Learning the local language

A weekly conversation group is helping immigrant women in this community learn more about life in America and also practice their English. They are often home alone all day while their husbands work and children are in school. Life here is very different for them and difficult for many. DP

By Daniel DeMaina

In some ways, the suburban American way of life can appear distant and insular to Europeans, Middle Easterners and others around the globe. In other countries, constant interactions take place between neighbors, with lives lived largely outside the home and in thickly settled neighborhoods where homes are packed tightly together.

In comparison, Americans can often lead lives that consist of waking up, going to work and then coming home, with sparse interactions with the community outside of organized events. Immigrants living in Melrose noted that lifestyle last year in a Free Press article about the Melrose Human Rights Commission’s annual International Welcoming Reception — scheduled this year for Thursday, Nov. 6 at the Lincoln School — and Feri Bola, a Lincoln School teacher who works on organizing the reception, took note of their comments.

After that interview last year, an idea began to churn in the back of Bola’s mind: creating some type of regular activity, particularly for immigrant mothers in Melrose, many whom are at home all day while their husbands are working or attending classes and their children are at school. Beyond the obvious isolation, these women don’t have an opportunity to get to know American people or to learn about the history and culture of the United States.

At last year’s International Welcoming Reception, Bola talked to some of the women about creating such a gathering in the form of a casual, weekly conversation group. A year later, the group — comprised of mainly Turkish women, along with a woman from Morocco and another from Brazil — has become not only a social group, but a chance for the women to improve their English skills and learn about the United States.

“It’s an opportunity for them to meet other people and to learn about the country and the culture,” Bola said. “We usually have a conversation, we’ll pick out a topic, and we compare things — how are things here, how are things in Turkey or other countries. This is how they use their English and how they learn more about the United States. And, we’ve been able to learn about Turkey, for example.”
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