The Buzz Cafe in Grangetown where people queue for lessons
TEACHERS and community leaders in Cardiff have spoken out about the severe shortage of courses teaching English to immigrants in the city.
Demand for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses has quadrupled in the last five years but a shortage of venues, funding and teaching staff has meant hundreds are turned away from classes and put on long waiting lists.
Susan Doran, community Education Officer at The Parade ESOL centre in Cardiff, run by Cardiff County Council said: “There is a huge shortage of places for people to learn English in Cardiff. It’s a big problem because demand has shot up since the EU expanded. We have so many more immigrants and there’s also been a huge increase in asylum seekers. Of course, there are private courses but people have got to have more money.”
The centre currently runs 30 outreach courses to teach English to immigrants in Cardiff and The Parade centre currently has 350 people on a waiting list for courses.
Mrs Doran said: “There’s also a shortage of experienced and qualified staff. I’m always looking for people. The jobs are there but I need academic people who are trained properly. The basic course costs £1,000 to train as a teacher and even then, that’s the very very minimum I’d be prepared to accept from someone. So to be a good ESOL teacher it would probably cost you about £2,000.”
David Morgan, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Grangetown, one of Cardiff’s most ethnically diverse areas said: “I don’t think there is enough provision in Cardiff. After all, it’s really difficult to find a place to learn and people just lose interest. I see it in the Buzz Cafe where I hold my surgeries, which also acts as a teaching centre for English as a foreign language. There’s always a lot of people who obviously don’t speak English queuing up for lessons and the staff have to turn them away and refer them to other agencies because they just don’t have the space. One of the major problems is there’s a very long waiting list for people to be assessed on how advanced their English is before they can get placed at the right level.”
Coun Morgan also said he was concerned the burden of teaching English to foreign children was falling on schoolteachers and disadvantaging other children in the class. He said: “For example, Grangetown Primary School has many children who are not local, ethnic children and the pupils must catch up with their English before they can learn anything else, although it is easier for children.
Teachers have an additional full-time task to get language up to speed”
Farida Aslam
Farida Aslam, founder of Grangetown Community Coalition, which was set up to combat the lack of learning opportunities in Cardiff said: “There is a large demand at the moment in Cardiff. Courses are absolutely choc-a-block. People moving to this city have got to learn English, especially young migrants, they have to be able to speak the language to combat unemployment.”
She added: “We launched this project because we are trying to add more opportunities to Cardiff, but there is still a problem with awareness, people don’t know where to get tuition.”
Niah Aliaz, 33, a learner at Grangetown Community Coalition scheme said: “I needed to learn English badly but in Cardiff it is really difficult, all the classes are full. I’m so pleased to find this group.”
The National Basic Skills Strategy for Wales, which is part of the Welsh Assembly has recently identified ESOL learners as a priority group in need of support and the Welsh Assembly have now established an ESOL Advisory Group in order to improve standards, and better meet the needs of ESOL learners and teachers.
Charlotte Nock, spokesperson for the Welsh Assembly said: “The considerable increase in demand for ESOL provision has resulted in significant pressure on learning providers offering ESOL courses.”
She added: “Current expenditure on ESOL by the Welsh Assembly Government is around £5 million per annum. We will review ESOL funding arrangements on the basis of the findings of the advisory group.”
