To be writing this piece is so very exciting and extremely humbling. Inspiration is such an intricate word, and so is woman.I hope my blunt pen does not unsettle this delicate balance.
My name is Leyli Jamali, I am a university lecturer, published author and a translator. In December 2023, after a short visit to Canada, I had an opportunity to stay, and later join the AOLCollege to develop their language program, Monarch ESL, which aims to help newcomers to transform, transverse and transcend in their journey.
Facing the unexpected challenges in the new land, I thought the only way to survive was to do what I knew best, teaching. I have been a teacher all my life, and I have tried hard to be a good one. This is because of a promise I made to myself and my English teacher, back in the 80s in England, where, as a newcomer, I had a very ‘tough’ time at school because of not having ‘enough’English. Keeping my promise to teach-for-change and not to let anyone feel not ‘enough’, I studied English language and literature, got my PhD, and started to teach and to blur the line between fact and fiction, wherever, whenever, and however.
Alongside my passion for literature, issues of race, gender, class, and the problems that people, women in particular, face due to lack of power, which is directly linked to the ways they have access to language, are the focal points in my thinking and acting.Working in multilingual and multicultural contexts, I have always been committed to inclusive teaching methods that celebrate personal and intellectual growth, and foster empowerment.
Witnessing the familiar patterns inlives of newcomers to Canada, which brought back the plights of the little girlI once was, inspired me to invest my experience, dedication to diversity,equity, and empowerment of women in Monarch, and try to make change in lives of those who wish to tell a new story in the new language. I was further inspired by AOL director, Tara Teeling, a beautiful mind and soul, who shared with me the passion for empowering women, recognizing the transformative power of language, and believing in the magic of butterflies.
And now here I am, writing about inspiration and women, dearly hoping to have conveyed the contagious power of inspiration to more women, whom I believe are capable of manifesting so many wonders that no words would be ‘enough’ to describe in any language!
