Nonpro t
BY KAREN CHANEY
Literacy center helps adults to understand, be understood Ann Banks, executive director of Richardson Adult Literacy Center, said adults come to them to learn English for a myriad of reasons. Those include communicating with health providers, their children’s teachers and friends and to feel more comfortable going beyond their cultural community. “The community bene its because the adults who show up and register for classes, no one’s making them do that, they are self-motivated,” Banks said. “They want to understand and be understood, and they want to contribute.” The setup RALC, a nonpro it founded in 1990, offers English as a second language, English con- versation, career bridge and citizen test prep
programs. ESL classes are held twice a week and cost $35 for the 15-week session. English language foundations is the irst level and for students who know the alphabet but nothing beyond that. “That is an important class where much of our wait list is,” Banks said. “We want to add more of those classes because people at that level can’t go grocery shopping at an English speaking store—there’s so much they can’t do. They will say through a family member who translates that they just want to be able to understand their child’s teachers or their doctor.” The Career Bridge workshop focuses on topics such as key words to use in resumes and inter- views, and how to use job search sites. “Even though many people have masters and Ph.D.s from other countries, without English, they can’t apply for those yet, but they need
students from ive continents and 52 countries. Banks said currently, Spanish is the top language spoken by their students followed by Vietnamese then Turkish. They also have a large number of students from the Middle East and Africa. Meet the teachers All RALC teachers are volunteers whose ages currently range from those in their 20s through people in their 70s. Their professional backgrounds vary including teachers and accountants. “We have [University of Texas at Dallas] students, which are fantastic, especially from the neuroscience department,” Banks said. Get involved Banks said they can always use more volun- teers and inancial support. Another request she has is for companies to partner with RALC to have their employees attend classes and together, measure the impact RALC offerings have in the workforce.
RALC o ers ve levels of ESL classes.
COURTESY RALC
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jobs,” Banks said. Meet the students
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Richardson Adult Literacy Center admin o ce: 1500 International Parkway, Ste. 300, Richardson www.ralc.org
RALC students’ ages range from 18 years old to post-retirement. The nonpro it has taught
From left, RALC sta members include Program Coordinator Carson Childress, Student Success Coordinator Kat Lefevere, Finance Assistant Gavin Castle, Executive Director Ann Banks and Volunteer Coordinator Sara Bramlett.
KAREN CHANEY COMMUNITY IMPACT
DALLAS 9500 N Central Expy (214) 369-2800 ADDISON 15055 Inwood Rd (972) 239-5891
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