In January this year an intense English course “Cultural Immersion into Business” has started for Ukrainian mothers in our club. A lot of families have been visiting our club for 6 months as that point. They have received a lot of practical and emotional support with the impacts of the war and sudden migration to UK. As their next step of getting settled, a lot of Ukrainian mothers have expressed the need to advance their English in order to increase their chances of getting a professional job to replace the jobs they had in Ukraine.
So, we have found a wonderful Ukrainian ESOL Teacher Julia Pohutsa and set up this course to take place in our kids club. This was a great opportunity for Ukrainian mothers to study while their children were looked after by our Ukrainian teachers.
22 women have participated in this 3 months course with 1,5 hour sessions twice a week. 86% of them have managed to finish the course and indeed improve their English a lot!
The majority of the participants along with improved English have also gained:
- General confidence. Confidence in speaking have increased their general confidence in their daily interactions with kids school, English hosts, general public and professional people. Some have mentioned that they felt more comfortable living here and the quality of their living has improved.
- New friendships and friendly relationships with other mothers visiting the club. This experience has built stronger connections between women visiting the club and has brought a lot of support and comfort to them.
The majority of the participants along with improved English have also gained:
- General confidence. Confidence in speaking have increased their general confidence in their daily interactions with kids school, English hosts, general public and professional people. Some have mentioned that they felt more comfortable living here and the quality of their living has improved.
- New friendships and friendly relationships with other mothers visiting the club. This experience has built stronger connections between women visiting the club and has brought a lot of support and comfort to them.
Their hard work and commitment to self-improvement have paid off and all women have been really happy with taking on this intense but effective course! This is some of their comments:
- “I have been trying to find an English course that I could take here in York for over 6 months but I couldn’t find anywhere I could bring my 2 year old son with me. In Sunflowers Kids Club I could dedicate my full attention to English knowing that my son is having a nice time playing with a teacher and other children in the room next door. The course was intense and we had to do a lot of work but I am so satisfied with my progress! Thank you very much for this course, thanks to it I feel less stressed living here and can finally have some nice conversations with lovely local people.”
- “I really enjoyed learning English with a professional Ukrainian teacher. Julia has delivered material in such engaging and interesting way. Personally, I was looking forward to our English lessons like a kid! It was only getting more and more interesting!”
- “I am very grateful to the club for this opportunity to learn English in such a friendly and comfortable environment, with very interesting people and in such an engaging way. I feel confident to continue studying on my own now with these textbooks.”
Thank you to our amazing teacher Julia for not only improving English for our mothers but for giving them a wonderful experience that have brought them closer and have given them confidence in finding their place in a professional and daily life here in the UK.
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