| London: J&P English classes celebrate end of term |
By: Barbara Kentish
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Posted: Thursday, June 23, 2011 3:53 pm
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All top of the class!
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Teacher-volunteers gathered at Our Lady’s, St John’s Wood in London yesterday, to celebrate the end of a successful year of classes run Justice and Peace groups for about 100 student in in eight venues across Westminster diocese.
At the party, Jan Janoszka, Justice and Peace English Classes Coordinator, announced the launch of a new ‘Start-up Guidebook- English for Migrants’ , which he hopes will help volunteers and parishes set up similar schemes elsewhere. The guidebook has been compiled with the help of the teacher volunteers across the diocese, who have contributed their experience and expertise so that others can start classes for the benefit of the many refugees and migrants who need free English classes to survive.
Jan has begun or helped run classes as far apart as Bethnal Green, Neasden, Stamford Hill and St John’s Wood. The Justice and Peace Commission has been financed by the St John Southworth Fund for Jan’s post, but just as important, all agreed, is the work carried out by the dozen or so volunteers who give two or three hours once or twice a week to teach English either to destitute sanctuary seekers or to migrants who cannot get to statutory ESOL classes.
Students who attended the social were very grateful for the help offered, and were asked to spread the news about the classes. One young man from Romania spoke of the difficulty of getting jobs or a work permit without English. Two Brazilians from the Willesden class insisted they were only ‘Begin, begin’, but had found their way from Willesden to St John’s Wood successfully. A Portuguese lady was chanting ‘Speak, speak, speak, speak!’ – her teacher’s advice for improvement was to just open her mouth and speak as often as possible!
The project has been running for four years but Jan has expanded it significantly over two years, and has been assessed independently. Colette Joyce, author of the report, English Classes for Migrants – Assessment Report, spoke about the volunteers in her report: “All the volunteers teams come across as very dedicated. A clear support structure enables then to take initiative within their own local project. The more established and secure the volunteer team, the more needy the people they can take on. The volunteers are a major strength of this project.”
The handbook and the assessment report are available on the Justice and Peace website, or can be obtained from the Commission for £2 which covers post. http://www.rcdow.org.uk/justicepeace/default.asp?library_ref=17&category_ref=195
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