Andy & Chris Lawrence - 2024 PPP Award Winners

In the late 1980’s, Andy Lawrence got interested in teaching ESOL while volunteering in the program offered by the Montgomery County Department of Adult Education (MCDAE) where he became a part-time instructor. Since then, he has taught classes at all levels for the Briggs Center for Faith and Action, the LADO Institute, and Montgomery College (MC). He currently teaches at MC’s Refugee Training Center and tutors students via Zoom. After he retired from his day job at the U.S. Department of Energy in 2018, Andy earned his TESOL Certificate from MC.



Andy served on the MCAEL Advisory Group (2021-2023) and was facilitator for the More Learning, Less Teaching workshop (and a course development reviewer for its successor course: Foundations for Adult ESOL Instruction). He also taught pilot courses and conducted placement tests for Community Learning Group ESOL Classes.

Chris Lawrence is a former journalist and full-time faculty member in the Journalism Division of American University’s School of Communication. She retired in 2017, and in the fall of 2021, she began to help an Afghan family sponsored by her church, Westmoreland UCC, and St. John’s Episcopal Church. The Sistani family was forced to flee their country when the Taliban took over in August 2021. They were able to live in a home owned by the Briggs Center, a nonprofit immigration center started by Westmoreland Church. The Briggs Center also offers ESOL classes.

At first, Chris and other volunteers helped the youngest son, Fardeen, and mom, Naseema, learn basic English and American culture. Once Fardeen started school at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, she worked with Naseema once or twice a week alone, because as an Afghan woman she could not meet one-on-one with male instructors. After two years in the church home, the family moved to their own apartment in Bethesda. Naseema now has a job in the bakery department of Harris Teeter. Chris continues to help her with English, particularly helping her learn the English names of the different breads the store sells.