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.