Students Testify at Vermont State Capital

(Vermont Adult Learning Newsletter Article)

In April, four Vermont Adult Learning multilingual students and one alum travelled from Burlington, St. Albans, and Rutland to the Vermont State Capital in Montpelier to testify about their educational experiences at Vermont Adult Learning and to promote future funding for VAL’s English Language Learning, Adult Diploma, GED, and Academic Skill-Building programs.

During their testimonies, these learners spoke powerfully about their experiences coming to the United States and learning English for the first time with Vermont Adult Learning. During their first days in the United States, these learners struggled with everyday activities—even buying groceries or completing bank transactions was challenging without the ability to communicate in English. Finding community and friendship was hard, too. They often felt like outsiders in this new, strange country. But when they found VAL, things changed.

In their testimonies, these learners shared the confidence that VAL gave them to pursue opportunities they previously had not thought possible. They were able to improve their English fluency in just a few months of studying with VAL. This enabled them to enter the workforce and advance in their new careers. One student shared a proud memory of his first conversation with a customer in English and being able not only to ask, “How can I help you?” but also to understand his customer’s request. One student even expressed the ways VAL helped her escape an abusive relationship. Once she was able to build financial freedom by entering the workforce, she was able to find the strength to leave her abuser and surround herself with a new supportive community. Smiling to her teachers who came to support her in her testimony, she stated, “I found community at VAL, with my teachers and new friends from all around the world.” She later added that she and her classmates “didn’t all speak the same language. But we all had the same goal.”

These learners also spoke about future aspirations of continuing their education and studying subjects such as medicine, law, economics, and veterinary sciences. One student aspires to one day give back to the community that has served him by becoming a political leader. Another student hopes to become a doctor or nurse. At the end of one student’s testimony, he said that VAL’s program is “changing [his] life every day.” And one more testified that VAL “didn’t just teach [him] English; they gave [him] confidence, independence, and hope.”