How can we work together and use our classes to organise and defend our rights together?
The government wants to cut free English classes.
This will cause big problems for teachers' jobs and ESOL students.


Come and learn practical campaigning tools that have been adapted for ESOL classrooms and to share ideas for the campaign against the cuts.

St Nicholas of Tolentino Church
Lawford’s Gate, Easton, Bristol, BS5 0RE.
The workshop is FREE but please email to register a place

ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) is the main publicly funded English language provision in the UK, and an essential service to many asylum seekers and refugees.
....But now, the survival of ESOL is under threat.

Proposed government cuts to ESOL would mean that from Aug. 2011:
Only 'settled' people looking for work & on JSA or ESA (Jobseekers or Employment Support Allowances) would get free classes.
Students on other benefits who currently get free classes will pay fees for the first time and students who currently pay will pay more.
Those who cannot pay new or higher fees, will be unable to learn English, to gain Citizenship or stay in the UK.
Some of the most vulnerable migrants, including asylum seekers, would not be able to attend classes and this could contribute to their exclusion, depression and anxiety as well as making it harder for them to understand their legal cases.
Costs would increase in other areas, e.g. interpreters.

If people can't speak English how can they help their children at school, find work, take part in their community or assert their rights?

Fight the Cuts- take Action for ESOL
1. Sign the national petition at
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/defend-esol/sign.html
2. Write to your MP & John Hayes (Minister for FE, Skills and Lifelong Learning)

http://actionforesol.org
Twitter @ActionforESOL and
Facebook- Action for ESOL

Action for ESOL is a national campaign which brings together ESOL learners, teachers, trade unions, and refugee/ migrant rights organisations.

I am an experienced trainer, campaigner and English teacher, organising the workshop with support of Reflect ESOL Project,
Reflect is an innovative approach to adult learning and social change, which fuses the theories of Paulo Freire with the methodologies of participatory rural appraisal. Originally developed in pilot projects in Bangladesh, El Salvador and Uganda between 1993-95, Reflect is now used by over 500 organisations in around 70 countries worldwide and is being used in teaching ESOL in the UK.
http://www.reflect-action.org/?q=node/41