opportunities – paradisegardenblog

Have fun and make friends

Join our fun and friendly volunteer and learning group at St. Paul’s Church in Salford. Our group follows the Creative English learning syllabus – a community-based, English language teaching programme that is suitable for all levels of English. This course is perfect if you have very little or no English – you will quickly gain confidence and basic skills. If you already have good English, you will improve your confidence and communication skills by helping those with less knowledge.

Participants coming together in our Creative English class

What is Creative English?

Creative English uses a drama-based teaching method, with role-play, games, props and flash cards used within peer to peer, group and pair work. You get to practice every-day, practical English in fun, informal ways covering topics such as health, shopping, community and housing. Participants have also found the topics related to work very useful, including job interviews and volunteering.

Our Creative English classes have run alongside other social gatherings for more than 3 years now! We have enjoyed meeting so many local residents and it’s fantastic to see so many people making strong freindships. You can find out more about the background to our Creative English class in the blog post: ‘Our Creative English Journey’.

Improving mental health and wellbeing…

Health Watch Barking and Dagenham, an independent charity, recently published their findings from a case study into Creative English, titled: ‘Creative English Sessions improving mental health and wellbeing’. The case study detailed how participants were referred to the programme ‘because of the positive impact it has on well-being – being part of a fun, friendly community while building your skills makes a huge difference.’

Our weekly group at St. Paul’s Church provides a warm, welcoming fun and friendly class with lots of linked social events and community days. You can find out more about local opportunities, services and sources of support, linked to the topics we cover. Many participants have not only made friends by coming to our group, they have also found out about vital social groups across Salford.

Information is communicated by peers within an informal, relaxed setting – we find that this approach can be very successful. Ultimately, we hope that refugees and asylum seekers follow up on the information provided and access sources of support and opportunities, so that they can improve their health and wellbeing whilst also creating a support network.

Our Training Day with Dr. Anne Smith

Our group has undergone quite a few changes over the last 6 months, with many new participants joining and becoming volunteers – so we decided it was time to breathe some new life into our class!

Dr Anne Smith, the creator and developer of Creative English came all the way up to Salford from her base in London to visit us. She delivered training to our group over two very fun and enjoyable days!

Volunteers learnt how to deliver activities using the Creative English method – which helped us gain confidence and build our communication and leadership skills. So, that meant lots of fun games and drama with some good discussions and laughter!

Dr. Anne Smith is very supportive and gave us the confidence to continue delivering our Creative English class. We look forward to classes starting again soon!

Participants involved in training with Dr. Anne Smith (far right)

Learn with us…

Volunteer with us!

According to Helpguide, an organisation that runs the world’s top 10 mental health websites ‘volunteering can help you make friends, learn new skills, advance your career, and even feel happier and healthier.’

Become a volunteer with our Creative English group and work within our team to deliver teaching activities. This experience will benefit you in many ways – it will build your confidence and communication skills, habits of work and a good reference for future employers or education.

Connect with us via our Facebook Page

For our first excursion we wanted to visit the beautiful Ordsall Hall, a fantastic example of a great Tudor house, situated locally to our group in Salford. The house has a long and interesting history and dates back to 1177! Participants and volunteers thought it was important to explore a local museum first, where participants can easily re-visit with friends and family in the future.

We were able to enjoy a special tour that was specifically designed for those whose first language is not English, provided by two very knowledgeable tour guides. This really made the visit very interesting and fun – there was so much to do and discover and we even took part in a quiz!

*Our tour guide explaining how kitchen apparatus was used in Tudor times.*

Participants enjoyed dressing up as Tudors and tried on some chainmail, exploring the different rooms and areas within the great house. There was also plenty of time to ask questions and discuss the different artefacts on display.

*Having fun dressing up in Tudor clothes and chain mail.*

We spent an enjoyable time sat at the Tudor dining table learning about foods that would have been cooked at the Hall in the 1500s. We were all fascinated to learn about different recipes and how the diet of the wealthy land owner would differ to that of his servant sitting at the other end of the table!

*Participants sit down to a ‘feast’ in the Todor Hall*

Our group was fascinated to discover more about the way of life for people living in tudor times. The tour staff answered many questions and added a real buzz to our day which added to what was a very enjoyable time spent with friends exploring the house and gardens.

We also found time to enjoy some tea and cake in the museum cafe!

*Learning about the history of Ordsall Hall and some fascinating facts!*

The gardens surrounding Ordsall Hall are designed to showcase garden elements popular throughout history such as the late Tudor style knot garden, medieval herb gardens and orchards. Exploring the gardens provided participants with plenty of inspiration for our own Paradise Garden rebuild design.

The traditional 20th century allotment that can be explored at Ordsall Hall also provide a fantastic example of the kinds of fruit and vegetables that can be grown within a relatively small space throughout the year.

We hope that participants from our group will come back and explore Ordsall Hall with their friends and family. Thank you Ordsall Hall for a great day!

Tag: opportunities

Volunteer in Salford and Learn English!