N.E.S.T. Bridging Boundaries
Paul Simpson
“If we just drop the label of refugee when we are trying to talk about people, is it possible for Mohammed to make friends when he’s at school? Of course, it is”.
“We’re talking about people here, what are our expectations for refugees and asylum seekers? They’re just people like you and me”.
-Bridget Stratford (Project Lead, N.E.S.T.)
N.E.S.T started off as a homework club, SU set up a project for six students to visit a Syrian family in Gateshead and teach English to that family. This was called Homework Club and ran for 6-8 weeks. As a result of the success of this programme, and more volunteers wanting to get involved, as well as more people wanting to learn using the ‘Homework Club’ system, the project was later expanded into N.E.S.T in 2016.
The aim of N.E.S.T is to provide a service that allows learners to improve on their English language ability, whether that is speaking, reading, writing etc., as well as giving people an opportunity to integrate with the community. This is done with regular breaks in the classes where learners are able to meet and speak with each other as well as the volunteers in order to foster an atmosphere of inclusivity and society to people who may otherwise find it difficult to find and communicate with people outside of their immediate circle.
The service itself is popular with a large number of learners of all ages attending the regularly scheduled classes. These range from children to adult learners with both classroom-based teaching and one on one tutoring. The classrooms follow a more structured system as is required from group learning, but with the one on one tutoring service there is a more casual approach to the curriculum itself, in that it is chosen by the learners themselves. The volunteers will concentrate on whatever facet of the language that the learner is most interested in covering during that session. As a result, the learners are able to gain a sense of control over their learning as well as a sense of connection with the subject that may be missing from the usual classroom-based style of learning.
Through this evident control over their own learning it is easy to see the high level of engagement that the learners have with their subject, as well as the obvious enthusiasm for learning that they bring with them, and the results to match. Although the learners themselves attend with varying existing levels of English proficiency, the fact that the volunteers and N.E.S.T as a whole have no preconceived ideas of how quickly the leaners should be picking up the language helps, even further, to facilitate the learner’s improvement. In removing the pressure to reach a certain standard by a certain date and allowing the learner to improve at their own pace, not only allows the learner to relax and enjoy their time at N.E.S.T it also allows the volunteers to relax and engage on a more personal level with the learner as there is no perceived need to lead the conversation and keep the focus directed at the learning. This allows for a friendlier atmosphere and fosters a greater connection between the learners and their volunteer tutors.
The numbers of people that attend each session evidences the popularity of the N.E.S.T system among the learners. Their enthusiasm for the learning as well as the community that has grown around this service is a testament to the way in which it has found a way to connect with people from different countries and backgrounds, and even connect the learners themselves with people they may never have spoken to otherwise. This community, as well as the communication with the volunteers allows confidence to build, not only in the language abilities of the learners, but also in their confidence and ability to engage and be part of the wider community, which they have come to call home.