When Khadidja Mehamli immigrated to Indianapolis more than a decade ago, she spoke Arabic — the language of her home country, Algeria.
Though Mehamli speaks some English now, it’s hard for her to remember words and phrases. She worries that there will be an emergency when her husband is at work, and she won’t be able to communicate with the teachers at her daughter’s school.
“It’s necessary for my life,” she said. “Sometimes I talk to my God, ‘I want to learn English.’ The first thing I want in my life is to learn English.”
That goal led Mehamli to join a group at Chapelwood Baptist Church on the west side, where women meet Wednesdays to practice their English and share a meal. Most of the women are refugees and immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa, and it’s a place where their young children are welcome.
“You can come and you can sit, you can listen, you can talk — participate at whatever level you are comfortable with and able to,” said Alicia Gunn, the instructor and founder of the group.
A safe space to learn English
Part of the reason Gunn wanted to work with immigrants is that she knows what it’s like to be alone in a foreign country.
She and her husband lived in Kazakhstan in Central Asia for two years, where she taught English. Upon returning, she felt called to welcome immigrants and refugees the way that Kazakhs did for her family.
“I had that experience of being in a place and not knowing the language very well, not knowing the city and not having your family,” Gunn said.
In 2015, Gunn joined Indy Internationals, a local group that helps immigrants and refugees settle in Indianapolis. When she was tasked with starting English as a second language classes, she noticed a serious need for classes targeted to women.
Many women from Middle Eastern and Muslim-majority countries do not socialize with men outside of their families, she said. Because many of the English classes were co-ed, there was a need for women — especially stay-at-home moms — to have a place they could learn, feel comfortable and meet new people. A year later, Gunn officially started the English conversation club.
In addition to teaching, Gunn organized family-friendly social events, such as trips to the apple orchard, or baby showers for the group’s expectant mothers.
“We were trying to build a community together,” Gunn said.
Fostering home away from home
The common room of the westside church hums with laughter and chatter in both English and Arabic most Wednesday mornings.
Azza Abdelaziz started coming to the group this year, mostly because she could bring her toddler. Abdelaziz, in fact, said she wouldn’t have been able to come without her daughter.
Abdelaziz wants to improve her English so she can start working.
“Outside home, everything is in English,” she said. “So you have to at least understand what they say to you.”
For some of the women, the class is about more than learning to speak English.
Elham Ahmed spoke English long before she moved to the U.S. She used to teach Arabic to Americans living in Yemen.
Though she doesn’t need to practice her English, she comes to the classes to spend time with other Muslim women.
It’s a “family feeling” for her, being around other women who share her culture, religious customs and language.
“Most of my relations are with Americans,” she said. “Things like this make me remember home.”
Get more information
If you are a woman looking to join the English conversation club, you can reach out to Gunn at alicia@indyinternationals.org. She also offers free online beginner and intermediate English classes.
The conversation club meets during the day Wednesdays, and young children are welcome.
The Immigrant Welcome Center’s Pathway to Literacy site also has a map of all the English classes in Indianapolis, which you can find here.
Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus. Contact Claire at claire.rafford@mirrorindy.org or on Instagram and X @clairerafford.
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