Cactus Language Blog

Cactus Meets The Mayor!

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad

Cactus TEFL’s Sarah Wilson met the Mayor of Manchester, Cllr Mavis Smitheman, on November 6th at Manchester City Council’s ‘Celebrating Success’ awards ceremony. The ceremony marked the culmination of the ‘Inclusion and Integration Through ESOL’ pilot project, which aimed to teach ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) to local women who did not qualify for free tuition, by training up local volunteer ESOL teachers, with the support of the Council, Adult Education and community organisations. Sarah Wilson worked alongside Manchester City Council to organise and deliver the intensive tailor-made teaching ESOL training programme, and proudly awarded certificates to the trainees who have donated 4 hours a week for the last 6 months to be part of this project.

The project’s success demonstrates a community-based approach in tackling the UK’s ESOL problem, and could be a blueprint for other councils and community organisations to use when addressing their local ESOL needs. This project has brought together members of the local community who previously had no contact with each other because of the language barrier, local skills and resources have used and developed and, most importantly, the students are now able integrate within their local community and access valuable local services.

Sarah Wilson
Cactus TEFL.

Tags:ESOL, machester, tefl