AFTDJ is an all-volunteer, interfaith organization. Our remarkably talented volunteers are committed and compassionate, supported by funding from our equally compassionate and generous donors. What begins as an act of service or a straightforward donation is transformed into something deeper: a spiritual encounter, a moral commitment, a gift that brings hope.

Teaching (More Than) English to Immigrants

Susan calls her experience teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) “an incredible gift.”

Having retired after fifty years as a primary care physician, Susan felt a real void in her life. She loved spending time with her grandchildren and enjoyed multiple hobbies, but she missed the intensity and rhythm of caring for her patients.

When a friend first mentioned the need for ESOL teachers, Susan hesitated. Then, she remembered living in Paris decades earlier. She recalled what it felt like to negotiate life with limited language skills — her reluctance to speak, the embarrassment at mispronouncing words. A French language course had helped, but she hadn’t forgotten that vulnerability. She said yes.

She speaks of her students with great admiration. “It takes enormous courage and energy to be an immigrant,” she says. Susan wanted her students to know that she saw their courage and tenacity. She became more than their teacher; she became their coach and mentor. In her class, Susan built a community. They marked special occasions, like birthdays, with cake and candles. At Christmastime, the students held a fiesta, bringing in dishes from their home countries. They shared food, stories, and laughter.

Volunteering with the ESOL program, Susan realized, offered her a way to live her values and respond with kindness and humanity to the government’s inhumane treatment toward immigrants and other marginalized individuals. In that basement classroom, she and her students found connection, community, and spiritual renewal.

“There was enormous satisfaction,” Susan says, “in being able to once again give yourself to others and to care for them.”