The Presentation Lantern Center serves adult immigrants through its focus on hospitality, educational opportunities, and advocacy. All services provided by the center are free. One of the most remarkable things about our organization is the nature of our tutoring services.
Hospitality: The center is a welcoming place where individuals meet new friends, share a cup of coffee, and enjoy conversation. When individuals come to the center for a tutoring session, time is allotted for individuals to converse with others over beverages like coffee or tea, and snacks or desserts provided by the center. During this time, students and tutors from all over the world are engaged in stimulating conversation able to tell stories or even share cuisine from their countries of origin.
Educational Opportunities: Students work one-on-one with a conversation partner or volunteer tutor to learn English and/or to prepare for the citizenship test. Adult language learners are carefully paired with a volunteer conversation partner or tutor whose background, availability and interests relate well to the adult student’s goals. Additionally, students learn useful skills or information about how to navigate life in a new country. Students and volunteers share about their own background and also learn about others’ cultural backgrounds, which further enriches everyone’s experience. Tutoring sessions are generally last two hours, with an approximately 15 minute break in the middle of the session. During this break, the entire group gathers around a table to practice their conversational English skills and get to know one another better.
Advocacy: The center empowers individuals to be advocates for themselves and their families and assists them in bettering their lives in an variety of ways. Staff and volunteers take time to get to know everyone individually and learn about people’s goals informally, in addition to learning about their formal educational or career goals. Center employees and volunteers assist with: making phone calls, career exploration and job search skills, filling out paperwork, including familiarizing immigrants familiar with our Dubuque area community, such as healthcare and wellness facilities, the public and private school system as well as our area colleges, businesses and community organizations or clubs of interest.
Who We Serve: Since opening in 2002, The Presentation Lantern Center has welcomed over 1,000 adult immigrants from 69 countries. The Center welcomes all who would like to learn English or improve their current English language skills in the areas of: reading, writing, speaking or listening. Research shows that conversational English and befriending a native speaker of a language is one of the most effective ways to teach or learn a new language. It’s also more fun! This is where we excel and what sets us apart from other places in the tri-state area where adults can go to learn English. We also welcome any eligible adult (i.e., legal permanent resident) to prepare for their interview and study for their citizenship test with us. Our students, staff and volunteers work hard and have fun together as partners in the learning process for weeks, months and sometimes even years – often becoming life-long friends. Thorough relationship-building and hard work, we are proud that the more than 80 students who have studied for their citizenship test with us thus far have ALL passed their tests.
