News

In response to our annual holiday fundraising solicitations, more than 30 donations were received totaling more than $10,000.  These generous donations helped us meet our fundraising goals, even in the face of United Way’s decision to discontinue funding to all small organizations like ESLIM.   The generosity of our donors might well enable us to further lower our fees to participating churches for the upcoming year, which will leave more funds at the local levels for textbooks and scholarships.

We want to sincerely thank all those who donated so generously to our program.   We believe that few charities can leverage such a small budget to support such a large network of volunteers.  Your donations have helped us to continue to welcome our newest neighbors to Northern Virginia and the USA.

In early December 2012, ESLIM will be mailing letters to those who have previously supported ESLIM generously through their financial gifts.  We hope that all our teachers, volunteers, and students will also consider a gift to support our program.

Each semester, more than 200 volunteers at ESL and Immigrant Ministries’ sites touch the lives of 500 to 650 adult immigrants who want to improve their English skills and connect with others.  We invite you to support ESLIM as we continue this important work.

Our member churches provide classes, and ESLIM handles a variety of centralized tasks.  We advertise classes in the foreign press; provide a voice-mail line and return calls in English and Spanish; recruit, place, and train volunteer teachers; maintain a website, www.eslim.org, with information for students, teachers, and churches; and publish the Speak Easy e-newsletter three times per year.

Your financial support will allow ESLIM’s member churches to keep their registration fees low (approximately $30 per student per semester), to continue giving scholarships to any students who request one, and to focus their spending on class-related materials and teaching supplies.

To support ESLIM through your checks and online contributions, please go to our “Donate” page.

Judy White has been one of ESLIM’s most loyal and most dedicated volunteers for almost two decades now.  Judy has built our program at Dulin United Methodist Church in Falls Church into one of our strongest and largest programs.  In addition to her service as the coordinator of Dulin’s program for the past 18 years, Judy has worked tirelessly as a classroom teacher, member of the ESLIM Board of Directors, and mentor to countless new volunteers.  Judy’s contributions have been invaluable.

Judy has let us know that she is taking a break from our program to take a well deserved rest and to spend more time with Steve, her husband.  All of us at ESLIM will greatly miss Judy and her generosity in sharing her decades of experience.

Judy’s fellow teachers at Dulin will be honoring Judy in a ceremony at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, December 11, at Dulin United Methodist Church.  Please join us in thanking Judy for all that she has done for ESL students over her many years of service.

ESLIM will offer a Refresh and Renew workshop for returning teachers on Sunday, September 9 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at Bruen Chapel UMC in Fairfax, VA.

To register, please send the name of the church you are teaching with, your name, mailing address,email address and phone number to:  office@eslim.org.  You will receive a confirmation email as well as further details for the training class.

The schedules for our Fall 2012 English classes have been announced.  Our ESLIM member programs will be offering classes at more than a dozen locations throughout Northern Virginia — with classes offered every day of the week except Fridays and Sundays.  Most classes are offered in the evenings, but day classes are available at programs in Centreville and Falls Church.  Childcare is available at some locations.

The full class schedules are available here.