As we focus on how learning English provides new strength for refugees and other immigrants this month, Heather Davis, Job & Career Readiness Manager on staff in Chicagoland, sat with us to answer some questions about Workforce Readiness English Classes. If you are looking to find out how to join one of our English classes, please read more here.
Thank you for learning more with us and hearing from Heather!
- You have worked with World Relief Chicagoland for 15 years, can you share a bit about your journey as an English language teacher?
15 years – the time has really flown! When I was first hired, I was hired to teach English language classes in the morning and the Job Class in the afternoon. The Job Class was meant to help prepare students for their first job in the U.S. It wasn’t just about employment, but also work culture in the U.S.
World Relief had been doing job classes for about 5 years, but there was no set curriculum. Previous teachers struggled with what to teach, and so did I! So, when I started, my co-teacher and I began to work together and with the employment team to develop a set curriculum based on the needs we saw. This was in 2012/2013; we were given the opportunity where the job class became more than just an attachment to the regular English language class, they became their own classes. So, a set curriculum was developed.
- What did this new curriculum that you and your co-teacher developed entail?
The curriculum addressed the issues refugees and immigrants faced when they went into employment. After a few years, my then-supervisor asked that we also develop a bridge class – which I had no idea what that was to be fully transparent! I quickly learned that a bridge class is designed to help students bridge between a specific topic (like healthcare for example) and help students take those initial steps from having a general job to getting into a career. They aren’t getting certified, but they are getting introduced to the field, getting introduced to the vocabulary of the work, creating resumes, looking at open jobs within the field, and setting personal professional goals.
- What makes you most excited about these classes?
Ultimately, the goal for each student is to answer the question: “How can we help you transition from this class into something else?” After Workforce Readiness or Bridge classes, we want to help students transition into what will help them reach their goals. The transitions might include continuing to learn English, beginning an entry level position in a career field they learned about through Bridge classes or entry academic classes to become certified in a specific field.
Since 2016, we’ve also done classes in conjunction with our Career Pathways program working with 18–24-year-olds to help them prepare for careers, not just jobs in the U.S. We help them to hone their job-hunting skills and talk with them about what really interests them. They participate in a modified Myers-Briggs test and find out about themselves. We often tell them, “If you leave this class and decide the healthcare field is not for you, that’s ok, you know that about yourself now!”
We are currently offering a few more bridge classes on early childhood education for clients who are interested in pursuing a career in early childhood ed. We continue to offer an emergent career class, which helps them explore more than just one career. And we are beginning two new things this year with a suite of four academic readiness classes and a new partnership with College of DuPage (COD) where they begin with us in a bridge class setting for Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and complete their time with COD ultimately taking further classes to become a CNA. This is really exciting!
- What are the challenges students face?
I think setting goals. There are a variety of reasons I say that. For some, they’ve been professionals in their home countries, and then they come here and want to stay on that path. They might have thought the transition would have been easier than it turned out to be. Instead, they come here and have to get a survival job to pay rent and keep their family afloat for the first six months. They really don’t want to do that job, they want to be in the career they had. We encourage them to take the time to set goals in these six months – maybe get their driver’s license and a car. It’s an opportunity to dream, but also set solid goals.
And then I think there are people who have never had the opportunity to set goals – everything has been survival for them. They’ve been in a refugee camp for many years, or been on the run – their daily goal was to survive. Now they are here and safe, and working a job, but being asked to think about what would they like to do. They have the time to think about this, and opportunity to talk to people like their teachers or employment support staff or volunteers who are in their lives. They can bounce ideas off them. This is completely new and it is a challenge they face.
- What is one story you love to share?
I had a student in a healthcare bridge class. She had been a surgeon in her home country and came here. She was working a job, but wanted to get back into the healthcare field. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to be a surgeon here for a variety of factors. With the healthcare bridge class there are a lot of entry level positions, which she was completely qualified for. But we asked her, what is something you want to do?
She thought about research – and had done research on research! She found some positions and I took up my role as the cheerleader, “Let’s do it! I can’t do the work for you, but I will give you support.”
We want every student to succeed. So, she worked on her resume and we practiced interview skills together. She already had the medical background, she just needed to know how to answer the questions in this environment. She interviewed for a research position at a university hospital. The one thing she told me after the interview was, “I’m really glad you pounded the interview questions into us, because I was ready. The questions we went over, that is what they asked me. I had my answers. I wasn’t nervous. I knew what I wanted to express, and I was able to express it.” And yes, she got the position and a new career in healthcare research!
That’s the whole point – helping to prepare people for their futures. If they can go in there with confidence, they can see their goals become reality.
To support refugees and other immigrants as they learn English, you can become an English Tutor volunteer. Click here to find out more.