For more than four decades the English-Speaking Union has offered tailored informal instruction to newcomers who need assistance with a tongue that is not native to them: a recent immigrant, for example, a secondary-school or college student from abroad, or a professional who has been brought to these shores by an embassy or by an active multinational corporation. In most instances the neighbors who register with us for help through English in Action have a fair grasp of the fundamentals of our language; they merely wish to acquire the basic skills in vocabulary, pronunciation, and usage that belong to those who have lived in an English-speaking society for an extensive period.

Volunteers who work with participants in English in Action tend to be ordinary citizens with normal proficiency, but no special training, in the use of conversational English. They arrange sessions with their pupils at mutually convenient times and venues, and they spend an hour or so per get-together discussing any topics that seem pertinent.

Some of these gatherings take place in tutors' homes or offices; others may occur in locales as varied as a museum, a school, a library, or a restaurant. It's not unusual for tutors to become deeply involved in learning about the cultural backgrounds of their pupils, and in many cases these associations lead to rich and long-lasting friendships.

For the last year the Washington area has been exceedingly fortunate to have Deborah L. Stevenson as head of its EIA activities. Ms. Stevenson's background includes a great deal of work as a professional interpreter and translator, and last summer, with support from a coveted Helene Gladstone Williams Award, she spent several weeks in Britain for a "Seminar for English Language Teachers" at the University of Oxford. She's now retiring from her position at the Department of Justice and moving to North Carolina, however, so ESU Washington is looking for a new coordinator for its English in Action program. Inquiries should go to Executive Director Mark Olshaker, who can be reached by phone at (202) 234-4602 and by e-mail at esuwdc@verizon.net.

In addition to Deborah Stevenson, the English-Speaking Union is grateful to her predecessors, Lynn Humphries and Ruby Mathews, who represented the English in Action program for a year after the retirement of Mrs. Diana Nicholson, a talented and dedicated leader who also served for two decades as Executive Secretary of the ESU branch that represents the Nation's Capital. We're happy to report that Mrs. Nicholson remains involved in the endeavor as a tutor and advisor.

We're also pleased to note that, with the assistance of a generous grant from the MARPAT Foundation, we're made a number of refinements in the service. To meet all the needs we'd like to address, however, we seek further assistance, both from civic-minded constituents who'd like to try their hand at tutoring and from individuals, foundations, corporations, embassies, and other agencies with resources to contribute to an effort that is pivotal to the ESU mission.