employees are working at the LDS Humanitarian Center full-time, spending half of the day learning job skills, the other half in English classes. ESLC volunteers teach small-group classes for these employees, giving them individualized attention. Read the article here.

VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) is coming to the ESLC! Next Monday, March 22nd from 9:00am to 12:00pm. This service is free for low- to moderate-income residents (households that bring in less than $50,000/year) who would like some help with their taxes. Spread the word about this great opportunity! For information about what documents to bring, please visit http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=107626,00.html

If you are teaching a student that is pre-literate or not literate in the Roman alphabet, you won't want to miss next week's in-service! Rachel and Evariste will be sharing teaching techniques, materials, and activities to help you and your students acheive your English goals! We hope to see you on

Saturday, March 20th

10:00am-12:00pm

at the ESL Center

Please RSVP to info@eslcenter.org or 801-328-5608!

ESL Center students have been passing the citizenship test like crazy over the past few months! We are so proud of our students and their tutors. This is a huge accomplishment!

Piedad, one of our students who passed the test last year, recently spoke at her workplace about the long road to becoming a U.S. citizen. This is what she said in her speech:

"My name is Piedad and I am from Mexico. Today I want to talk to you about the long and difficult process to get my American citizenship. And how I feel today about having achieved it. In 1991 we decided to move to the U.S.A. and settled in Los Angeles, CA and got to this country as a lot of people do, as illegal immigrants. In 1999, after 12 years of waiting, the Immigration Department gave us an appointment and a long list of requirements that we had to present in order to find out if we qualified for a one-year work permit. It was at this time that we felt really stressed at the thought that we would not be able to achieve ths first step to citizenship. But thank GOD we made it. After that came another year work permit. And in 2001 we received another interview with immigration, with more requirements. But now we were trying to qualify for residency and once again we were very much stressed because the future of my family hung in the balance. But we were very confident we would get it, because we always worked hard and honestly, without ever having problems with the law or anyone. And in the end that is what helped us get our residency.

That same year is when I first came to visit my sister here in Utah. And I instantly fell in love with this state. So in 2002 we decided to move here, even though a lot of my friends said I should not move to here because it was a mean state that is not friendly to Latinos...especially Mexicans! And I said to them: 'Well, if I don't like it I will just come back!' But I am happy to say that the opposite happened, and a lot of Americans helped me even when I did not know any English - well, I still don't know a lot.

In 2005 I began to work at Wal-Mart Distribution Center and that is where I started to study English, thanks to the company's help they got us an English teacher. One day I told my teacher that I wanted to be an American citizen, she told me Randy...volunteered to give citizenship classes. So I asked him if he could help me and he said: "Of course, when do you want to start?"

Along the way I got a lot of support from my family, co-workers and my bosses always told me: 'You can do it, you can do it!'...On October 20, 2009 we had the final interview for our exam questions, which I am grateful to say we passed. On December 16 my husband and I became American citizens in a ceremony that took place in Salt Lake City where I was joined by my family, General Manager of Wal-Mart Jeff, my Managers Dave and Ron. As well as my teacher Randy, who without his help I never would have achieved this very important personal goal...I am very proud to be an American citizen and it is a dream come true because for me that is the American Dream." 

Read about what some volunteers have written about the ESLC on their blogs!

Kelly has been tutoring for one of our classes for refugees at Tuscany Cove apartments in West Valley for over a year. You can tell that he loves this experience as he writes about it on his blog. Read his two posts here.

Also, meet Ann Arnold-Ratliff, an ambitious woman who is passionate about service. Ann is traveling the country, offering a full day of service in each of the 48 continental United States. For Utah, she chose the ESLC and had some wonderful things to say about her experience! Read about her day at the ESLC here (under the post for January 29th).

If you have an experience with the ESLC that you would like to share, blog about it! And let us know, we would love to hear about it, too!

Looking for some original and meaningful gifts for your family and friends this year? How about some gifts made by local refugees? Global Artisans is a project of Salt Lake County's Refugees Pathways to Self-Sufficiency with a mission to empower refugees to become self-sufficient through part-time entrepreneurial activities. Every product is handmade by our new friends who find refuge in Utah. You will find unique hats, jewelry, bags, clothing and more!

Shop for gifts this Saturday at these two locations:

Holiday Boutique
Saturday, November 21
Pioneer Craft House
3300 South 500 East
Salt Lake City
10:00am to 5:00pm

Third Annual Winter Market
Featuring Artisan Treasures from Utah and Around the World, Local Performing Artists, and the "Trees of Diversity" Exhibit
Saturday, November 21
Utah Cultural Celebration Center
1355 West 3100 S.
West Valley City
10:00am to 8:00pm