ESL Classes

As the Centro Autónomo is a community center used in large part by immigrant families, new and old, from Latin America, it is important that the classes and community-building activities here are relevant to people’s lives and experiences.

The US systematically benefits from immigrant, and especially undocumented workers’, labor while initiating policies that undermine Latin American economies and force mass migration. Having arrived in Albany Park, Chicago, many immigrant workers seek to obtain English-language fluency as a way to obtain better employment. We respond to this demand by offering popular education-style ESL classes, which are taught with a focus on community-building as well as consciousness-raising pertinent to immigrant, worker's, women’s, and human rights.

We offer three levels of classes three times a week that are taught by volunteer facilitators. We are very conscious of the unique restraints women in our community face, as they are often the primary caregivers to children in their families. As such, we offer free childcare during classes such that the majority of our students are women who would likely not be able to participate otherwise.