Speak a language other than English? Register for FREE On-line English and Community Workshops

 

A great opportunity for 'higher-level ESOL*' learners to:

 

• improve their English
• learn their rights
• and get involved in community action. 

 

Enrolment form HERE

 

*ESOL = English for Speakers of Other Languages

 

Only for people resident in Brent. Funded by Brent Council.

Cllr Georgiou spearheads campaign to get IT home learning equipment to refugee students during Covid19 crisis

Cllr Anton Georgiou, Liberal Democrat councillor for Alperton ward,  is leading a campaign to persuade the Department for Education to equip refugee and ESOL students with IT equipment for home learning during the current coronavirus shut down.

In a letter to Secretary of State, Gavin Williamson, Georgiou and his fellow signatories state:

We welcome the initiative that has been taken by central Government to supply the most vulnerable students with computer equipment to facilitate home learning in the coming weeks. However, we would like to see this extended to other vulnerable groups too. 

For example, we are concerned that young refugee and ESL students are being allowed to slip through the net. We are seeing in our communities, and also through anecdotal evidence provided by organisations like Young Roots and Refugee Support Network, that this group of young people are not being provided with the support they need at this time. Although their need for computer equipment is great and they have a social worker, they do not meet the specific criteria set by central Government. 

There are also young people, refugees and asylum seekers aged 19 to 25 who are in further and higher education, but do not have access to computer equipment to enable them to engage in online learning, because they are currently not eligible. It is critical that those who need help get it. We need to ensure that students who already face acute challenges in performing at the same level as some of their peers do not fall further behind, thus widening the attainment gap in our schools, colleges and universities. 

We are calling on the Government to make a concerted effort over the coming weeks to ensure that this much- needed computer equipment reaches these vulnerable groups who are currently not eligible.

Although a Liberal Democrat initiative  I am sure many Wembley Matters readers, irrespective of party, will support this call.

The letter can be read in full HERE

Free English classes in Wembley Park - enrolment on Saturday

This is a FREE course - rarely available as such  - and accredited which is an excellent opportunity for those seeking work to improve their English and get better possibility of a job. It is free. Quite a time commitment but maybe a rare opportunity.

Call for volunteer teachers of English successful

Just before Christmas we carried an advertisement LINK asking for people to train as volunteer teachers of English for the Unite Community project that will set up classes in Brent.

Robin Sivapalan reports on the first training session:

--> We had a great teacher training session at the weekend, organised by Brent Unite Community and delivered by English for Action. 

In two days such a lot of content was covered, complex issues explored, and a strong team of colleagues formed. Nobody entered the room with no experience, and we have much to still learn as we go along. The EFA approach towards the teacher volunteers is exactly the one they encourage us to take towards the student participants: that respects prior experience, where we are all simultaneously teachers and learners at all times. 

We have one class confirmed, an intermediate class at CVS Brent, Wednesday afternoons. About 5 more are likely to be confirmed soon. Please let me know of any community groups, housing associations etc that would likely want one of our teachers to run a course with them. It is not an accredited ESOL course; it is a space for people to build confidence communicating in English in the situations where they need it; it is to create community; it is towards welcoming migrants into the local labour movement so we can campaign for social justice more united. 

If you want to become a teacher with us, we will run further training in the year. Please go check out the work English for Action are doing in the city, get involved, donate etc, as you can do with this local project in Brent too, especially by joining Unite Community, only £2.19 a month.
http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-o…/communitymembership/

Could you be a volunteer teacher of English in Brent?

From Brent Unite Community

If any readers want to do some ESOL  (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teaching in the new year in the community, Unite the Union is running free training for volunteers so we can provide free classes in the borough. It's a minimum commitment of a weekend training and a 12 week course of classes (i.e 2 hours a week). We will find venues to suit when you're free and available.

Also, if anyone is part of any community groups (especially with venues) wanting classes, please get in touch with maryado2000@yahoo.co.uk

Upcoming events at Preston Community Library

News from Preston Community Library Hub (Carlton Avenue East, Wembley, HA9 8PL - Preston Road Tube)

Our August quiz, written by Shelagh and Vanita, is in The Preston, 161 Preston Rd, at 7.30 this Monday, 15 August. The quiz will start promptly at 8. Next month's quiz will be on Monday 19 September.

This Saturday's film at 7.30pm is  a 1937 classic  We also have a children's  Disney matinee at 11am on Sunday 14 August .Next week's film, on Saturday 20 August, the last of this summer's programme, will be a Colombian drama (15).



This coming Monday, 15 August, Ozkan Gedik from the College of NW London's Talking Therapies Service will be talking in the library about treatments for problems such as depression and anxiety which are available to anyone registered with a Brent GP. The event is free, refreshments will be available, and people will be able to speak privately to Ozkan after the talk.

This week also sees our first Story Time sessions (see flyer above) for children aged 3-6 and 7-10. These sessions are from 3 - 4 pm in the library this Friday and Saturday, 12 / 13 August, and next Friday 19 August. The Summer Reading Challenge for children aged 4-10 continues in the library throughout this month, and it's not too late for children to join.

Our ESOL classes are taking a break until September, but Ray's IT classes for adults continue on Saturdays from 11-1. Booking is essential, so if you're interested please phone Ray Patel on 07799 953229. Our new Wednesday art class started  last week; if you want to join, either phone Trixi on 020 8904 4795, or just come to the library at 3pm on Wednesday. I'm also hoping that Samantha, whose classes were hugely popular last year, will be starting a new yoga class on Sunday mornings from September. If you're interested, please contact Samantha on 07801 697712.

Finally, The Silvertones, who were the highlight of our Christmas party, are playing another benefit for the library in The Windermere at 7.30 on Sunday 4 September. They were fantastic at Christmas, and we're very happy they've agreed to play for us again.

The library, of course, remains open on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. This means that we now have 22 shifts to fill every week - so if you want to help staff the library and keep it open, please get in touch. I hope to see lots of you in the weeks to come.
 

Brent Start ESOL cuts hit the voiceless and reveal government hypocrisy

Guest blog by 'Enda Mess'

It's good to have the opportunity to raise awareness of the severe cuts that are affecting Adult Education and, very recently, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) courses in particular. These cuts often go unnoticed as those who take up these services are often those whose voices are least likely to be heard. However, the classes are highly valued and often vital to those who use them.

At Brent Start (formerly Brent Adult and Community Education Service - BACES) the recent central government cuts mean that 40% of ESOL provision will be cut - with job losses to match! The cut has been very sudden - the government announced the withdrawal of all funding for classes for those on Job Seekers Allowance with immediate effect at the end of July - just when everyone was finishing for the year and all timetables and staffing was planned.

Despite the fact that services in other areas seem to be managing to hold off from making immediate redundancies, here in Brent the decision has been made act very swiftly in implementing the cuts and staff are returning to work to find they may not have a job by mid October.

What were known as the JCP (Job Centre Plus) classes were problematic for most adult educators and trade unionists in that they were 'mandated' - the new euphemism for compulsory. Students were referred from the Job Centre and there could be sanctions for non attendance. However, their withdrawal removes an opportunity for free classes and 40% of any provision is a huge loss.

This of course comes at a time when the plight of refugees and migrants is very topical. The cut was announced the day after Cameron said: 'At the moment we have parts of the country where opportunities remain limited ... where language remains a real barrier, where too many women from minority communities remain trapped outside the workforce, and where educational attainment is low'. Such decisions show the hypocrisy of the current government’s  stated aim to help individuals develop skills in order to gain jobs and communicate with others and  ‘lift the horizons of some of our most isolated and deprived communities’. (David Cameron’s extremism speech 20/07/2015)

Since then however, many thousands of people have connected with the humanitarian aspect of the refugee situation and have clearly shown that they do not support the government's hostile stand towards people who are driven to leave what they know behind and take enormous risks to start a new life for their families.

For me, the huge but often unrecognised value of adult and community learning (everything from computer classes to pottery to sign language to childcare courses – as well as ESOL)  lies not just in the structured learning of the courses provided. It provides spaces and opportunities for a wealth of informal learning to take place. There is a real diversity of backgrounds amongst those who attend - people's lives overlap here in a way they seldom do elsewhere and these interactions can create really positive opportunities for the exchange and building of knowledge, skills and experience amongst students, that can be empowering way beyond the scope of the actual course.

We have a very long history in Brent of providing ESOL classes and it will be a terrible loss to dismantle nearly half of what has been a strong, committed and thriving department providing a quality service to the community for many years. ESOL classes provide a way in for people to access crucial services, participate in education and find work. They help parents support their children at school. They enable people who, when they arrive here bring valuable skills and experience of all kinds, to practise those skills and share that experience for the benefit of us all.

The University and College Union (UCU) which represents staff teaching in Adult Education as well as FE and HE, is campaigning against these cuts both locally and nationally and the ‘Action for ESOL’ campaign is also very active

A demonstration has been organised to protest against the cuts in ESOL classes on

Wednesday 16th September at 5.30, outside the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (this is where the cuts come from!)

Here is a link to the Facebook page for this event LINK 

Please share, support, come along!

UCU and 'Action for ESOL' will also be attending the ‘Refugees are Welcome Here’ event on Saturday 12^th September.

New English Language Class at Chalkhill Community Centre

Want to improve your English? ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) class 4 hours a week starting 23rd September in Chalkhill Community Centre with a free crèche for young children age 0-5 years (subject to availability)

To join the class you first need to do our ESOL test on Wednesday 10^th September 10am-4pm at Chalkhill Community Centre, Welford Centre, 113 Chalkhill Road,  HA9 9FX (5 minutes walk from Wembley Park tube or there’s parking 300 yards away further in from the main road).

When you come to the test please bring:

         Proof of benefit

        Proof of immigration status (if you have not lived in the EU for the last 3 years)

The class itself runs every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-2pm starting 23^rd September.

Preference may be given to Chalkhill residents. The course is usually free if you’ve lived in the European Union for 3 years and are on benefits and unemployed and want to get a job.

For more information contact Sally Wasser 020 8937 6560/3890  Sally.wasser@brent.gov.uk   or   Nita Lewis    on nita.lewis@brent.gov.uk

ESOL Cuts Will Be Devastating for People on Low Wages, Women and Asylum Seekers

David Cameron demanded in his 'multiculturalism' speech that  immigrants should learn English.  At the same time his government is cutting entitlement to English classes at colleges of further education such as the College of North West London. 37% of the students at CNWL attend ESOL courses.  The Action for ESOL Campaign make the case against proposed changes in funding:

People who move to the UK need English language skills to access training, gain employment and participate in society. Enabling new arrivals and longer-term residents to fulfil their potential is essential. Migrants bring with them valuable skills, qualifications and experience which can lie untapped unless they have the chance to learn English.

The best way to achieve this is through publicly funded English language provision known as ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages).

Adequate and sustained funding of ESOL is not a luxury. It is an essential public service. This was recognized by Skills for Life, the national strategy for the improvement of adult literacy and numeracy. Thousands of migrants achieved levels of English which enabled them to join the jobs market, access training and participate more fully in their local communities. The strategy created a national curriculum for ESOL, training and qualifications for ESOL teachers and a research centre, the National Research and Development Centre. But now, the funding made available through the strategy is under threat and the good work begun by Skills for Life could be lost.

The government proposals indicate that:

- Full funding will be only be available for unemployed people on job-seeker’s allowance (JSA) or on employment support allowance (ESA), described as ‘active benefits’.

People on other benefits, described as ‘non-active benefits’, such as income support, or on low wages, and their dependants will have to pay the co-funded rate of 50% or the full cost of the course.

- Asylum seekers and people on Section 4 support will not be eligible for full public funding - they will be expected to pay 50%.

- There will be no public funding for ESOL in the workplace. Learners or employers will be expected to pay full cost.

- Since 2007, ESOL learners on benefits or low incomes have been able to get help towards fees from the discretionary Learner Support Fund for ESOL. We fear this will be unavailable in 2011-12.

- The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) grant which provided support for 16 - 18 year old ESOL learners will be withdrawn.

- The weighting for ESOL and Literacy, which was reduced from 1.4 to 1.2 in 2009, is to be further reduced to 1.0.

We predict devastating effects on ESOL provision, teachers' jobs and ESOL students. We believe that people on low wages, women and asylum seekers are likely to be worst hit.

Sign the Action for ESOL petition HERE