Meet Qurbanali: Civil Engineer, Proud Grandfather, English Learner
“Improving my English is a roadmap for my career development. When I learn English, I can do my job in a good manner.”
Qurbanali is a veteran senior civil engineer who resettled from Afghanistan to Virginia with his family nearly three years ago. Upon arrival, Qurbanali quickly realized that learning English would be foundational to continuing his engineering career in the U.S. About one in three open engineering positions go unfilled each year across the country. Given his background, Qurbanali is poised to help fill this gap in an essential workforce.
Qurbanali was introduced to EnGen through our partners at One Journey and No One Left Behind, both DC-area nonprofits that support refugee communities. EnGen provides no-cost scholarships to refugee-serving organizations, so that learners like Qurbanali can access our platform, live online group classes, and 1:1 coaching support, helping them rebuild their lives and livelihoods in the U.S.
Through a combination of self-paced online learning and supportive coaching and workshops via the EnGen platform, Qurbanali is focusing on learning the English skills that apply specifically to his career.
“I took the English for Internationally Trained Engineers [course]. It included 25 lessons. That was very important for me. It shows via the lessons how I can develop my career. [My coaches] instructed me and guided me. I got lots of information. Lots of experience and knowledge.”
Qurbanali says that improving his English skills through EnGen put him on a track to acquire other career-related skills.
“If you don’t know English,” he says, “you can’t understand job requirements. When managing a construction project, you need to do scheduling and budget management. All of this is better managed with certain software. When I improved my English, I was able to do software training.”
In this way, Qurbanali is like the 80% of EnGen learners who have been able to reach a real-world goal – like starting a new job or earning a career credential – as a result of using EnGen.
While EnGen’s self-paced, career-aligned lessons were crucial to Qurbanali’s progress, he says that the most valuable part of his learning came from group classes and coaching workshops that allowed him to interact with other English learners.
“Learners are activated” by these interactive sessions, he says. “Every workshop we learn more, we activate, and we want to learn more.”
Along with learning career-aligned English skills, Qurbanali has also used EnGen to help him in his job search, completing courses related to resume building, cover letter writing, and job interviews. He says he feels more real for the job market than ever before.
“I’d like to improve my verbal and written communications. Communication is so important when you talk to someone. Whether you negotiate or discuss with your boss. I’d like to improve my communication skills. My other goal is to develop career advancement. When you learn good English you will find a good job.”
Qurbanali has become activated not only in his career, but also in his personal life. Improved confidence and proficiency in using English has streamlined his personal interactions. “Before, when I had an appointment, many of my family members had to go with me to translate for me. But now, we don’t need someone to go with us. I can discuss with everyone I need to.”
Qurbanali isn’t alone in feeling more socially integrated: Three in four EnGen learners agree that they could navigate life better, are more engaged with their community, and help their family more after using the platform.
Speaking of helping family, Qurbanali says learning English has helped him support his young grandson in his own English learning journey.
“I enjoy helping my first grade grandson. He had difficulty learning English. I am helping with supporting his English by finding books and shows and telling him what they are saying. Now, he is good. Two days ago I had a meeting with his teacher. She said he is doing well.”
Qurbanali is thrilled with his English learning journey and especially his interaction with EnGen. “EnGen is made with good technology. I use the EnGen app a lot. I believe my English has improved a lot. I’m very happy to have joined EnGen and advise other learners to join EnGen and learn English, improve proficiency, reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, and pronunciation.”
As a certified B Corporation, EnGen is committed to social impact. Learn about our scholarship program that provides no-cost licenses directly to qualified learners, part of our mission to offer at-scale, high-quality English instruction to millions of learners across the U.S.