At Casa Marianella, we offer many services, ranging from legal support to housing to ESL courses to help our residents get comfortable speaking in English in their new community. Our ESL classes are in the evenings from Monday to Thursday and are open to the greater Austin community. We asked our wonderful ESL students what [...]
This week, we're chatting with the kind, smart and always friendly Namitha, a former ESL teacher at Casa Marianella. Namitha is now on her way to becoming a PA, her lifelong dream! Namitha's passion is medicine and helping those in need. We miss Namitha dearly, but we're catching up with her this week to hear [...]
We had a blast at our latest ESL Show and Tell night. It was a fantastic opportunity for our residents to showcase what they've learned in ESL and practice their public speaking skills. Before our ESL Show and Tell night, our residents worked with ESL teachers to come up with a presentation to give in [...]
We spoke with one of our wonderful ESL teachers, Camille, about her extensive involvement with Casa Marianella and what she has gained from teaching and interacting with people from all walks of life. What first prompted you to start teaching ESL? I was told about how refugees come from very bad situations in their home [...]
We had a fantastic time at our ESL Summer Show and Tell event this past Tuesday evening! As the sun set and the heat subsided, all three levels of students came together in the Level 2 classroom to share their stories, hobbies, photos, and more. The classroom was lit perfectly with twinkling lights, with a [...]
Cutter, a well-loved former Casa ESL teacher, recently left Texas for 2 years to travel to Colombia with the Peace Corps. We are very proud of Cutter and the positive change he is making in our world. Our ESL Coordinator asked Cutter a few questions about his experience volunteering at Casa Marianella, and we are pleased [...]
ESL Students Share Their Stories and Talents! We were so impressed with the amazing stories, photos and talents shared by our residents, ESL students and members of the Casa community- including a few of our ESL teachers and staff members! What we loved most was seeing the confidence exuded by our ESL students. For some [...]
We had a blast at our Fall 2016 Show and Tell event. Our residents worked hard the week before to prepare for their presentations. ESL Levels 1, site 2, case and 3 combined within the level 2 classroom and students took turns standing in front of the class and presenting what they have worked on. [...]
We are proud to announce that Amy Knop-Narbutis, a 6-year Casa ESL teacher, has been selected for Leadership Austin's Emerge program! This inspiring program provides leadership training and collaboration opportunities for emerging community leaders in Greater Austin. In 1979 Leadership Austin was founded—by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce (GACC)—with the mission of providing leadership [...]
We had a blast at the recent percussion workshop given during ESL class by Bruno Vinezof. The purpose was for Bruno to share his culture by bringing music and dance to the residents of Casa Marianella, generic providing a fun way for residents to release the stress of the day and begin to learn a [...]