What’s in it for our institution and our staff?

Involvement in work of this kind helps build links with local, regional and national agencies, services and organisations such as health and social services, the prison service, local authorities, national support groups, charities

It also contributes greatly to the promotion of language learning locally and in your region, helping to raise awareness of the importance of learning foreign languages at all levels, influencing decision-makers and raising the profile of your own institution.

It adds an extra dimension to the work of your teachers of foreign languages, offering them new experiences in challenging but rewarding settings.  If you work in a research-led institution it can also bring opportunities for reflection, development and research among teachers involved.

The Voice of Experience 1

A university teacher from Nottingham, UK, volunteered to work with learners in prison. She was teaching adult prisoners, many with long histories of crime.  This was the first time she had been into a prison. As you might expect the experience had a strong impact upon her, although her words, from someone who normally teaches undergraduates, might surprise you:

“The experience reminded me of how rewarding it can be to work with motivated adults in reciprocal respect and collaboration”

The prison education officer commented that the respect and warmth that existed between the teacher and the prisoners was remarkable.

Where should we begin?

In VIVACE/ALLEGRO we followed a model of collaborative working with agencies in the fields of health and social care, providers of outreach education, the church, government services and charitable organisations  which proved effective and which we recommend to those thinking of engaging in this type of demanding but highly rewarding work. 

Working in collaboration with organisations which provide services to disadvantaged groups is a complicated and time-consuming process, requiring patience and determination on both sides. It has however proved to be a successful and developmental model which has led to real learning experiences for all concerned.

Take a look at our Ten Steps Guide to Collaborative Working which we have put together from our experience.

You’ve said a lot about new methods and approaches to language learning, just what do you mean?

Working with new kinds of learners requires flexible or new approaches to teaching and how activities are organised. These may include:

• short ‘tasters’
• activities which combine languages with other interests (e.g. cookery, singing, dance)
• strong links between language learning and cultural activities
• groups in which the role of the teacher has been developed in different or new ways (e.g. study circles, team teaching, learning alongside participants, supporting nursery nurses to deliver languages)
• using techniques borrowed from colleagues in the collaborating organisation (e.g. adapting methods used with blind learners to deliver language learning)

Our teachers have never worked with groups like this before – how do we prepare them?

Teachers from all sectors and backgrounds have worked successfully on ALLEGRO and VIVACE projects.  In most cases they were qualified and experienced teachers of languages, but we have also used students training to teach languages; in certain situations we have supported non-experts to deliver language learning experiences.  In Slovenia, for example, prison officers (who did not necessarily speak the target language) became facilitators of study circles and in the UK nursery nurses (with relatively low levels of foreign language capability themselves) were trained to carry out simple activities with pre-school, inner-city children

The key to sound preparation of teachers is in working in advance with the service provider to identify the challenges which are likely to arise when working with particular groups and in particular settings and allowing adequate time in advance to prepare the teachers concerned.  If you are working with teachers on fractional contracts this preparation time may need to be paid.   

Understanding the client group

This is an obvious and essential requirement and you will need to find out all you can about the background, behaviour and needs of your potential learners from those who work with them on a daily basis. Every group will have its own issues and its own challenges – working with a physically impaired group is very different from working with those with psychological problems or with prisoners.  Language learning for the elderly and infirm will need totally different techniques from working with young people. This is a rich area to explore both in terms of language teaching and also from a broader educational perspective.  We consistently found that the teachers working on our projects felt that their own development both as teachers and human beings was what they valued most from being part of the VIVACE experience. 

Safety    

Working with vulnerable groups can mean risks for both clients and teachers alike and the safety of both must be taken into account. 

In some countries you will need to ensure that teachers have police and criminal record checks before teaching children or vulnerable adults can begin. Make sure that you allow enough time for this to be done in advance of the start date.

You may find that you run groups in areas of severe social deprivation with unsafe streets.  Teachers may need to be taken in taxis to venues and to be accompanied at times. If so, this will need to be factored into costs.

Where participants have physical, psychological or learning difficulties, carers may well need to be present during activities. You will need to ensure that teachers have visited groups in advance to familiarise themselves with the classroom situation.

If you are offering language learning in a secure environment, a prison for example, you will need to be well prepared by the institution so that you can brief teachers on all possible eventualities. Prisons especially have unexpected situations which mean that teaching can be cancelled at very short notice. Teachers will need to be aware of this and will still need to be paid even if a session is aborted.

Practical considerations

Teachers will need to feel sure that you have taken all practical considerations into account.  They should not have to worry about the suitability of the teaching room for a specific group - size, lighting, seating, equipment, etc. All these issues should be negotiated with the centre management before the event / session.

Teachers should be made aware of the overall aim of the course or teaching activity and how much they should expect to achieve.  These groups are likely to be very different from any they have taught before and progress is likely to be slow.  The idea that a little is a lot for many of these learners should be underlined.

It’s all very well to offer languages for a short time, but how do you sustain activity such as this to provide a real opportunity for marginalised groups?

The great majority of the groups we worked with were very enthusiastic about what we offered and wanted our activities with them to continue. We were limited in this by the aims and budget of our projects and there are clearly often financial difficulties for both organisations involved in funding long-term development. But there have been some moves in this direction, which may give others the impetus to drive forward similar initiatives.  The more that education providers can show that language learning has a positive and demonstrable impact on a wide variety of learners from many different backgrounds, the more likely it is that languages will find a place in the day-to-day priorities of our own institutions and in those of social care providers.

The Voice of Experience 2

Teaching adults with learning disabilities – an example of sustainability

Clients at Schottener Reha (in Schotten, Germany and an ALLEGRO project partner) were adults with mental disabilities / disorders of varying degrees. Their experience with formal education had been largely negative and had resulted in great fear of "school-type” learning. Their self-esteem and self-worth were generally very low; they were convinced that learning a foreign language was “for other people”.

Staff at Schottener Reha are experts in working with disabled people, teaching them social and life skills, using occupational and other forms of therapy. They are highly committed to their challenging daily work, which had never included teaching languages

When our work with Schottener Reha began, a young Spanish intern (participating in a “Voluntary Year of Social Service”) had come to work at the institution for several months and the Director had links with similar organisations in Spain, so Spanish was chosen as the language to be studied, although staff in the institution were very uncertain whether or not this was an appropriate activity for their clients. 

What started as a fairly low-key activity with a small group quickly became an important feature of life at Schottener Reha. (A full account of the work can be found on the ALLEGRO website.)  Both clients and staff alike (who with the help of the intern were learning alongside the clients) enjoyed the lively activities which were carefully planned to be well within the capability of the clients both from a linguistic and practical point of view.

Slow, often limited, but nonetheless striking progress was made by some of the learners, not just in Spanish but also in their attitudes to their own capability and their own literacy in their mother tongue, German.  One client, for example, asked to learn to read and write in German as a direct result of learning some Spanish.

What started as a short language learning experience continued for the full period of the ALLEGRO project and beyond.  In subsequent years members of the Schottener Reha Spanish Group visited Spain, opening a door to the wider world and another culture that they had never imagined possible.   

The impact on all involved in VIVACE and ALLEGRO has been unexpectedly marked. Learners have gained in confidence and gained a wider view of the outside world. Teachers have found inspiration in teaching new groups in new ways. Most importantly perhaps, the message of the value of language learning has been spread widely among organisations in the field of social provision and into the community at large.