Adult Literacy Program

Program Overview

Are you a refugee adult resettled in Arizona wanting to learn to speak, read and write English? Do you need a teacher speaking more languages than English? Do you need flexible hours? Our program offers online ESL classes with teachers speaking English, Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, Dari, Pashto.

Classes are one-hour long and 2-3 times a week. You can learn from your phone or your computer. We have some Chromebooks available, and textbooks are provided.

To register for a class:- You must be at least 18 years old, a refugee, and have an Arizona ID or DL - You must have reliable Wi-fi- Email amwaesl1@gmail.com with your name, address and phone number. Someone will contact you.

If you speak the above language(s) and are interested in volunteering your time to give the gift of literacy, fill out the ALP Volunteer form www.tinyurl.com/amwaalp

Cost Info

Student and Volunteer Success Stories

This is Shiba Walizada, one of the English teachers working for AMWA who teaches classes online. I began my teaching career in August 2022 and spent almost six months working with students who did not know a single word of English. This was because they did not have access to education in Afghanistan. Because of this, I would like to share the experiences of two of my students, Tamana and Fatima, who share the exact same first name.

According to Tamana, "Living was difficult for me when I got to the United States since I did not know any English at all." Because I was dealing with so many issues, I was unable to discuss them with my manager, and I was unsure of the tasks that would be assigned to me in my field of work. I didn't know how to ask for assistance from my coworkers, and even though I enrolled in some online English lessons, I didn't learn anything because the teachers didn't offer me the opportunity to talk about or ask about my problems. I didn't know how to seek assistance from my coworkers. But ever since I enrolled in the AMWA's online English classes, I've picked up a lot of new information, and now I'm at the point where I can speak English and discuss my issues with the people around me.

According to Fatima, "When I got to the United States, I had no idea how to continue living here because I didn't know any English at all, not even one word, and it was incredibly annoying for me because I came here alone." During my trip to the mall, as well as my time in stores and transit stations, I encountered many problems. I'll tell you a story from my earlier days: I was traveling on the bus one day when I realized that I couldn't read the name of the stop. When I phoned my friend, he urged me to get off the bus and give the phone to someone whom I could talk to and obtain directions from so that he could come to pick me up. At that point, I had been on the bus for around two hours and still didn't know where to get off. So now that I am enrolled in the AMWA online English lessons, I am now able to find solutions to all my problems on my own. We are grateful to AMWA for making this possibility available to us.

Because of this, as an active teacher, it is my sincere hope that the AWMA will keep doing what it does and continue to help people who are facing problems like the ones they faced.