The Story of Ladies Let’s Talk (LLT)

In April, 2018, the Texas nonprofit, Hope & Sesame, held the first four sessions of “Ladies Let’s Talk.”  Refugee women from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria met with Austin women Volunteers for several hours in a YMCA conference room over four Fridays for conversational English practice. Many of the women were already attending ESL (English as a Second Language) classes at iACT (Interfaith Action of Central Texas) on Monday through Thursdays. The conversational sessions aimed to reinforce the ESL classes and give these English Learners an opportunity to practice their English in a real-world setting. The session format was quickly established: opening introductions and a question to answer, a review of the session theme, then breaking into one-to-one conversations where each Learner was matched with a Volunteer.

Friday morning conversation sessions continued to be offered in Fall of 2018 and by Spring 2019, Ladies Let’s Talk (LLT) spun off from Hope and Sesame to form its own non-profit organization. In Summer of 2019, LLT began providing free childcare which allowed more immigrant women the ability to participate in the conversation sessions. Following Covid-19 restrictions, in April 2020 LLT moved the conversations on-line via Zoom and in Fall 2020 added a second conversation session on Thursday evenings.

In November 2020, 3 volunteers who were retired speech therapists volunteered to hold two weekly one-hour pronunciation workshops to focus is on minimizing the influence of first language pronunciation habits so students with advanced English would be more readily understood. Additionally, English Practice Partners began where a volunteer and learner were matched for further conversation outside of our online sessions.

LLT began addressing the unique challenge of teaching non-native, non-literate women with a Basic English class in August 2022. With a paid professional teacher/program coordinator, a second ESL teacher and a Dari/Pashto/English interpreter, three 2-hour days of instruction are offered free-of-charge to recent Afghan refugees. Curriculum has been developed that addresses the need to teach reading and writing as well as speaking English. The aim of this program is to ready the women to take existing Beginner ESL classes and also participate in our converation programs.

LLT’s mission has led to several short-term projects: help finding citizenship and ESL classes, eyeglasses for immigrants, personal hygiene kits for women at Casa Marianella, delivering food boxes during Covid-19, and supporting a clothing drive as a partner with Austin Jews and Partners for Refugees upon the arrival in Austin of over 1000 Afghan evacuees. As a member of the Austin Refugee Roundtable, LLT has participated in Austin Refugee Day and World Refugee Day, Welcome Home Week, iACT Interfaith Day of Faith, and other joint activities to support the Austin immigrant community.