07-03-2025
Wisconsin students struggle with reading. These adults are learning for the first time.
When Ahmed arrived in the United States from Somalia seven years ago, he'd never been to school. He could read the Quran in Somali, but he didn't know a word of English or even how to read the characters.
Now, after years in the country, he can go to the grocery store alone, read notes home from school and fill out applications. It's a freedom that's taken a lot of work to reach.
'I used to ask myself, 'Why? Why didn't you go to school when you were young or a kid? You know, everything would be a lot easier today',' Ahmed said through a translator. "But you can do nothing about the past. I just have to start over and try my best.'
For over three years, Ahmed has been learning English at Literacy Green Bay, an adult education advocacy organization that offers English language classes to non-native speakers and tutoring sessions and GED instruction to adults in the area. It pays its bills through donations and corporate sponsorships; tutors volunteer. Ahmed isn't his real name: the Press-Gazette was allowed to attend the class on the condition that students not be named due to stigma and fears of immigration enforcement.
Literacy is a major issue in Wisconsin. Overall, just 51.1% of Wisconsin public school third-graders could read at grade level in the 2023-24 school year, and in Green Bay, nearly half of K-3 elementary students were 'at risk' of not meeting their grade-level reading goals.
Being unable to read — or, in the case of some Literacy Green Bay students, to read and understand English — can put students at an extreme disadvantage. Translation services don't always work, and students taking English classes talked about needing to read and fill out job applications, or to understand communications from their child's school.
Learning to read is hard work at any age. Every night, Ahmed and his wife take their books to the living room and study for hours, ELL class program manager Alexis Abel said. Many of the students struggle with burnout, particularly when they're starting from zero.
"A lot of students quit, because it's like, 'what's the point of this?'' Abel said. 'Where they're trying to get is so far away that it feels impossible.'
In a classroom at the end of the hall, Lia Woo stands in front of about a dozen desks, most of them filled. She holds a photo of something most people use every day.
"What's this?' she asks. 'A ffff-, fffff-'
'Fridge!' a student in the back row realizes.
Woo started teaching at Literacy Green Bay when she was looking for ways to get involved with the community, she said. It's not always easy balancing students' different life experiences and skill levels, but Woo makes it work.
Some of the techniques Woo used to teach her English learners mimic those used in American kindergarten classrooms: going through words sound by sound, and reenforcing those words.
Today's class focuses on things in the kitchen. After introducing the fridge, freezer and stove, the students get out of their seats and form a circle. Woo pulls something out of her bag and hands it to the student next to her.
'This is a fork,' Woo says.
'A fork?' the student asks, following the choreographed back-and-forth script.
'Yes, a fork.'
'Oh, a fork!'
The student turns to another student and starts again, and 'this is a fork' continues down the line.
Each aspiring English learner comes to Literacy Green Bay lessons for their own reasons. Some are looking for better jobs. Others want to be able to talk to their child's teacher.
'There's big, long-term goals, and then just day-to-day survival in our modern world, you know,' Woo said. "They all have cell phones. They're getting emails and need to be able to understand what they're saying. Is this important? Is this spam? What is this?'
As much as English classes are a way to advance, they're also a place for both new and established immigrants to socialize and find community. Over the history of the program, students from nearly 100 countries have taken classes, forming bonds with each other and their teachers. They hold events for Lunar New Year and Ramadan.
It's something Abel and the program are trying to protect as political uncertainty has reared its head. Staff went through training on what to do if immigration officials show up, and they've been working to educate immigrant students on their rights, Abel said.
'I've really tried to lean into diversity and inclusion down here, because that really is what we're built on,' Abel said.
Literacy Green Bay's English classes haven't seen a big dropoff in students, she said. One recent class was the biggest she's seen.
Learning to read English is difficult at any age. There are rules and exceptions in nearly every sentence in the language, and many of the words don't look like they sound.
But in Woo's classroom, the students smile and laugh, even if they miss a word or get confused. They're working toward a hopeful future, where they, like Ahmed, don't need a translator at the grocery store.
Contact Green Bay education reporter Nadia Scharf at nscharf@ or on X at @nadiaascharf.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Reading scores are low in Wisconsin. Here's how adults are learning
