On a humid summer morning in Bowling Green, roughly 25 international students gathered inside a classroom at Forest Park Baptist Church. It's the time of year when schools are out for summer break, but for those gathered on this day, class is very much in session.
The students worked on a lesson involving singular and plural nouns in the form of a scavenger hunt. They stood in a half-circle as their instructor gave them directions and they began to look for the items they were tasked with finding.
This class might sound ideal for middle or high school students, but that's not the target demographic for this group. The ages of students in the ESL class on this day ranged from the mid-20s to 60 and older. But everyone here today has a common goal: to improve their English.
A huge international community in a small Kentucky city
The class is sponsored by Refuge BG, a non-profit based in Bowling Green that offers English language classes year-round to help new arrivals become more assimilated to their new home in southcentral Kentucky. The organization welcomes both refugees and immigrants. Along with the language classes, the nonprofit also helps new arrivals find stable housing and provides assistance in becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Other services provided by Refuge BG are soccer and sports teams aimed at building social relationships. Transportation to and from language classes and driving lessons are also offered in an effort to eliminate barriers refugees might face in their search for jobs.
Maggie Fields, Language Program Director with Refuge BG, said understanding the language is essential for all refugees.
“They know how important that is for daily life, for improving their employment opportunities, for pursuing higher academics and things like that,” Fields said. “They come here with dreams they can't obtain unless they develop their English.”
Warren County is a home to more than 2,000 refugees from across the globe thanks to The International Center of Kentucky based in Bowling Green. The Warren County Public School system and the Bowling Green city school systems both have a dedicated language academy for middle and high school students to help master the language. While those may be great resources for young people, there's a gap in resources available for older refugees who need language instruction.
“Those new coming here need to learn English”
Adeammbade Esasa, 64, is a Refuge BG student from the east African nation of Tanzania. Esasa has lived in Bowling Green for about a year and a half. With the help of a translator, he said being able to speak the language would be vital to allow him to communicate with doctors about his health.
“The importance of learning English is for communication,” Esasa said. “For example, when I go to hospital so if I know a little bit of English there is no need for them to call an interpreter or other stuff.”
Esasa said his Christian beliefs are important to him and learning English would help him interact with fellow members of his religious community and participate in church services.
“I’m a Christian, so sometime I would like to go to church where they speak only English,” Esasa said. “I would love to know what they’re talking about so that’s why English is important to me.”
Esasa speaks a native dialect of Tanzania and is fluent in French and Swahili but his efforts in the Refuge BG classes have shown his dedication to adding English as his fourth language. He said he's not planning on leaving the United States, so learning English isn’t an option, it’s a necessity.
“Those new coming here need to learn English," Esasa said. “There is no way to go back to our home country so learning English is important.”
At the Refuge BG class, English instructor Lydia Page and a volunteer included exercises during their lessons to make sure students practice speaking the language. According to Page, some students in her classes are only beginning to learn how to read and write, which presents a challenge when trying to teach a foreign language.
“What I’ve learned with the older people, a lot of them, the older ones specifically don’t have a strong education background in general,” Page said. “So trying to teach them to read and write in a completely different language is a huge challenge. So they need a little more one-on-one work, which is great because we have people who come to volunteer.”
Page said she tries not to lecture too much during her class to avoid boring the students and instead tries to engage the language learners.
“So everyday I’ll come in and usually have an activity for them. Like today, we went outside and had a little scavenger hunt,” Page said. “But I always try to make sure the activity connects with the lesson so they can kind of learn it a little more hands on.”
Refuge BG offers language classes for adults in the morning or evening, to help the students who have jobs or are taking care of children or other family members. The organization also offers free child care during class so parents can get the most out of their free time and transportation to and from courses.
Fields said childcare has been vital for keeping attendance up.
“Our Afghan women are pretty strong,” she said. “I think because we’re one of the only programs that provide transportation and child care, moms find our classes the best accessible English classes for them to bring their kids and they don't have to worry about taking care of them. And so we do get a lot of moms from the Afghan community, the Burmese community.”
The nonprofit has only been around since 2020 and employs around ten dedicated staff members, but the organization plans to continue to help Warren County's growing refugee populations. Before the end of the current federal fiscal year on Sept. 29, Warren County is expected to resettle close to 350 new refugees.
When class is finished, students leave to tend to their jobs, families—or both— but will soon return to practice the language in their new community.
