Teaching English at the Hackney Migrant Centre

As well as funding Jagtar's teaching position at homeless charity Crisis, the International House Trust also supports the Hackney Migrant Centre in East London. Here IH London teacher Ben Darby is busy teaching English to asylum seekers, refugees and migrants.

Read Ben's first update from the Centre to find out what he's been doing and the important role the Hackney Migrant Centre plays in the community:

"I teach English at International House London. Since September I have also been teaching English at one of the charities which International House is helping to support; the Hackney Migrant Centre.

The Migrant Centre is a charity that runs a weekly 'drop-in' for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. It is based at St Mary’s Church by Clissold Park in Stoke Newington on Wednesday afternoons.

It is an inspiring project. Staffed mostly by volunteers it offers excellent support services and a welcoming and sociable environment. Legal advisors help with immigration, welfare and housing problems. Lunch is cooked with food donated by local businesses. The centre is unique in Hackney as it offers these services to all migrants, regardless of nationality or immigration status.

The centre has been running since 2008 and in 2010 International House offered their support. In June 2010 International House started providing teachers to the centre, enabling them to run a two-hour English class every Wednesday.

English lessons are held in a room above the vestry, with the church windows as a backdrop. There are basic facilities: a portable whiteboard and a CD player. The class size averages ten.

The majority of the students are African, mostly from Eritrea. Many are refugees, not all of them have been granted leave to remain in the UK, and some have been homeless. We focus on practical, day to day language. Recently we’ve been looking at topics related to transport, for example asking for information about buses or trains, vocabulary for topping up an Oyster card, and how to ask for directions.

There’s a lot of role play and because some of the students have difficulty with written English we’ve practised tasks such as composing an email and filling in forms. The students are co-operative and very supportive of one another. They have said that they are keen to have more English lessons. International House and the Hackney Migrant Centre are currently looking for ways to try to increase the amount of English classes."

- Ben Darby

Look out for more news from Ben at the Hackney Migrant Centre in 2011.

Christmas-time at Crisis

Last week at Crisis we had our members’ Christmas party which was a great success! The party-goers were participants at The Learning Zone, which Veena described in her last post, as well as other members who access Crisis’ services in London.

Christmas at Crisis is a very busy time when we pool all our resources to give the best Christmas experience for people who are currently or have previously been homeless. Christmas is traditionally the time you spend with your family, and for our members it can be particularly distressing as many do not have this.

For the party we had a cross-cultural Christmas quiz, mince pies, dinner and most importantly – karaoke! Music has a special place in my heart and our members loved having a sing song in front of each other. Music has a special quality to transcend language and cultural barriers and it was a great opportunity for our members to express themselves.

One especially beautiful moment was when the whole group joined in to sing Happy Christmas, War is Over. There were so many cultural groups there but for those three minutes we were as one.

So have a brilliant Christmas from all of us at Crisis and here’s hoping for a great 2011.

- Jagtar Behal

English Teaching at Crisis: What's it all about?

Veena Torchia is a Senior Tutor in the ESOL department at homeless charity Crisis. ESOL stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages. This is the programme that IH London teacher Jagtar is currently helping out with.

Here Veena tells us more about English teaching at Crisis, IH London's involvement, and the difference English language lessons can make to homeless people.

"The Learning Zone Skylight at Crisis is a bit like a 'mini college'. It offers homeless people accredited courses in a range of different subjects including ESOL, Literacy, Numeracy, Health and Safety, Food Safety, IT and Bookkeeping. We also have an English Club for learners who prefer more hands-on teaching methods.

Our English language learners come from all over the world and we work with refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers who are all at risk of homelessness.

Activities for ESOL learners
During the ESOL course we go on trips and attend workshops at places like the Tower of London, the Wallace Collection, Hampton Court, Kensington Palace, the British Museum and the British Library. We are sometimes invited to exhibition previews at the British Museum: last term we saw the Ancient Egyptians' Book of the Dead.

Graduating in style
Each term finishes with a graduation ceremony where we celebrate our students' success and present them with certificates. There are also opportunities for students to showcase their work over the term, for example films, poetry, readings, songs and displays. Trustees, partners and ministers all come to the graduation ceremonies. The next one is on 17 March 2011.

IH London's English teachers
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the CEO of IH Trust, Steve Brent, and his wonderful trustees for their support and assistance in the delivery of ESOL. So far we have been helped by two full time IH London English teachers; Jemima and Jagtar.

Jemima and Jagtar have taught a wide range of ESOL students from beginner through to those ready to take their IELTS test. Their innovative teaching methods are really effective - for example - using music and film in their lessons. This has made their classes engaging and enjoyable and always well attended! We have gained a lot from their EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching methods, and they have developed their experience and skills in working with vulnerable people."

-Veena Torchia, Senior ESOL Tutor at Crisis

Update from Jagtar's ESOL class at Crisis

This has been the last week of the Making an ESOL Musical course and I’m really happy with how well it has gone. (ESOL stands for English for speakers of other languages). I’m particularly pleased because it's the first time I have taught a class with a wide-range of student levels.

The students’ levels ranged from Pre-intermediate through to Upper-intermediate so managing that within a classroom has been especially rewarding for me during this course.

The reason we have mixed-ability groups is because we only have the resources to run one class at a time. I had to take this into consideration when I was writing the course. Luckily my teaching experience allows me to create courses for mixed abilities (although there is always room for improvement!)

This week I called in at International House London to give a presentation to the teachers about the work I am doing at Crisis. I also highlighted some of the challenges that we face working with people who are homeless or have experienced homelessness. This is a good insight for my colleagues: they are either interested in this type of teaching or put off by it!

Next time I'll tell you more about the Crisis Christmas party, which is a great opportunity for us all to relax before the build up to Christmas and all that we do during this time.

- Jagtar Behal

IH's Got Talent

Two weeks ago, IH London teachers and students took part in a fantastic show: IH's Got Talent. Expertly hosted by two of our English teachers, with a panel of three tough judges, and a huge audience of adoring fans, it was the event of the year!

Talented performers

Highlights of the show included an all-signing, all-dancing teachers' girl band; a rival teacher's boy band; an Italian kick boxer; a German opera singer; a Korean band; and a French guitarist. You can watch all the performers in our video of the event:

Raising Money for Charity

The audience voted for their favourite act by making a donation to Children In Need. The act with most donations won - a heartfelt duet by two Korean students. You can see their winning performance at 01:27 into the video.

The Talent Show raised over £1,000 in votes and DVD sales after the event. The following week, the IH London teachers baked a huge selection of cakes to sell to students, raising another £400 for Children In Need!

The grand total of money raised is now £1,500, which the school has pledged to match! That means we'll be giving £3,000 to Children In Need - what a fantastic result!!

Teaching English through Music

English teacher Jagtar is currently working at the homeless charity Crisis. This week he has been battling the snow as he teaches English with Music....

This week I have been running our Making an ESOL Musical taster course and it has been severely affected by the snow! Student numbers have been down due to the fact that many come from different parts of London and transportation has been extremely difficult.

However, we have run the course with the students who have been able to make it with great results. We transformed the classroom into a winter wonderland with fairy lights, tinsel and posters - creating a warm and inviting environment.

During the course we have discussed the topics and issues raised in The Sound of Music, and have replaced the song lyrics with students’ own ideas. We've had an endless supply of popcorn to keep our energy levels up!

At the moment we are between terms so we are running taster classes which are little bite-sized courses to give students a 'taste' of different subjects. The ESOL Through Music course that I am teaching is an example of this.

There are many other taster classes too, including Knitting, Romanian, Spanish, IT, Hat Making and Italian. These classes are run by staff, volunteers or students. Allowing the students to run classes is extremely positive and beneficial to all. It allows them to share their knowledge and skills, and also to build their CVs and confidence.

I've found that a major part of the work we do at Crisis is empowering our clients (everyone who accesses our services) with confidence and the motivation to continue. I have quite a few students who volunteer at Crisis and other charities around London. I've see the positive influence this has on their well-being: it means they generally have more motivation to apply themselves to their studies.

We have a members’ Christmas party next week which I’m looking forward to as it’ll be a great opportunity to relax and socialise with the students. We will also sing a song from The Sound of Music which will be a lot of fun.

Jagtar Behal