From the month of May till the end of June, CEIPES hosted an English course in its office with 6 participants from the local area. During the course participants followed a course structure for A1 level and it was focused on the practical use of English.
In this path, lessons included small games, role-plays, listening and some exercises. Participants found a chance to learn English by talking and experiencing the language in the context. Participants were equipped with the materials and extra home tasks to further study. In the weekly courses, total inclusion of all levels and all ages were promoted, and the course structured modified and adjusted according to the needs of the participants. The course left for a summer break on 22nd of June.
The course has been hosted by one of European Solidarity Corps volunteer Selda Baydemir Aksoy from Turkey as a volunteering project. She explained her experiences as follows:
I am Selda and I am the volunteer of this year at CEIPES. Hosting English Classes was one of the tasks that I love to do here. I met fun and lovely local people around Uditore where our office is, and our participants were all very cooperative and passionate about learning English.
In the beginning although it was challenging to understand each other by nature because we were not competent in languages of each other but by time our participants learnt English and I also learnt Italian, and we found a common language. I understood it when we start to talk and even tell jokes in the break times while having coffee without any help of an interpreter friend from the office.
They helped me about learning Italian as well. We played little games and did role plays. They never missed a class and always prepared with materials and everything. Their motivations also motivated me to try to be more helpful in every turn.
We all hope to continue English lessons in September now it is the time for summer and vacations. Since we will be all travelling for the summer, we focused on introduction, meeting and airport or travel conversations. Now I feel very content about imagining their having more fun while chit chatting with foreign people around.
I will miss the class a lot with Rosanna’s helpful explaining, Vincenzo’s fun character, Mario’s determinedness, Paola and Lucia’s super energy and Lia’s smile. At the end of the course, it was a great feeling to see them all introducing themselves very well and speak English more confidently and above all we all become friends forever!
In conclusion, this course allowed an intercultural exchange and collaborative learning both for the participants and the volunteer. It has made, if possible, to reach community by promoting active citizenship and empowering youth.
