Stories by theme

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24/7 by myself

“And I remember my first week, it was like $30. That’s it. And I say, oh, my God…”

Student from Venezuela

Transcription

I was basically 24/7 by myself, worried about, I don’t know. So then we start to teach online. But it was like, pay what you wish at the beginning. And I remember my first week, it was like $30. That’s it. And I say, oh, my God, this is going to be bad because when you are i this process of enrollment and you have like a sponsor, so if something is wrong, like, your sponsor is going to help you. But that wasn’t my case. Yes. So I was like, oh, my God, I remember we spend the first month, it was like the second month, everything was getting better.

And my third month because it was like, I don’t have more money. That’s it. I remember my rent was $750 at that point. So can you imagine paying $750 plus $400 or something like that? An hour is cool and making $0 crazy. So I remember in July, we opened like a summer camp in Spanish, online. And I took some classes, like, every day. And thank God that was the way that I couldn’t save more money and pay all my things. And I think that was great because… because that has been my job until now. And I realized that I really want to do this. I love teaching and also I loved.

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Central Park

“I used to live in East Harlem and my English School was in Upper West Side, I would walk everyday by the Central Park…”

Student from Brazil

Transcripts:

I remember that I used to work for a company in Brazil remotely, so I was already used to the experience of working online.

Before the Pandemic, I would work all day and I would go to my English school to take English classes during the night, actually from 05:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.. And from Monday to Thursday, I would go and come back walking to my home. It was around 30 minutes walking. And I used to live in East Harlem and my English school was in Upper West Side. I would walk every day by the Central Park, and it was such a beautiful experience for me.

Didn’t like to take the bus because I wanted to walk. I wanted to walk through Central Park, and that was just so special. Until today, every time that I see Central Park, I think it’s breathtaking.

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The Cap

“She saw me, she got my phone number and after class she called me. She asked me to pray for her.”

Student from Brazil. 

Transcripts:

There was a remarkable experience learning English in New York City that happened to me around two years ago. I would say that the best adjective would not be funny, but rather edifying. I was studying English at that time in person before Pandemic and I was using a cap in which it was written, May I pray for you. And I continued wearing that cap for some days and a classmate of mine perceived and read and she was willing to ask me to pray for her, but she couldn’t. And then Pandemic came and we began studying online and the Lord allowed us to be classmates and she saw me and that day I was also we are in the same cap, though we were on Zoom. But she saw me and she got my phone number and after class she called me and she asked me to prefer her because at that moment she had been without sleeping for ten days, eleven days actually Lord Jesus. So I shared some verses with her. I asked her to call on the Lord. She called upon the precious name of the Lord. I prayed for her and I also asked help. I asked Sister Raquel’s help in taking care of her. This new sister began attending a network of care and she’s been since then receiving the Word of God in these virtual meetings and also by visiting Lord Jesus. Praise the Lord. That was an edifying experience and the Lord is transforming her inner being. Lord Jesus. The more we seek him, the more we are fed on God’s word, the more we call upon his precious name, the more we are involved with the Lord’s things, preaching the gospel, the more we are edified. That was a very interesting experience that happened to me.

Because of a cap, a person was saved and she’s doing much better and she has been in the Lord’s way. Lord Jesus, praise the Lord. I’m very glad God gave me this experience learning English in New York city.

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Be Open

“First of all, if you wanna be open in the society or in this world, you have to know how to read, how to write and specially how to speak this language, English.”

Student from Senegal


Transcrips:

You know, my motivation was like Nimmers (?) , first of all, if you want to be open in this society or in this world, you have to know how to read, how to write, and especially how to speak this language, English.

So in my country, I used to read, I used to write. But the problem was you will not find someone with whom to talk to. And one day one of my English teacher told me that if you want to understand a language, you have to listen the language be spoken. So I said the best place to listen the language to be spoken is America.

So I choose New York Language Center to be my school so as to read it. Well, at the time, I thought if I come in New York Language Center, I will be fluent. And that was also the case.

Now that I learned it I do whatever I want in this language.

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Winter in NYC

“Yeah… the funniest story… you know, in Senegal, we do not have winter. We just have two seasons. The cold season, is called la saison sèche, and the rainy season is called also la saison des pluies…”

Student from Senegal

Transcripts:

Yeah, the funny story, you know, in Senegal, we do not have winter. We just have two seasons. The cold season is called saison sèche rainy season, and it’s called saison des pluies.

So with me, I didn’t know what winter is. So when I live in Senegal, to New York, to the airport GfK, that day was very cold. That was freezing at the time. So I couldn’t handle it. My clothes was very light. I didn’t wear a jacket or something like this. So immediately I called my family over there in Senegal. I tell them I have to go back because I cannot I will not survive in this weather. Whenever I remember these things, okay. That made me laugh.