What do you do when your plans fall apart?
Walter had a plan when he came to the United States for a fresh start. He’s built a successful career in the restaurant business with several “fresh starts” in the multiple countries he’s called home, including Peru, Chile and Ecuador. He’s worked with multiple cuisines as a head chef, including the Japanese-Peruvian “Nikkei” cuisine, which is his specialty. He’s undoubtedly an expert in his field, so he believed continuing his culinary career would be easy.
This time, he ran into a new problem. As a head chef, you need to communicate with and relay orders to the rest of the kitchen. While Walter has been in the United States since 2019, he’d only learned a little English. It was difficult to find help learning English that fit his schedule and was affordable. Without strong English conversation skills, he couldn’t find a role that leveraged his expertise, and he was relegated to sous chef positions.
“Problem for me is the language because I have a lot of experience, but the position [head chef]… is very impossible,” he said.
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He learned about The Immigrant Learning Center (The ILC)’s free English program from a friend and immediately registered. After learning some vocabulary, he moved on to English conversation practice. He said it was difficult, but having classes five days a week helped him significantly improve.
The school, I got a lot of support. Every day, I learned more English.”
— Walter
Walter is now the head chef at a local seafood company in downtown Boston that serves food to tourists and locals every day. It’s his dream job.
Immigrants like Walter bring a wide array of skills and specialties to our communities, but not speaking English can hold them back. The Immigrant Learning Center provides the tools these adults need to pursue their plans.