Portraits, shopping, crochet and new friends: another busy week for Talk English in Manchester

Here are some highlights from the Talk English project in Manchester last week. Create and Talk English at Manchester Art Gallery On Tuesday 18th November 2014 Manchester Art Gallery hosted a monthly Create and Talk English Activity . It was a great opportunity for the learners on Talk English Courses to come to Manchester city […]

Here are some highlights from the Talk English project in Manchester last week.

Create and Talk English at Manchester Art Gallery

On Tuesday 18th November 2014 Manchester Art Gallery hosted a monthly Create and Talk English Activity . It was a great opportunity for the learners on Talk English Courses to come to Manchester city centre with their tutors, volunteers training to be ESOL teachers through Talk English. The learners travelled from Trinity House Community Resource Centre in Rusholme, Stanley Grove Primary Academy in Longsight and Harpurhey Sure Start Childrens Centre to take part in this exciting session . They learnt new words that could help them describe people and even had a go at describing a portrait in the main gallery.

Back in the studio, learners talked about what they wanted to see in a painting of themselves and many wished they could be portrayed with their families or the important events in their lives. They were given coloured tape and wire and in just over 30 minutes learners created portraits of people who mean a lot to them. George from the Czech Republic made a collage of his son who is a professional ice hockey player.

Learners had a fantastic time in the gallery and Talk English will return to the gallery next month for another creative activity!

Talk English Cafe at Levenshulme Inspire

The following day we visited one of our Talk English Cafes at Levenshulme Inspire. It is a weekly conversation club facilitated by volunteer ESOL teachers and Talk English Friends. Kirsten, Saeed and Rita modelled a conversation that learners may hear at the market and after a bit of practice with the new vocabulary everyone shared their experiences of buying food and other items at the market. There was a cup of tea and a snack for every learner which made learning even more enjoyable. It was lovely to see over twenty ladies and men from different parts of the world speaking English in a relaxed and friendly environment.  The Talk English Cafe at Levenshulme Inspire takes place every Wednesday morning- drop-in to find out what it’s all about!

Crochet and Talk English at Levenshulme Inspire

On Friday 21st of November we discovered new talents in our learners. We brought crochet kits to the Talk English Course at Levenshulme Inspire and with the help of our friendly volunteers Kausar, Julie, Shahzadi and Ellie they created truly amazing pieces! The ladies chatted in English throughout the activity and learnt lots of new words to describe their creations. They all had a well-deserved cup of tea to round off a busy, creative morning.

Talk English Course at Moss Side Sure Start Children’s Centre

Later in the afternoon, Kim took a class at Moss Side Sure Start Childrens Centre. Due the high demand for English courses in this area of Manchester, the class was full as always- 19 learners turned up despite the rain to improve their English. With the crèche on site where the learners children can be looked after during the class, this course attracts a lot of women with children under the age of five. Haifa from Libya has recently joined the course and it has helped her to meet other ladies with young children in her local community. She is feeling more confident speaking English and she has also made a few friends!