In 2015, Dawit Kelay, Kaw Tha Moo, Hiwet Algeda, Myo Lin and Jeysson Tiru were searching for a new life and new oppor-tunities. So they came to the Joliet Job Corps Center.

As they began their journey to earn an education and learn a trade and employment skills, they struggled with the English lan-guage and communication.

Although these students were from different countries, they shared the same challenge: English was not their first language. So Academic Manager Laura Rocha guided them to English as a Second Language classes at Joliet Junior College.

This extra training has paid off. The four students are more confident in their abilities, and that’s obvious to their instructors in the Academic and Trade classes at the Center. As part of the ESL curriculum, they work on vocabulary, grammar, writing and reading comprehension. They engage in conversations to practice speaking English while sharing their culture and customs with other students.

Perhaps most importantly, their test scores have improved, and they have met the requirements to enroll in high school classes.