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English language teaching
 All
three of us have been following a 16 week course to qualify as ESOL
volunteer teaching assistants (English for Speakers of other Languages).
We have found the course to be very frustrating, focussing more on
various aspects of the Government's adult education and "Skills for
Life" agenda than equipping us with the necessary (and often basic)
skills for the teaching work we will actually be doing. This is
all the more annoying since the course was supposed to be specially
designed by Aston Pride together with Birmingham Adult Education Service
to equip ESOL volunteers for this neighbourhood (where the need is great
and the standard of English very low). An article about the course
recently appeared in Birmingham City Council's free newspaper (photo
above). You can read the article by clicking
here.
The most
interesting part of the course, however, has been our teaching
placements. Ton has been working in an all-men's ESOL group on
Mansfield Green (very near our house). Most of his learners are
Bangladeshi and Pakistani. Carl and Mark have been working in an
all-women's group at Saathi House, a local project providing a range of
opportunities and resources for Asian women. All of their learners
are Bengali women, most of whom have been living in the UK for many
years but who have never had the opportunity to learn English.
Indeed some of them have never had any prior formal education and the
teaching begins with basic literacy - learning to read and write.
Both of our placements have been a very positive and interesting
experience of meeting a real need in the neighbourhood, while also
bringing us into another close contact with parts of the local Muslim
community. We are looking forward to continuing the teaching long
after the course has finished.
Birmingham Catholic ministers reflect on
Islam
 Continuing
the initiative we began in March, we attended a second meeting of the
Birmingham Catholic Ministers Reflection Group on Islam on 16th June. The
meetings are planned by Carl and Damian Howard (a Jesuit who is
completing his doctorate in Islamic Theology in Birmingham University),
and led/resourced by Damian. This month's meeting was on the theme
of "How Muslims See Christianity". We had a wonderful
seminar-style conversation for two hours which all of us found really
helpful in considering our presence in the heart of a mainly Muslim
neighbourhood. The next meeting will be held in early November and
will consider the Muslim understanding of Jesus and possible fruitful
points of contact/common ground.
Strangers into Citizens march and
rally in London
 Early on the morning of Monday May 4th Mark and Carl
boarded one of 12 coaches travelling down from Birmingham to London for
the Strangers into
Citizens march and rally. At 10.30 am we arrived at
Westminster Cathedral for a special Mass for Migrants, celebrating the
Feast of St Joseph the Worker. At the conclusion of the mass the
congregation processed out of the Cathedral behind an array of flags and
banners to join others processing from St Margaret's Church, Parliament
Square (Anglican) and Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, down Victoria
Street, into Parliament Square, along Whitehall and past Downing Street,
finishing up in Trafalgar Square. In total somewhere between
10,000 and 20,000 gathered in Trafalgar Square for the rally.
The Strangers into Citizens campaign is calling for a
one-off regularisation of long-term irregular migrants in the UK. There
are an estimated 500,000 irregular migrants in Britain. They face
exploitation and uncertainty. They want to work, integrate and be able
to contribute to life in the UK as full members of our society.
The campaign proposes that those who have been in the UK for 4 or more
years should be admitted to a 2-year pathway to full legal rights
(“leave to remain”) during which they work legally and demonstrate their
contribution to UK economy and society. After that 2-year period,
subject to knowledge of English and employer and community references,
they would be granted permanent leave to remain.
See more photos of the march and rally on our
Photo Album page.
Mark presents the Easter story in
drama for local schools
 In the last two weeks of the school term leading up to
Easter Mark joined a small group of Christians from Aston Churches
Together in sharing the Easter story with school children through a
specially written drama. The team of six visited eight Primary
Schools in Aston and performed the 10 minute play during the morning
School Assembly. This was followed by a short time of prayer and
reflection led by one of the team. Two weeks of learning lines and
late night rehearsals really paid off with some wonderful experiences
and enthusiastic receptions in all the schools. The picture shows
Mark (second from left) together with other members of the team.
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Resources
for Further Reading
