This month, meet Christina, who has been volunteering as a conversation class teacher at KLS, where adults come to practice their English in a low-pressure, real-world setting.
“It’s not just that I’m helping other people. They, by being there, are helping me.”
“My own father was stateless for nine years around the time I was born. I lived in various countries and continents. I spent a lot of time learning foreign languages myself. So when I came to KLS, I was kind of looking for that community again. Multicultural, people to be with. It’s a familiar background in some ways, some of this.
Most of the students I work with are at the very lowest level of English. Many can barely say more than their name. Many have spoken several other languages in their home countries but never learned to read or write in any of them. The conversation class is a good place to start. It is low pressure, high reward, and a natural necessity for all of them living in the UK.
A lot of the students are women. Their lives have been put on hold for a long time. They have had children. The children are now in school, learning English fluently. And the mothers realise they have never done anything for themselves. They feel like they are doing something for themselves, not a chore. It makes for a very happy classroom sometimes.
Sessions are very real world. You start with something simple. Images of foods you would find in a supermarket. Which of these do you cook with? What is this called? Then if the group is a bit more advanced, you talk about containers. A can, a tin, a bottle, a package. It does have to be because that is the first place they need to use English.
Whenever writing comes into it, things get interesting. Even those who have learned to read and write have often learned in a completely different script. Starting from the opposite side. Going right to left. Holding the pencil differently. I sometimes show them how when I was learning Chinese, all the dots and strokes just looked like a tangle at first. It must be very daunting sometimes for the students, I think. And they are really very eager to learn. As long as you never let them feel intimidated about making a mistake, they will always jump in and try.
The students help each other too. If one of them sees a classmate struggling, they will step in and clarify. It cannot just be a teacher telling people what to do. It has to be: let us all try this together.
One of the things I have really learned at KLS is that it is not just about the language class. There is a whole context that has to be supported. Students come in with housing problems. Trouble reaching a GP. They may not be able to afford the bus fare to get to sessions. I can refer them through the organisation for other kinds of help, and I know that someone else at KLS will be on top of it. I do not have to fight all those fires on my own.
Sometimes I walk in tired and a bit daunted. What is today’s class going to throw at me? But by the time I go home, I always think: that was really interesting. I learned something new about the world and how it looks to different people.
It is not just that I am helping other people. They, by being there, are helping me. It gives me a sense of involvement and social life and kind of activity, feeling purpose again, which is very nice.”
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