An adult learning course offered by Leeds Rhinos Foundation is helping to support people in the Leeds community who are looking to develop their English and seek work.
The ESOL course, is aimed at people who do not have English as their first language and is run in the charity’s Educational Centre, Try Zone at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.
Lessons are generally classroom based, but the recent summer sunshine enabled the staff at the charity to take the lessons outside to offer a more interactive and to put into practice skills they have learned on the course.
The learners started locally, creating and taking part in treasure hunts in and around the Headingley area. This not only helped to improve their language skills but also allowed them to explore their local community with native English speakers who could guide and answer questions they may have about the area.
Following on from this the learners moved further afield to Bolton Abbey and Whitby; where they took part in activities which helped them to explore and enjoy the two contrasting areas.
These activities enabled them to work on the full range of ESOL disciplines: reading, writing, speaking and listening, whilst working on essential soft skills such as team working, problem solving, negotiation and decision making.
Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s Adult Learning Officer, Jaci Hawkins, said: “Exposing students to pieces of the outside world has an important function in respect of providing realistic language input, establishing a dynamic and meaningful context for learning, and increasing student motivation. In effect we are building a bridge between classroom learning and the real world.”
The learners have previously attended Leeds City Council Community Learning courses such as Preparing for Interview, Preparing for Work and ICT for Jobseekers and they have also taken advantage of ESOL related sessions on Life in the UK, Maths, English and ICT.
For more information on Adult Learning courses running at TryZone contact Jaci.Hawkins@leedsrhinosfoundation.org