Oasis Cardiff visit Germany and Malta
I have worked in Education for over 40 years mainly in secondary and tertiary, but I am now semi-retired and working part time at Oasis as Coordinator for ESOL and Welsh.
My trip was the second part of our Taith project exploring new ways and best practices for supporting refugees in Wales. Previously my colleague travelled to Tübingen, Germany, to look at a local project where local employees are encouraged to take on workers with a refugee background, in spite of their level of German, with targeted language training being provided on the job. The goal of this visit was to find out whether the project might be replicable in Wales. Unfortunately, the conclusion was that this model was unlikely to work in Wales due to the differences in the employment landscape, in that Tübingen remains as industrial area. However, there are potentially some elements of learning which could be implemented to a small degree.
After establishing that the Tübingen model wasn’t viable for Wales, I changed our original plan from a visit to America to a visit to a charity in Valletta, Malta. Blue Door Education is very similar to Oasis in providing free literacy, language and life-skills to adult refugees and asylum seekers. I wanted to see how their ESOL classrooms work, in particularly how they embed participatory pedagogy into their syllabus. It was also an opportunity to share best practice between our similar organisations. They have significant numbers of refugees and asylum seekers coming from the same demographic backgrounds as ours and who have also experienced significant trauma. How we approach teaching these clients is an ongoing challenge and whilst some limited research exists, finding practical classroom solutions is what interests me. I also wanted to meet other NGOs as well and understand their context and see if we could help each other.
I was hosted by Justine Lubnow, founder and Director of Blue Door Education, and as well as observing a number of classes, we spoke about the significant challenges of teaching adult asylum seekers and refugees. The classes I observed were similar levels and nationalities to those we have in Cardiff. They also rely entirely on volunteers who are largely ESOL trained. I spoke to some of the students, and the feedback from them was very positive.
I was interested to see the assessment pro forma they used, and this is something that we might introduce at Oasis. Going forwards, we have agreed to share online learning resources and relevant workshops; we both look forward to even closer links. It is possible too that we may be able to cooperate with the recruitment of volunteers for specific roles.
Justine also introduced me to several other NGO’s during the course of my stay. One of these was Regine founder of African Media – a media NGO whose mission is to give voice to the migrants, originating from Africa who end up on the shore of Malta, seeking asylum or a better life. They produce podcasts on their community web radio called AMAM radio, giving them a forum to tell their own stories. Another vitally important aspect of their mission is to support migrants in their capacity building, in particular with digital skills, organising workshops teaching them to use a computer. We discussed the differences teaching different nationalities and part of the conversation with Regine has inspired me to re assess some of our ESOL provision here.
I also paid a visit to (MOAS) Migrant Offshore Aid Station, based just outside Valetta and met up with the Cathryn and Albert to see one of the facilities that they have established running a number of projects ranging from education and personal development initiatives, culture and wellbeing to English language classes. I spoke to them about the ‘Plat Mawr’ project, that I have been involved with in Cardiff, and it is something that they were genuinely interested in and perhaps could replicate. If they do go ahead with it, we are happy to share resources and advice.
The highlight of the trip was seeing all the brilliant work being done by individuals – often volunteers, in challenging and often hostile conditions. Meeting with a variety of NGO’s, mainly looking at language issues but also seeing other parts of their job and the hope they offer was humbling. The trip to MOAS gave me a glimpse of the real accommodation conditions that asylum seekers face.
To a large extent: yes. The time spent at Blue Door, observing classes and speaking to staff and students and looking at curriculum issues was rewarding. It was also illuminating speaking to the Founder of African Media, as she imparted very useful advice and suggestions on how to approach teaching certain East African nationalities and the associated cultural issues. I also had wanted to share some of our teaching resources with Blue Door; this will now go ahead in the near future. In January, for example, I am inviting all of the NGOs that I met to participate in an online ESOL workshop.
One hundred per cent: grab it with both hands. It provides a valuable comparison and necessary context and there is always a lot to be learned – often from unexpected sources. Travel light and go with an open mind.
Yes, hugely. The members of the team that have helped me have been simply brilliant. They explained to me about the remaining budget and even when I had technical issues, they patiently supported me and even met me face to face to help resolve them. I felt they were always available a telephone call away, if needs be.
