Free language lessons help immigrants settle in the UK
April 07 2009 by Robbie Ragless
A London-based charity called City Gateway is providing women, who have moved to the UK from abroad and are living in East London, with free language courses to help them to integrate.
Around 40% of the people in the somewhat deprived borough of Tower Hamlets are Bangladeshi, many of whom do not have English language skills and are therefore unable to use public services and find it hard to integrate into the community.
City Gateway’s Women’s Project provides simple courses using role-play to teach women simple phrases that are essential for everyday life. The charity decided to launch the courses after their more comprehensive English for Speakers of Other Languages course was substantially oversubscribed.
City Gateway’s marketing manager, Jerry Daykin, says, “We want these women to integrate, but unless they learn English, it’s never going to happen. We want to encourage them into work, but the basic English lessons we’re running are also to helps them to make friends.”
The charity is also running a free community café that will give immigrant women a place to come and practice their English and will provide them with subsidised food.
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