Students at University of Kent have been teaching English to young refugees from a range of backgrounds.
Recently arriving in the country unaccompanied by adults, many of the young refugees have had limited or no access to education because of conflict or because of the community they come from.
Led by Dr Gloria Chamorro both undergraduate and postgraduate students at University of Kent have been teaching English to young refugees aged 14 and 17 from a range of backgrounds, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Syria and Sudan.
The impact for this case study is twofold:
- Helping young refugees and asylum seekers to gain the English language and computer literacy skills they need to access mainstream education and jobs and integrate into their new communities.
- Allowing students at the University of Kent to gain language teaching and volunteering experience, which will increase their employability and internationalisation.
The students absolutely love coming here. Most of them have never been to university before, never considered that they would visit any university, so I think it’s really helped to raise their educational aspirations and made them think about what is possible.
The student volunteers work with the refugees using printed and online materials which also allows them to develop computer literacy skills, as some of them have not used a computer before. Developing English language and computer literacy skills is key for the refugees to be able to access mainstream education and work and integrate into the community. Many of the young refugees who started the project in 2016 are now attending college.
To learn more about this fantastic project why not visit the main web page.
Research undertaken in the School of European Culture and Languages by Dr Gloria Chamorro