Education and training services

Tender description

Talk English – 7 has been funded by Kirklees Council through it’s own financial resources for a period of 6 months to enable the continued delivery of Talk English when the funding from MHCLG came to end. Kirklees has experienced a significant increase in migration over the past 5-10 years. In 2017 there were 2 103 new arrivals from 53 different countries to Kirklees. Over half of these new arrivals were from the European Union and the majority were of working age. With such an increase we need to maintain and build on the positivity migration brings so those arriving feel a sense of identify and belonging within the area they have moved in to. Kirklees has a strong track record of supporting all communities and individuals to be more resilient and this provision aims to develop this much further and in new ways in a direct response addressing migrant’s English skills. We want to support projects that are going to have a meaningful and lasting impact on their learners, their areas and on the future provision of entry level, community-based English language training. The emphasis will be on building language skills, knowledge and confidence to engage in the local community. Each session should provide the following as a minimum: • safe and welcoming environment for the learners; • facilitated practice of conversational English; • encouragement to continue learning in to more formal ESOL provision; • support to access local services. Talk English should be interactive and engaging to support engagement and retention. It will be made up of two distinct strands of activity. 1) Talk English Courses Courses should have a scheme of work/lesson plan curriculum developed with a focus on conversational English. It is envisaged that these will be for a minimum of 30 Guided Learning Hours (GLH) and be run over a minimum of twelve consecutive weeks. It is envisaged that 15 learners will attend each course, on this basis we would expect that a minimum of 15 courses will be delivered over the lifetime of the project. Each course should be delivered by two volunteer tutors, team teaching. Talk English Activities These will be group sessions actively encouraging learners to use their language outside the classroom by providing support, a range of enrichment activities. Activities will have a wide range of conversational language skills embedded and should cover a range of topics to support community cohesion, developments of hobbies and interests, lifestyle choices and to build learners’ knowledge of the local area. There is an expectation that 50 % of learners on Talk English Courses will engage with at least two activities. A significant element of the Talk English provision is the use of volunteers throughout all delivery. Volunteers (Tutors and Friends) should be suitably trained and supported volunteers to lead the courses and activities as set out above. It is expected that volunteers trained through previous phases of Talk English will be utilised to support this provision along with new volunteers identified Throughout the lifetime of the provision. Each Talk English Course should be led by two volunteer tutors and should have received a minimum of 15 hours of training. Volunteer Friends should support the delivery of Talk English Activities. They should have received a minimum of 5 hours of training.