Story: Schola Cashdan
WEA run an ESOL English Level 1 women’s class at Firs Hill Community Primary School which has 14 students.
We feel a real part of the school especially due to the endless help of Kath Hobson, the co-ordinator.
Most of the students have progressed through all the levels. I have taught most of them for a couple of years now.
The class comprises students from Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen and I am myself from Kenya. They are a lovely keen group and I enjoy teaching them. As part of their writing coursework, they wanted to write and share their learning experiences with the community through the Burngreave Messenger.
Writers:
Zatoon Bibi, Farzana Khan, Wasiya Khan, Rasha Hadi,Aisha Malik, Amal Ahmed, Deka Mahammed, Istahil Jama, Ekram Ali, Nargis Shakil, Roda Oogle, Faeza Scott, Khasin Bibi and Masarat Bibi
Support from the family,teacher and school
“Our experiences as students have been and interesting since we started classes. Our families give us a lot of support to make us more powerful women and build our confidence.”
“My teacher Schola is one of the best teachers I have ever seen. She is very kind, helpful, and friendly. She gives us lots of support, and she pushes us to complete our work. She gives us useful information that is easy to understand.”
“My husband gives me lots of support to make me more confident and stress free. Also the school plays a big role. It provides childcare and that has made it possible for me to attend the class.”
“I have support from my husband. He never stops me coming to my classes and he encourages me. I appreciate the work of WEA to organise the English classes”
“Teacher support helps me to be more and makes the information easy to understand and gives advice to us. Also she is very kind.”
“My friends in the class, they are also very nice, helping each other working on the course. We also gather together as a team to correct spelling and grammar, and to improve speaking skills.”
“Our teacher Schola encourages us with a lot of different work… She’s a special teacher who really helps each and every student.”
“The school and WEA provide free childcare so that we can attend classes. The school provide laptops and other facilities to make our learning comfortable and easy. They also provide refreshment.”
Interesting and useful learning
“Group discussions help us practise and improve our speaking and listening so that we can talk fluently with our children’s teachers, report children’s absences or discuss their progress. And also to manage daily life by communicating with doctors, friends and neighbours… Writing helps to correct my spelling mistakes and also to learn new vocabulary… This enables us to read and understand our mail, newspapers and the information in the Burngreave Messenger.”
Encouragement to other women
“I am happy to say that I speak good English because of the English classes. I want to encourage other women to join the English classes to improve their speaking, reading and writing and gain confidence in speaking to other people.”
“My skills through learning English help me a lot because my English was very poor before. Now I am very confident and I want to continue to improve.”
“I try my best to give encouragement to other people especially women who have the same difficulties and situation as me. I tell them my progress from learning to improve my English. I tell them how important these courses are so you can help your children and build your confidence in your daily life.”
“I look after my sick mum and I work as a volunteer but I still manage to come to my English course because it’s useful for my future.”
“My advice to the other women is to encourage them to come to the English classes at least two days a week because learning English is very important in this country. Otherwise you can’t help your children, yourself or anyone else.”
“My goal is to build confidence, especially how to speak without being ashamed. My experience of learning as a student at level 1 has made me encourage other women to be confident in their lives and never stop learning whatever their age!”
Schola Cashdan
Where are you from?
I am from Kenya, in Africa.
Could you tell us about your background?
In Kenya I was a teacher in a primary school. 12 years ago I came to the UK, I went back to University to do a PGCE so that I could teach adults.
When did you start your job?
I started working as an ESOL teacher in 2002
How did you decide to do this job?
My father was a teacher and five members of my family are teachers. So my father encouraged me to become a teacher.
Do you like your job?
I love it. I feel I have travelled all over the world by teaching ESOL here, because the people I meet are from all over the world.
What satisfaction do you get in this job?
I am very satisfied with my job.It makes me happy when I am changing someone's life. When you teach someone who doesn't know English at all, it changes their life. And when someone improves their English and they can go out shopping or buy a bus ticket by themselves, that makes me very satisfied.