MAR 15 2022

Canopy’s In-Home ESL Tutoring Program

Why It Matters:

Canopy NWA piloted our In-Home ESL Tutoring program in July of 2021. The program was created to alleviate barriers for adult new neighbors who could not attend regular English-language-learning services. These barriers most commonly include: transportation, childcare, scheduling, as well as digital literacy and accessibility during the Covid-19 pandemic. This program was made possible through the help of our incredible community members and various local ESL providers. Our primary community partner, Ozark Literacy Council (OLC), provides many of the resources for assessments and teaching materials in the program.

Our ESL Tutoring Program was created for both men and women, but most commonly serves our clients who are mothers and single parents. One tutor, Karen Bley, shared a piece of her experience tutoring with her language partner who was a single mother. Karen said, for a single mother, “the slightest hiccup in the routine can domino into a bad situation. A childcare issue, or a child’s illness, can have implications for maintaining a job. These are issues I’m very familiar with, but when you add in the language barrier and limited resources for support, it can be overwhelming.”

Challenges and Visions of the Future

The program started with a small handful of tutors and students who were signed up to participate in the pilot. Shortly after the initial launch, the community faced its first surge of the Covid-19 Delta variant which was then followed by the Omicron variant. Our tutors and students found ESL learning to be especially difficult amidst a pandemic. Wearing a mask that muffles the voice and blocks the view of the mouth hinders the listening and speaking aspect that is key to learning a new language. In addition to these barriers, utilizing Zoom for distance-learning provides its own issues in teaching ESL if students don’t have the digital access or have not been taught those initial English letters and phrases necessary for digital literacy.

Despite the challenges, the pandemic did not hinder a passion for learning from many of the students and tutors. The pandemic highlighted the importance of addressing barriers to education and showed us all how hospitality during such difficult times is a key part of community building. Language immersion has been proven to be beneficial for our newest neighbors as they take steps towards community integration and opening up new educational and occupational opportunities.

A Message of Culture and Hospitality

While our ESL Tutoring Program provides a valuable opportunity for clients to learn English and discover more about culture in the United States, it is also a learning opportunity for any members of the community who choose to get involved. Through this program, tutors are invited into our new neighbors’ homes for their one-on-one tutoring sessions. As tutors and students build relationships, both parties get to participate in an exchange of culture and language, sharing life experience and values, and sometimes even get to try exciting new foods! This experience can be incredibly be rewarding and has shown the amazing ways tutors and students can grow and learn together.

Interested in Tutoring?

Here’s what to expect:

Canopy’s ESL Tutoring Program has a variety of resources available for tutors to utilize. Available resources include: ESL teaching materials provided by our partners, cultural backgrounders, online and physical worksheets/workbooks, a tutor handbook, and much more! All of our tutors go through a training session and onboarding process before they are matched. Once that is complete, tutors are placed on a list to be matched with a client that best suits their needs and schedule. Tutors and clients get a chance to meet each other and schedule their first tutoring session at a meet and greet with the help of interpreters.