Wai Yin have just finished their first ESOL course in Salford called ESOL for Volunteering and Active Citizenship in partnership with Salford City College’s Community Learning Team. This course was held in Little Hulton where we worked with the Big Local, who gave us a venue for the course, as well as providing support by publicising it amongst their well established Salford partners and liaising with potential students who called into their premises to register.
The course concentrated on enabling students to access opportunities to improve their English and employment prospects by learning about the benefits of volunteering. Part of the course involved visits to places such as the Little Hulton Library to discover how they could use its resources to help them to search for volunteer roles, and sessions with Salford CVS and the National Careers Service to help them to identify their skills, and match these with the right volunteering opportunites. Students also learnt to understand, and use, language associated with the subject, as well as studying real life materials to become more familiar with the application process.
The course was very successful, with good attendance, and feedback from the learners has been very positive. As a result of attending the course, two students have already found volunteering placements in the sectors that they wish to work in eventually. Wai Yin is very proud of all the students who completed this course and we have really enjoyed working with them.
We are now planning two more ESOL courses for the summer term. The first of these builds on our successful partnership with the Big Local in Little Hulton, and is called ESOL for Volunteering in the Community. This course begins on Monday 29/04/19 and runs for eight weeks from 10am to 12:30pm. Our second course is called ESOL for Active Citizenship in the Community, and this will take place in Pendleton at Brotherton House, where we will be working with Pendleton Together Housing Association. This course begins on Thursday 02/05/19 and also runs for eight weeks from 10am to 12:30pm.
Both courses aim to give students the language skills, confidence and knowledge to become more involved in their local communities in order to take up opportunities where they can practise their language, make new friends and improve their employment opportunities.
As well as ESOL, we are also putting on an Introduction to IT course with Salford City College’s Community Learning Team. This will take place at Pendleton Gateway and is called First Steps in ICT. This follows a series of taster sessions put on by the Wai Yin during the spring term which resulted in feedback from learners requesting a longer course for people who have little, or no, knowledge of ICT. This course aims to teach learners how to navigate the digital world and master basic skills such as using email and social media. It also aims to help them overcome their fears, build confidence and show that getting online is a positive and rewarding experience. This course begins on Wednesday 01/05/19 for eight weeks with each session starting at 10:30am and finishing at 12:30pm.
Wai Yin is really looking forward to putting on these courses in Salford during the summer term and to continuing to build positive and productive relationships with Salford City College’s Community Learning Team, the Big Local and Pendleton Together.
