CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – This summer, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education considered cutting $11.1 billion from Title III English Language Acquisition programs through the Department of Education for Fiscal Year 2025.

This cut could affect several English as a Second Language programs , also known as ESL.

ESL classes have proven time and time again to equip non-native English speakers with skills that grant them more independence and make them more versatile in the workplace.

In Charleston, one man is shouting from the rooftops about how ESL classes have changed his life.

72-year-old Asmael Saifo is known for spending his time gardening. He made Charleston his home 10 years ago.

“We came because there was civil war in Syria,” Saifo said. “No friend, no relatives. Nothing. No income. No bank account. Nothing at all. Just my wife was with me.”

He was a general in Syria’s military for nearly 30 years, though conflict and war in Syria tore him and his family away from the life they had always known.

“75% of my friends passed away. They died because of this war. They live somewhere. There’s no one of my friends now in Salamiyah, in my hometown,” he said. “Imagine, we came there, no English, zero English.”

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“The festival in Capitol Street, I take myself in that festival. Back and forth, back and forth,” he described as he remembers what it was like to be new in Charleston. That’s when a woman approached him in front of the Kanawha Public Library.

“She realized everything. She find out in my face I am not from here. She came. She spoke to me in English. I didn’t answer any questions. After that, I took that small paper. I gave it to her. She said, ‘Okay, do you need to go home, I said ‘yes.’ I didn’t understand, but the iPad was between us. She took me home like a child by my hand. She said to me ‘Tomorrow, stand here,’” he remembers.

The next day, that woman brought him to the Garnet Career Center, which at the time held ESL courses.

“The English is the most important for our life here in the United States. Without it, we cannot make any communication,” Saifo said. “This program, ESL, fix not just my English and learn, teach me English. I feel that this program make new identity for us as a family.”

His teachers were the ones who lifted him up all along.

“This program specifically is to help immigrants learn English so that they can assimilate into our culture so that they can become independent and join our workforce and be an asset to our community,” ESOL instructor Mary Harper said. “Asmael is a perfect example of somebody that has done that. A lot of that’s because of teachers in this program, and a lot of it is because of his motivation.”

Saifo said he spent years practicing English, both through serving meals at Manna Meal, talking to gardeners at community gardens, and studying late at night, oftentimes he said until 2 a.m.

“That’s been the big secret to his success. He doesn’t isolate himself,” Harper said. “Those sorts of things really allow somebody to get integrated into a community and for that community to become home. This English program is the catalyst for that.”

Harper said Saifo’s story is just one of many that show how ESL courses can change lives.

“It’s such a shame that fewer and fewer people are studying language. It’s a real loss. I feel sorry for them because it has enriched my life greatly. I think a lot of people have this idea that AI is going to be the solution. Robots are basically going to do all the translation for us. While definitely that is happening to an extent …. I don’t think it’s ever going to be a complete substitute to actually learning a foreign language simply because it’s very unnatural to have a machine between you and another human being,” Harper said.

Harper said moving forward, she hopes to see more funding on both the state and federal levels for TESOL, ESL and ESOL programs.

“I think it strange that now they’re cutting the funding because I see the demand now more than ever. We hear about all these immigrants coming. They are coming. We’re getting more immigrants here every day, and we need to be able to communicate with them. They need to be able to communicate with us. They really do, by in large, enrich this country, economically and culturally. I think a lot of people don’t see that. I see that because I work with them every day.”

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