Wanted: Teacher of English to Afghan Adults and Children

Written By Richard Minard Jr.

Building Community in New Hampshire is a private non-profit organization that provides post-resettlement services to refugees and former refugees. Our goal is to help new Americans become successful participants in their new community. 

BCNH serves Afghan adults and children who arrived after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.  Most have settled in Manchester and Concord; at least two families are in Keene and others are living in other parts of New Hampshire.  We employee two case managers who are originally from Afghanistan and who speak Dari and Pashto and who provide a variety of services to these clients.  Our ESOL program has included several Afghan men who were trying to improve their English skills to secure better jobs.  To date, however, our English program has not reached Afghan women or men who need basic level ESOL.

A new contract between BCNH and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services will allow us to make significant progress.  The funding is from the US Office of Refugee Resettlement and is targeted for Afghan Social Services and Afghan School Impact.  The contract period runs from July 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026.

The Teacher of English to Afghan Adults and Children will build a program to fill these gaps and help as many Afghans make as much progress as possible before September 30, 2026.  We will be working with the Manchester School District, and perhaps their counterparts in Concord and Keene, to reach students in school who need extra help to learn English.  We seek to reach mothers with young children as well, through story hours and informal ESOL programming.  Most Afghan women  in our communities do not work outside the home and have had little formal education so they will require basic ESOL programming.  Our case managers know those who are most eager to develop these skills. The Manchester School District’s Family Welcome Center is eager to have us provide classes there in a variety of configurations.

Gender norms within the Afghan community may add challenges for a male teacher working with women.  One of the job requirements will be resolving those challenges, even if it requires adding female supervision or teaching entirely on-line. Most women will not be able to drive to classes, so the teacher will either have to reach them online or arrange for transportation with school districts.  Our Afghan case managers will help the ESOL teacher communicate with potential students and build classes that work.

The instructor will work 40 hours per week at a rate of $28 per hour.  The instructor will receive all employee benefits as described in our personnel policy.   These include vacation time, sick time, and some assistance with health insurance, though not a full health-insurance plan.   BCNH will provide a laptop and whatever applications are needed to teach remotely and enter client data into our database.

BCNH will also purchase all books, teaching materials, and teaching supplies in consultation with the instructor.  

Requirements: 

·         Experience and certification in teaching English to speakers of other languages.

·         Experience teaching refugees and immigrants a plus

·         Experience as a refugee or immigrant a plus as is proficiency in Dari, Pashto, or Urdu.

·         Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively

·         Computer skills and familiarity with Microsoft Office programs

·         A car, driver’s license, and insurance.

To Apply:

  • Send cover letter and resume to Executive Director Richard Minard at rminard@bcinnh.org

Richard Minard Jr.