Meet S, one of our Ipswich Community Media learners, and read on to find out how our Integration team have supported him on his journey to gain new language skills for a better future for him and his family.
Please note: we have changed names and used stock images to protect the identity of our participants.
S and his wife and small children came to the UK as Syrian refugees. Although obviously affected by what they had witnessed and experienced prior to coming here, the family have made every effort to settle in Ipswich and S has worked hard to acclimatise.
S began attending ESOL classes at Ipswich Community Media and Learning (ICML) in September 2021. He began his learning journey on the Conversational English course, in which most students were from Syria or Afghanistan, classes took place three times per week, via Zoom, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. S attended regularly and although initially quite shy, he soon became a very popular member of the class.
From his very first session, S showed that he was extremely motivated to learn. He had been a lorry driver in his country and was keen to pursue this occupation in the UK, so he knew that he would need to improve his English if he wanted to achieve his goal. He was eager to participate in all the classroom activities and he was always ready to ask questions when he wanted more information or needed to clarify any points. As his language skills continued to improve it was agreed that he should make the transition to accredited provision with Realise Futures, although he was keen to continue studying with ICML at the same time.
S has now passed his Entry 1 SFL Reading exam, whilst at ICML, through Trinity College London, which he achieved with very high marks, giving a great boost to his confidence.
He has also recently passed his driving test, which means that he is now one step closer to becoming a UK lorry driver. He currently attends 2 courses at ICML: English for
Health and English for Work, which he appears to really enjoy, whilst also regularly attending his class at Realise Futures.
We are certain S will continue to make progress and that he will quickly gain the language skills he needs in order to gain employment in the UK haulage industry. We have witnessed him going from strength to strength and growing in confidence every week and we strongly believe that he will take all this forward into every aspect of his work and personal life.
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