Umniy Ahaljandeel is an interpreter for the International Rescue Committee in Dallas. Over the weekend, she helped a group of refugees set up their new laptops and use English language software.

At the start of the pandemic, schools rushed to get laptops into the hands of students at home. In Nashville, Tenn., those laptops created new opportunities for parents who want to learn English.

Earlier this year, I came across a lecture by former MIT professor Patrick Winston called “How to Speak.” The lecture was posted on YouTube a few months after Winston’s death in 2019, and has since ...