LAVALE — When Apple Piyapanichyyakul immigrated from Bangkok, Thailand, last year, she wanted to improve her English.
While she had some exposure to the language as a flight attendant in Thailand, different accents and slang made learning difficult.
“When you go to a new country, see their culture, their accent, sometimes it’s different,” Piyapanichyyakul said.
When her sister mentioned a free English class for non-native speakers at Faith Presbyterian Church in LaVale, she was excited.
“When I learned that it has an ESL class and you don’t need to pay, it was really good,” Piyapanichyyakul said.
The church has offered English as a second language classes for adult students from over 40 different countries since 2009, program director Terry Russell said. The classes, other than a one-time purchase of a $25 textbook, are free and run by volunteers during the spring and fall on Monday nights.
“There’s just a larger immigrant population than people would think here in Cumberland,” he said. “People are surprised that we have that much diversity in the immigrant population in Cumberland, but we do, and they’re here for all different reasons, but they tend to want to learn English.”
Their biggest struggle from the beginning has been letting people know the program is here to help, Russell said.
Normally, there are only about three or four people in each class.
This year, there were 12 students, he said.
“How are you going to advertise to a population that doesn’t speak English?” he said.
Most of the time, families, schools or employers refer students like Piyapanichyyakul.
Others like Ranjan Debnath from Bangledesh noticed pamphlets in places like the health department.
Debnath had little English experience before moving to Cumberland, but those classes helped him pursue higher education at Allegany College of Maryland and Frostburg State University, where he completed up to a master’s degree.
“When an immigrant moves to the United States, they are new. Everything is new. They are less confident. We need help,” Debnath said.
Now, Debnath works as a software engineer at IBM as he pursues a doctorate from Towson University.
“I got confident,” Debnath said.
Many of the students who go through the class are hard workers, Russell said.
“The immigrants that we see are very industrious,” Russell said.
Piyapanichyyakul will use the help she got with English to pursue a nursing degree from Frostburg State University this fall.
Not only does the program help build practical language skills, but it also provides a sense of community, said Darlene Russell, Terry’s wife, who teaches the advanced English track.
“They are very kind and friendly and always want to help me in every issue, because I still have many things that I’m not clear (on) and confused (about),” Piyapanichyyakul said.
Students don’t only rely on the volunteers, either, Terry Russell said. Even if students don’t speak each other’s languages, they make friends during snack breaks.
“One class might have people that speak four different languages, Terry Russell said. “It’s fun to see people from different countries who don’t speak the same language, and they manage to communicate and kind of become friends. I mean, I don’t even know how they’re communicating, but they find a way.”
Fostering friendships is an important aspect of the program, Darlene Russell said.
“They need to feel like they belong because in some ways they’re just so isolated,” she said.
Part of the program is introducing parts of American culture to the students, especially during holidays.
In the fall, the volunteers host a free, traditional Thanksgiving dinner for current and former students to get together and learn.
In the spring, volunteers invite students to bring their own traditional meals for a pot-luck-style picnic.
“It’s kind of like a reunion, because everybody’s happy to see everybody,” Terry Russell said. “I can’t think of anybody that ever just came once and has not come back.”