About the BELFAST Programme
This is an optional section where you can find out more about the BELFAST programme and other contributions that are being developed to improve the communication skills in English of adult foreign nationals in Belfast and beyond.
Separate pages given information about the team and the various meetups and other events for both Volunteers and Learners.
Some significant points:
We do this is three ways:
Our aim is to make Belfast a more welcoming place and to help each individual foreign national make a significant contribution to the local community and its economy as they settle into their life in Belfast.
This is an optional section where you can find out more about the BELFAST programme and other contributions that are being developed to improve the communication skills in English of adult foreign nationals in Belfast and beyond.
Separate pages given information about the team and the various meetups and other events for both Volunteers and Learners.
Some significant points:
- The BELFAST Programme is NOT a language school. Rather, it is an innovative attempt to use ideas from digital disruption to develop a variety of ways in which adult foreign nationals can take responsibility for their own autonomous learning, make optimum use of social media to improve their English and benefit from face-to-face contact with like-minded individuals, especially those who are also job-hunting in Belfast and beyond.
- Everything is FREE to the Learners.
- The BELFAST Programme is being designed, developed: documented and delivered by a team of unpaid Volunteers, each wanting to make a significant difference to the lives of adult foreign nationals in Belfast while they themselves increase their employability as teachers of English as a Foreign Language (sometimes before going abroad to work in countries many and various).
We do this is three ways:
- Personal Learning Plans can be created for each individual learner (after the Beginner level), so that for each four week period they have a programme of work for self study which helps them to improve their knowledge and understanding of General English grammar and vocabulary, any sector specific English they may require for the particular area of employment where they will be looking for work and, finally, a structured programme using English for Job-hunting. Learners can also be signposted to other sources of conversational practice and additional support for their English elsewhere in the city.
- The Self Access Centre is a drop in centre that contains a variety of grammar books, vocabulary books and dictionaries across a range of different levels that can provide individual Learners with the appropriate material for self study. Computer access to the internet and a recreational area for informal chats and discussions (in English!) is also available.
- Meetups provide opportunities for individual Learners to face to face meet in groups, so that they can follow a structured agenda and which they can put into practice the language they have been studying in the Self Access Centre or elsewhere. Such sessions can also provide practical guidance and moral support for individual Learners in their job-hunting; and awareness can be raised of no-cost and low-cost apps and social media resources that can be of value to different Learners with a variety of needs.
Our aim is to make Belfast a more welcoming place and to help each individual foreign national make a significant contribution to the local community and its economy as they settle into their life in Belfast.