Forced Migrant's Language Learning

My Data

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Opportunities to Practice

Who
What
Ahmed I work there in the shop and I work in the college, it was night shift. And it was there that I was going to college. And there, the job was involve robot, different machines. I have to do paperwork in that shift, I have to read what's on the screen. If there was something wrong with the robot it was coming up on the screen. I had to know what to go tell the engineer. And if something was wrong I had to explain to the engineer what happened to the machine that's why it doesn't it work. All these things I have to learn. That's different part of what I learnt at the factory, about tools about machines about different machines
Ahmed When he went to college he had two teachers: who taught him many things. The people in his class had lower English than him but he felt he learnt from talking to them. They had class parties, class trips, which enabled him to meet and talk to many different people, including teachers.
Ahmed He felt he learnt the most in the first year. His attitude was that he didn't want to work, he wanted to study as much as possible and learn as much as possible.

"The most English was, I think, the first year. The basic things I learnt, the basic things are important. And, then, at the beginning; college, people, went to the shops. What I had in my mind I didn't change I just speak to other people. I didn't mind if it was wrong I just wanted to speak to people. I didn't think 'oh, that is not correct'."
Ahmed He mentions colleagues at work, from his first job in 2002.

";They were English. I was operating the packing machine, all worked in a bakery and... yeah... they was helpful... and at that time even though I didn't smoke they was smoking, but I was going with them to the smoke room to learn some new things from them."
Ahmed When he lived in London, he shared with a Kurdish speaker, and even thought they both spoke Farsi the language they spoke together was English.

"He could speak Farsi as well but we didn't want to speak Farsi. I learnt many new words from him. And, he learnt many new words from me."
Ahmed He talks as well about other methods he used to learn; typing, letters and using the internet to chat:

Ahmed:     What I did also, another way to learn English, I like to type letters. And, my employers, the first letter I type myself. To friends I type letters, to council, to housing, even to Home Office I type letters.

Rebecca:   And you're typing in Word?

Ahmed:     Yeah

Rebecca:   So it helps you with the spelling...

Ahmed:     Yeah, spelling, everything. But, I'm didn't scared 'oh, I don't know my spelling, my grammar's like this' I just start typing letters to anyone; friends, teachers, sending e-mail to different people, chatting on internet.

Rebecca:   Really?

Ahmed:     Yeah, to help with my typing, touch typing. Now it's 45 words per minute. And, also spelling, it help with spelling - chatting with people. I didn't like chat with different people, just with one person, sometime one hour a day, just writing. You get to learn more English. There are many ways, many, many ways to learn English. I can't explain.
Ahmed Understanding cultural differences meant comparing his country with the UK - working out what is similar, what is different.

He gives an example of a family he met through other Afghan friends, who he used to visit. He would talk about his family, and they theirs: they were Irish.

"I continued to meet with them, to speak with them, from my culture, from my country, from my parents, from my brother, from my sister. What we like, what they like, what's our country, how is UK. They were Irish actually they wasn't English. Also I had some family movie my parents send me. I took the movie I showed them how we live, how is our wedding, how is our culture how is our party."
Ahmed He met English friends through other friends quite early on, and socialised with them, always asking questions:

"We were going out together to the pubs, actually they didn't teach me any English but I learnt from them the way of speak, the way act, the way of life in the UK. And, I ask them how the people live, what is lawful in the country what is forbidden. How is the rule in this country."
Ahmed He would get materials from class, and go home and practice so as not to forget. When he went out with people, whatever language he had been taught he would try and use, even if it wasn't particularly relevant:

"For example, I don't need to speak about particular part of computer, yeah, that teacher taught me today. But, because of not forgetting this, just talking to someone - 'Do you know what this is?', 'Oh yeah, I know this one, this is this, that is that'. And sometime, they didn't know what I mean, but, because I didn't want to forget it, I speak with them."
Ahmed He talks about the opportunities for practice he has had in his jobs:

Ahmed:     Packing in a bakery, I did it for a year. When I came to ............ I start work in a pizza shop. And they was Iranian, they was speaking Farsi, they was speaking my language. They didn't speak English. But I wanted to speak English. When I was first at the shop I said: "Please, I don't want to lose what I learnt, please speak English with me." They were speaking English with me, I learnt some words from them.What they did, they put me to another shop. They said: "go and manage a shop alone, because it's good for your language. You meet people, you serve the customers. Yeah, it's good for you. I went to another shop, I work alone, for ten hours. Because I wanted to learn English. And I was just meeting people who was speaking English. That was a fish and chip shop.

Rebecca:   You felt that you learnt through working alone

Ahmed:     From working, from going to college. They realised that my English was good to serve customers, that's why they did send me to another shop. They say "go, do it alone"
Ahmed He feels that his attitude is sometimes different to people he knows, as he is interested in a range of subjects. He gives the example that he has found a computer programme to learn sign language, and he reads a range of books:

"Different books about different things which I never seen in people's hand, in my friend's hand."
Ahmed Gardening played a part:

Ahmed:     There was an Indian family, living next to us, not the same culture but a bit close, a bit close, we were interested to meet each other. And, I was helping with their garden, sometimes. He had no son to help him. He had six daughters. He had one son actually and he was working late with the post and he needed our help. I was speaking to him and his wife, in English, not in Hindi.

Rebecca:   So you had cultural similarities with that family, but, they were very English in terms of language.

Ahmed:     That's where I learnt most of English, I learnt from College in the beginnings. But, the way of speaking continually, not broken, at work. I spoke a lot with people. For example, at a factory, there's lots of noises, different machines. If someone speaks to you from over 20 metre far, you should know what they say.
Ayaz She feels that encouragement comes from a good English class with a good teacher, where lots of speaking happens. She feels that when she was first learning she just followed what her teachers planned for her, but that now she finds the information she wants by looking at the internet, and reading about different subjects. "But now for me myself I can access to the internet, I read different subjects, and I have got lots of information about other things. But when I was started studying English I just followed the things she taught me."
Ayaz We compare the class she had initially with the other Indian learners, with the diverse class at the community college.

Ayaz:   Its very big difference because there, I told you, you don't use very much language... yes you learn, you are in English class but the English class is just when the teacher there and write something on the board that's the English. When this one has stop on-one speak English, I mean if you with mixed pupil it's going to be quicker. In (The community college) we are nearly twenty students but all of us from different places. We need to speak English to each other, and that's very important. We have to have a party outside, like not a party, you know when the class its finished at the end of the year, we went somewhere outside and we always speak English with other friends for example and we speak about different things. For example a friend of mine she came originally from France, but she speak English, we talk about her children, that's the subject that comes, you want or no we talk about these things.

Rebecca:   Natural subjects?

Ayaz:   Yes
Ayaz She talks about how important the radio has been, and one particular radio station 97.3 LBC.

And it talks about everything that happen in daily life in London. From that time nearly two, three years now every night, one hour, two hour I listen to the radio. And it is very very helpful.

She explains that it was suggested by her teacher, and how it complemented her learning by helping her to hear words in a context that couldn't necessarily be created in class:

Some words you know what does it mean but you don't know how to use it, and different position of using that word. That's one and sometimes phrases.. like 'put on', 'put out', 'put in'... if you hear them from the radio you know how to use them. She told us them in class but in one sentence you can't say everything. You have to read more, to listen more you know? And you know how to use it.
Ayaz It was in 2003.

Before then, she had problems with homelessness, and benefits, and no status. She also didn't start an English course until 2001, and only started at the community college in 2002. By 2003 she was studying English at the community college and volunteering at the Refugee Organisation, and also doing an IT course. It was when she was doing these things combined that she felt she learnt the most.
Ayaz She talks about how much she uses English since she has lived on her own:

Ayaz:   After one year living in ............. then I moved to ............. I got my flat, then I had my neighbours, I am always talking to my neighbours, they are English people, two, three of them...

Rebecca:   And you live on your own?

Ayaz:   Yes. Which is very helpful because when I have the time I go out, I go outside and I found the people, there is a small garden in front of the house and always, especially my friend, she is called Sarah, When I saw her gardening I go out and talk to her.

Rebecca:   So is the garden shared?

Ayaz:   Yes.
Ayaz She also mentions a course in community development work that was helpful because many of her fellow students were native speakers.

"Even their written language was not good but their spoken language was very good. That was very helpful. And I've got friends that they work full time and they do this course, English people, I learnt a lot from them."
Ayaz She also talks about the benefits she found of volunteering alongside study:

"When you start as a volunteer you have lots of opportunity to find friends, to talk to people, it was very helpful. I can say half you study, it's not enough for learning English, but when you work as a volunteer or anywhere with other people it's very helpful because you can practice your language. If you learn and don't practice it's not help but if you practice it once it's going to be very helpful."
Ayaz At the community college she studied at she felt a key to her improvement was the number of people with different languages:

"Because we used to be lots of people from different countries, then we don't have two person to talk the same language. Which, even we don't speak good English it is still helpful, because everybody is trying to speak English."
Azad One person had a profound effect on his learning - his solicitor. They are still friends. He worked with him as an interpreter and learned a lot.
Azad He sees it as necessary to understand your rights and obligations in this country. A lot of this came from talking to the people in the mosque, as explained earlier, and a lot also came from reading official documents:

"One thing actually. I don't learn from talking, verbally. There are words I hear 10 times but I don't pick it up. If I don't see the word, the spelling or the actual meanings, I can't learn much. But what helps me is using dictionary, translating letters. For example I receive a letter from solicitor, from the organisation that supported us in the beginning, the leaflets we ere given, the instructions, anything I came across I used to read. If I couldn't understand I used my dictionaries."

Rebecca:   So a lot of your understanding of the system has come from your reading skills? So you would say that your reading skills were enough that you could then find out about everything from reading a lot?

Azad:        Yes, that's right.
Azad He mentions that fellow students, teachers, people through the Mosque helped him learn. The people at the mosque were important in explaining culture, law, traditions in the UK and they didn't speak Kurdish so a lot of this had to be done in English.
Azad He has had a number of jobs, often casual which didn't enable him to practice much as there wasn't much chance to speak or make friends. He gives an example of working in the petrol station very soon after his arrival - about 2 months - with very little understanding of the culture and therefore having no understanding of gambling:

A man came in when I was in the petrol station, and asked who won the lottery last night. I didn't have TV, and I was here only 3 months. I said what is the lottery? I don't know what you are talking about? He said how you manage a petrol station, you don't know what the lottery is?
Azad when he moved to London he also attended college and was working one or two days a week. He has learnt from colleagues, other workers, (For example a job at Heathrow) and many different places.
Azad He learned most at ............., when on a pre-access course to learn English. The classes before had been elementary English so had just been a reminder. It was academic so it was useful.

At the same time that e was doing the pre access, which included literacy and numeracy, he was also doing an NVQ in IT for 3 hours a week.

Azad:        I concentrated in my study. I was enthusiastic to learn. At that time the container was filling, it was not full... generally the environment was good although in the end it was not. I moved to another area I had to travel 2 hours each way.

Rebecca:   Did that have an affect?

Azad:        Yes. If it was more convenient I could learn much more. The teachers were great as well, and the fellow students were all good people actually. You like to go to college to see them. That means, it's very important actually your colleagues, that makes you always remember what you're doing, you don't get bored and you like to study.
Azad He used to write a lot of letters, to sort out his own issues and problems. He also used to practice speaking with Solicitors.
Azad Azad obviously has study skills that he used to pick up language in this country, but another interesting thing is how he reviewed his language and also passed knowledge of culture and language on to others:

Rebecca:   So what you learned at ........ was useful for you to sort out problems? You found that it went together?

Azad:        Yes, definite yeah. It helps me in my work life and my own life, and helped other people. Because the house I used to live, there were 4 more Kurdish people living in the same house. It was a shared house. And always they brought their own papers, letters from their bank, home office, council, they brought to me and I translated.

Rebecca:   So you spoke the most English in that House?

Azad:        Yes

Azad:        It encourages you. You feel some way you are responsible for these people, you have to learn. They automatically pressurise you to learn. They think you know English very well - which you don't - they bring a letter for you, you don't understand, you try to learn... in order to...

Rebecca:   But you have the skills to learn? So you had study skills, education, you have the skills to add to it? So you were continuing learning and they were learning about the system?

Azad:        Of course. For example one of my friends, 2 days ago, he came to here and he had his bank account. He was charged by his bank because there was not enough credit in his account. He made a direct debit. Automatically the bank charged him. He was asking me for an explanation. I explained... (describes bank charges)Then he was happy, now at least he understood what is going on, he doesn't mistrust the bank. He didn't learn English but he learnt the system at least.
Azad He used to visit his Solicitor a lot, who spoke very clear English and helped him understand words by explaining and talking slowly.
Hardy He also talks about Spanish friends he has met from parties.

Hardy:   She is my friend now because she is not teaching me anymore. And she is great because sometime if I have a problem with the English, grammar, something like that, and she is exactly explain to me everything.

Rebecca:   Do you ask about other things?

Hardy:   Yes, of course, ask about how you live, how European people live, because I'm from Middle East, you have a different culture..And I have Spanish friends, we go outside together, go to parties together.... Because I want to open my eyes, I wasn't to open my mind because if you live in Europe you have to.
Hardy He talks about how he learnt to make mistakes, and gained in confidence through using language and going to college. He also explains that he started to realise that lots of people spoke English badly, not just him!

Hardy:   In 2004 - I try to speak with people. If you try to speak and you make a mistake, when you make a mistake next time you are going to learn.

Rebecca:   How did you work that out?

Hardy:   The thing is when I make a mistake, people, they try to make it right. And I wrote it down and read every day.

Rebecca:   Did you start doing that in 2003?

Hardy:   My third day I started to write down everything. I went to market and write everything. But college for me was helpful. Because I start to writing English and speaking perfect grammar, and sentences. Because on the street you can't learn like writing and using grammar because everybody's making mistakes and, especially in London there's not many English people living in London.

Rebecca:   So you started learning more in 2004/5 when you were at college but also you were doing other things?

Hardy:   Yeah exactly because when you going to college you don't have to speak any other language, just English, the college is comfortable or people if don't speak English because everywhere they don't speak English. And for myself I am a little bit shy... well not anymore! Really! I was so shy. You think everybody speaking English but not now.
Hardy When he is at home, even though he lives with a Kurdish speaker, he watches a lot of TV and listens to the radio, and they don't talk much. They also sometimes speak English when they are out of the house, even thought they are out of the house. They find it funny...
Hardy Being in college with many different students in a group helped because he had to listen to everyone, and they had to listen to him. SO he feels he got practice through being at college. He feels he has used the language he has learned: shopping, having conversations, at work. When he was at college he was part time so he was working too, full time.
Hardy "I hope if can add some think about football or sport and activity because I am

going to football every sunday and tuesday some times thursday. If want it's helpful for me cos I learn too, much there."
Mary She has started singing in a choir and has friends who speak English there.
Mary She talks about the hostel that she lived in first, where she had a bad experience with another woman who accused her of things that she didn't do. She spoke French with this woman.
Mary When she moved to the hostel she is now living in she started to speak more, but not many people were speaking to her.
Mary She also talks about the people that she sings with, which is connected to the church that she worships in. The choir is once a week, and so is the service. Some of her friends there speak French but she only speaks English with them now, and the whole service is in English.
Mary She is at a further education college at the moment, and practices through the homework they give her and reviewing everything she has learnt.
Mary In 2004, when she was with an employment training organisation, she learnt the most; English classes and work placement.

Mary:        Yes, because my training is to look up the job, sometimes they say you have to do the work placement and in 2004 it was beginning, I was going in the Boots to do the work placement.

Rebecca:   So did your college arrange that? Do you did English class and work placement at same time?

Mary:        No, I was told to go to class, and then Boots.

Rebecca:   And that whole time was the time that you learned the most English. Class and work.

Mary:        Yes, because in Boots it was so many people. And I have to speak.
Sarah She also mentions that she has learnt a lot from the letters she has received, taking every opportunity to pick up language through what is happening.

"And by my situation, every time when I get evicted, by those letters, I force myself to take some words which is very important for use. Like 'circumstances', which it was very difficult for me, it takes months and months to learn that word. But because my situation, I have to know this word. Every time I write in Kurdish on my hand... Like eviction, it was very important but for me it was very difficult."

"And every time when I am going to an interview about the houses, about my situation... homelessness I never ever heard, the first time when they kick me out, I understood what is the meaning of homelessness... and what is homeless, how there is centre to take your food free, to take your bag in.. because all the situation every time you need a new word to use."
Sarah She mentions two friends from her course when she was learning English: one from Somalia, and one from Kosovo. They had no choice but to speak English together, and both were attempting to get into university and were younger so Sarah felt she could learn a lot from them.
Sarah Other people mentioned were her fellow volunteers and workers at ........... She would remember words from the bus and go and ask her colleagues what they meant. Sometimes she would write it on her hand in Arabic script to remember. There were sometimes bad words which would make her colleagues laugh, or they would jokingly tell her not to listen to other people's conversations.
Sarah While living at the hostel Sarah made friends with a young English girl living there also. Each had lost family and they became a kind of substitute mother and daughter. Learning English was a big part of their relationship:

"I think we need each other, I lost my children and she lost her parents... She used to come to the room and she bring the dictionary and the book, she start studying with me. Reading book, children's book, she is bringing, and I am doing the nice food and I am never never able to eat I am just doing and looking at it... and we start to chat, sometime up to 11 o'clock. She was teaching me, this is a desk, this is a draw, this is a bed, and she start writing down for me and taking out from the dictionary, because I have got Arabic and English and she has got English. And she becomes like teacher..."
Sarah She didn't want to work on the till because of her language, but it was the only role they wanted her to take. Despite being very nervous she took it:

Sarah:       ...from the next day really for one month it was nightmare everyday when I am getting back home I am start crying.

Rebecca:   Why? Because you didn't understand anything?

Sarah:       No, I learned the till after 2, 3 times when they use it in the front of me. But my problem is, really... I look like frightened, scared, I didn't understand the environment, I didn't know what the people saying... sometime they just, you know, shouting. And sometime when I am looking the people they are very aggressive. And start shouting at me; "Who put you on here?" The first thing that I understand: "You are deaf you don't understand?" And really I am just looking.

Rebecca:   Why did you stay?

Sarah:       Look I told you why I stay. When I am going home no-one is in. And there is no communication for me. I can't use the phone because they ask me not to use the phone is very expensive in the morning. I got some friend, I have only one friend in Ealing Broadway, and I have to call her even now she never call me, I don't know she is weird! And even I didn't stay with the children, leaving my culture, leaving my job, because I am very keen on my job. I like my student. Even now I wish... I went back in Iraq the first thing I did was I went and met my students, the teachers, the school... really I was so keen.
Sarah She feels that through the shop she has learnt the most informal English, earlier on she was learning words through this volunteering and now she is picking up pronunciation. She has been at the shop since 1998.
Tania In telling me about her network map she mentioned going with her Mum to various places to sort out problems, including the doctors, to see if her mum was fit to work.

"Basically how I learned English is with problems, going to job centres, housing, then after that my god, going to doctors and see if my mum is able to work, and then she was very upset because the doctor said that she wasn't"
Tania In 2000 she started doing voluntary work at the RCO where she eventually got a job, in a refugee food project. There was a man there, who was a paid worker and also a volunteer, who helped her to learn while they were volunteering. She had fun, and learnt lots of 'doing' words and fruits and vegetables. While they were waiting for vegetables and fruit to be delivered, her fellow volunteer would quiz her. The produce would then be put into bags, and she would have to answer what all of the words were as they worked.

"The first month I was there, he was always teaching me you know, this is apple, this is this, this is that... one time he was like having this fruit in his hand and he goes 'what's this?' 'pear' good good! And then he goes every single one you know? And then the vegetables, I didn't know any vegetables so then after that the vegetables came, and after the vegetables came the words to talk you know it was so nice. I had a lot of fun learning!" She considers that her time when she first started volunteering and, before that, dealing with the many problems with her Mother were the times when she learnt the most.
Tania We go back to the fruits and the vegetables at the food project. He made her recite the alphabet even when they were having delivery and other people were around. When she was embarrassed it seems he was quite firm about how important it was! But her memories are good and she says she had fun, and talks a lot about how important he is.

"When we were finished with fruits and vegetables, he used to write it on a piece of paper, it was very difficult I couldn't even do my ABC, and then he figured out that I don't know my ABC... every morning he makes me do my ABC, and the delivery is coming the man is there and he makes me do this a,b,c,d... I say that's embarrassing! He says learning is not embarrassing! It was good, it was very good."
Tania The difference in culture was "Way different. Way freaky"!

There was a guide for this - Irena, the woman who befriended them. She "explained a lot of things", then when their English got better Tania's mother felt that they couldn't just keep calling her and asking questions. She lived a long way away too.

So they decided to deal with their problems on their own. They learned about the culture by having problems to deal with and getting it wrong often. Her Mother couldn't speak English at all and took Tania with her because she understood more.

She gives an example of a visit to the housing office because the landlord hadn't been paid. A woman asked her about her language, and what her language was, but called no interpreter.

She mentions that they don't listen to you - in the housing office, the DSS, and the job centre. And that half the time they didn't understand what they wanted.

She saw that when other people were shouting in offices like this that they got help, so she learnt to shout! She thinks she learnt a lot from watching others.
Tania She does many activities with her Mother, and with the rest of her family. Her Mother now attends ESOL classes herself , and doesn't like the homework she is given. Tania describes her Mother's level as bouncy, not clear.

There are five children in the family. With Mum, every weekend, they do activities to practice and use their English. Tania describes quizzes where you have to shout out, other activities like writing something that has happened during the week, taking turns reading. Dad isn't involved, he likes to do it without help. (In fact the children use English as a way of hiding tings from Dad, by speaking very quickly). Tania is the oldest child, she describes these sessions as being and hour or so on Saturday and Sunday, it used to be more but the children what to do other things now. It has always been Tania who has instigated these sessions.

Tania:       We are 5 children and my Mum, so all 6 of us we try to help each other basically, we do reading , spelling, and we do like to have fun you know, like a quiz. You have to put your hands up if you know it, not just shout it around, and then we have like shout it around... and we have like reading, and each of us reads.

Rebecca:   Are you the oldest? Do you make a lot of this happen?

Tania:       Yes, now we only have it for one hour on Saturdays and Sundays, because they want to do something else, they want this, they want that.... I have to respect that!But I really like being with my mum and having these quizzes and... what I do is like I read 10 minutes, then my brother reads 10 minutes, and well because my sisters are not really good I show them letter by letter and then they say it. We have a lot of fun, sometimes when they say something they start giggling and laughing!

Rebecca:   So you practice everything from class in what you do?

Tania:       From the five days, whatever I do, on Saturday and Sundays we get to do that, and we have to ask what my brother does, and what my mum does, and what my sisters do,

Rebecca:   So you, like, review everything you've done?

Tania:       Yes. And what we did last week, we were writing down like what we have done from Monday to Friday. Well I was writing in my language because my spelling is bad!!
Tania In her learning before - picking up language that related to her 'problems' - the Job Centre, Housing etc - meant she only learnt what she had to know at that time. The important thing seems to be that she was learning relevant language, not whether she had control of her learning.

If you want to find out about the design of the research, please download a copy of the full dissertation.

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