ESOL

English As a Second Language (ESOL) has been a key service in demand amongst the Turkish and Kurdish community since the establishment of HFCC, which it aims to provide as best it can. This is especially important as English language acquisition is a foundation for many in this community to begin building their lives more confidently and successfully.

Turkey is one many countries in which the English language has no official status and it is not taught in schools or readily used in everyday life. It is however,increasingly used as a language of wider communication for younger generations and those moving between countries. 

Turkish-speaking children systematically underachieve in education and this continues to be a critical issue for their future life chances. Despite second- and third-generation Turkish speakers now being in the British school system, Turkish-speaking children remain at the bottom of the league table in most LEAs across the country. 

Parents and women in particular experience low levels of English proficiency; families mostly communicate in their mother tongue at home, and this has a knock-on effect for improving language development for parents but more so for children and young people.

HFCC works hard to enable communities to have a free and flexible access point to learn English and progress into accessing mainstream services, education and employment. 

The center accommodates many classrooms for all ages at various times of the day/week (see pictures) and these are often fully booked. All learning and classroom facilities have been adapted to meet Public Health England Guidelines specifically to meet safety measures to prevent Covid-19.

Through our work we have managed to enable many community members to secure employment move onto further education and families have reported that they are now able to attend school parent - teacher consultations.