Operating out of the third floor of Ithaca’s First Presbyterian Church, Open Doors English teaches English as a second language to adults through beginner, intermediate and advanced level classes taught four days a week.
ODE serves students who speak 29 different languages, and just within the last year they have enrolled over 260 new students “regardless of their personal circumstances or ability to pay,” according to a March 27 press release from the organization.
Hilary Boyer, co-director of ODE, said the organization grew out of a wish to “serve everybody that needed [ESL services] in the community.” Previously, Boyer and five of the eight current educators and administrators at ODE worked as ESL teachers at the Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga Board of Cooperative Educational Services.
During the 2018-2019 school year, however, TST BOCES limited ESL enrollment to students planning to enter the workforce. According to Boyer, educators felt this decision unfairly left out students without legal permission to work, such as asylum-seekers who must wait 180 days after their initial asylum application to receive a work permit and students with young children.
Boyer and her fellow teachers decided to start a volunteer ESL program open to everyone, which ran for a semester before being officially established as ODE in Fall of 2019. With an umbrella 501(c)3 status from the Center for Transformative Action, ODE runs off community donations and grants, according to Boyer.
The First Presbyterian Church voted to end their lease to TST BOCES and rent their third floor classrooms to ODE in 2019. Ever since, the organization has operated out of the church.
Currently, Boyer said ODE hosts six classes of six different levels — two beginner, two intermediate and two advanced — and focuses on teaching practical skills applicable to everyday life in Ithaca.
“Even starting in level one, [we] help [students] learn ... the vocabulary [for] going to the grocery store and doctor,” Boyer said. “Then we bring in people from the outside, or we take students out for [events], so they can learn about the community. It's so important for students to not just be in our classrooms, but to get comfortable using their English in the outside world.”
In class, Boyer said students have learned about Ithaca ReUse, how maple syrup is made, the U.S. measles outbreak, winter driving, banking and how to navigate speaking with the police, along with other locally relevant topics. To her, it’s important for students to not only learn English but feel comfortable as part of the Ithaca community.
Educators, such as Joshua Orkin, are also encouraged to integrate what they believe is missing from the curriculum into their teaching. Orkin does this by starting off his advanced classes with an open-ended, philosophical question. Students are encouraged to discuss the question in pairs, forcing them to actively listen to their partner and then summarize their opinions, Orkin said.
Additionally, Orkin hosted a faux job for his class, having students create fake businesses and then interview potential “applicants” from the level four and five classes. While also being a creative activity, students were able to practice being on either side of the job interview process.
Whether someone is experiencing grief or trauma due to personal or political reasons, Orkin said ODE provides a distraction.
“You want to help, but there's not a lot to say, right?” Orkin said. “Even when you're both native speakers, words don't help that much. So sometimes we provide a distraction or a way to something small and tangible and productive that they can do with their day.”
With the Trump administration invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport asylum seekers, worry among students has increased, both Orkin and Boyer said.
After a federal immigration raid in late March led to the arrest of 133 people by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in upstate New York, Boyer said a student stopped attending class in fear of interacting with immigration officials while traveling to and from class. Although he is a citizen, he cannot speak English and was afraid of being detained due to his inability to answer questions.
In addition, 17 current and former Cornell students have had their student and exchange visitor information system records terminated by federal authority, and at least four of the 17 reported that their visas were revoked.
To help students, Boyer said ODE has been corresponding with lawyers and hosting “Know Your Rights” events. “Ithaca is under the microscope,” Orkin said, and the ODE does not “want to be the face of anything.”
“We don't want to be targeted,” Orkin said. “The prevailing opinion amongst people I know is a sense of helplessness, and at least in this regard, I get to go to work and do something, so I can't pretend it's not happening, but I can at least engage with it in a productive way.”
Orkin helped organize a film screening and open house on April 13 at the First Presbyterian Church. The film was a 15-minute documentary made by community members about ODE’s services. To protect the students present, photography was not allowed.
New York State Assembly Representative Anna Kelles (D-125th District) spoke during the last ten minutes of the event, echoing the importance of community involvement for immigrant populations.
“When you have people who are immigrants forced to be isolated on the outskirts of a community, they’re much easier to find by ICE,” Kelles said. “But when you have an incredibly welcoming organization like Open Doors English that welcomes them in and creates a community with our immigrant neighbors, then they become embedded everywhere. We become that protection, because they are us and we are them — there is no difference.”
Shubha Gautam is a senior writer and a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at sgautam@cornellsun.com.
