Coronavirus Action Plan
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What is the cost of welcoming refugees?
“And I have a sharp pain here,” I say, pointing to my shoulder. I’m mid-explanation of my symptoms to the woman in the white coat in front of me. I’m taking part in a role play with a learner, modelling how a conversation with a doctor may go, anticipating the…
“You are contagious”: Paper by Dr Anne Smith
Dr Anne Smith as published a new Open Access article in the Scenario journal, entitled “You are contagious”: The Role of the Facilitator in Fostering Self-Efficacy in Learners. The article identifies kinaesthetic approaches to facilitating a learner in role, which help to lower the affective filter, and support learner progression…
Stories of Success
You know that old platitude ‘the smallest things make the biggest difference’? Well, who’d have known that the key to confidence lay in a pair of shoelaces! One learner from our hub at Gascoigne Primary School has reported the immense satisfaction she felt at being able to go into a…
Meet the Volunteers
Here’s what some of our volunteer facilitators have to say about their own journey with Creative English! Tahmeena ‘I just want to say thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do this. It has pushed me out of my comfort zone and given me so much confidence.’…
Developing A Risky Practice: Teaching and Facilitating – Reflections of a Creative English Trainer
This notion that the leader needs to be ‘in charge’ and ‘know all the answers’ is both dated and destructive… Fear leads to risk aversion. Risk aversion kills innovation. — Peter Sheahan in Brené Brown’s ‘Daring Greatly’ In my first few weeks as a teacher in a private English language…
“They have become my family”: Paper by Dr Anne Smith
Dr Anne Smith has published an OpenAccess article in the ArtsPraxis journal, entitled “They have become my family”: Reciprocity and responsiveness in a volunteer-led program for refugees and migrants. Creative English is an applied theatre program that supports English language learning for adult refugees and migrants in the UK. The…
Volunteers Share Their Experiences
Writing on the Department of Communities and Local Government’s Learn English Tumblr, our trainer Charlie and two of our amazing volunteers share their experiences with teaching on the programme. Read more on Learn English here
NHS Employers: Improving confidence in conversational English
Working with Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals, we developed and delivered a unique Creative English programme designed to teach conversational English skills to international hospital staff. From this, a case study was produced that details the programme and the benefits that it brought to both staff and patients. Read…
Balancing creative and functional language needs: Paper by Dr Anne Smith
Dr. Anne Smith has published an Open Access article in the latest issue of the SCENARIO journal of language, culture, and literature. This article argues that play and creativity are cornerstones of a person-centred approach to adult second language education. However, when learners are refugees, asylum seekers or migrants already…
Research and Practice in Adult Literacies: Paper by Dr. Anne Smith
Subscribers to the journal RaPAL (Research and Practice in Adult Literacies) can read about Anne’s journey to develop Creative English in her article, ‘‘Laugh your way to confident English’: A volunteer-led approach to meeting the needs of migrants’ in their summer edition. The article describes the impact of learning through…
Family Learning shortlisted for prestigious award
We are pleased to announce that our Creative English Family Learning programme, currently running in Dagenham, has been shortlisted for a British Council ELTons 2016 award for local innovation. This marks the second time that our innovative methods of help local families learn English has been recognised by the British…
Barking and Dagenham Post
Creative English is again mentioned in the Barking & Dagenham Post, when local charity Community Resources for Change received £65,000 from BBC Children in Need to run a Creative English Family Learning course of the local community. The article features programme creator, FaithAction’s own Dr Anne Smith PhD. The full…
Christ Church Sparkbrook
We have 23 learners on our records this year and an average class is between 6-9 people. All our learners are female[…]. We are finding the majority of our learners are attending the course in order to build up their confidence when out in the community, although two ladies were…
Paper by Dr Anne Smith and Bobby Smith
The paper, “What’s in a name? Shifts in identity, delivery and impact in a national volunteer-led programme using applied drama to learn English” by FaithAction’s Dr Anne Smith and Bobby Smith was published in ‘Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance’, Volume 20, Issue 4. More…
Creative English in the Guardian
On Tuesday 8th December, Creative English was featured in the Education section of The Guardian. Focusing on the support that the the programme has given to refugees, the article looked at the barriers that are put in placed by a lack of English language. You can read the article over…
Evaluation of the Creative English Programme
FaithAction are proud to announce the launch of an External Evaluation of the Creative English programme, completed by the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University. The Creative English programme is making a positive difference to the lives of low- and intermediate-proficiency speakers of English. Learners are…
On Speaking Terms
Creative English was featured as a case study in On Speaking Terms, a report by think-tank Demos on the state of provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in England and how it compares with other nations. Our research identifies a number of advantages associated with English ability,…
Paper by Dr. Anne Smith
The paper, ‘Maximizing empowerment in applied theatre with refugees and migrants in the United Kingdom: Facilitation shaped by an ethic of care’ by FaithAction’s Dr. Anne Smith was published in The Journal of Arts & Communities, Volume 6, Issue 2-3. The paper draws on evidence from Creative English to argue…
The Telegraph and Argus
In 2014, Bradford’s Telegraph and Argus reported on a visit made by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon to a Creative English class run by Tresom, as part of a tour of local projects empowering people through language skills. He met with Creative English creator, FaithAction’s Dr. Anne Smith, and spoke with…
Easton and Lawrence Hill Community Newsletter
The Creative English class run by Easton Jubliee in Bristol was featured in a community newsletter in May. The informal style of learning in this class makes it easy for people to access. Anab Mohamud from Somalia had also lived in the UK for nine years and has previously found…
Barking and Dagenham Post
In October, a reporter from the Barking and Dagenham Post visited the Creative English class at Castle Point in Dagenham, where he also met with programme creator Dr. Anne Smith herself. An article was featured in the 7th October edition, featuring some words from Anne and from a number of…
Easton Jubilee
I just wanted to share a story from the week before half term. We were doing the first session of going to the doctors. At the local surgery, if you want an appointment for the same day, you have to wait for a call back from the GP to assess…
Trescom Research and Consultancy
In addition to running a Creative English class, Trescom received a grant from the Creative English Innovation Fund to set up a Sewing Club to help bring the local community together by exploring the textile history of the area. The learner below told us about how she volunteers to help…
Harold Road Centre
The Harold Road Centre had previously been running an accredited English class until funding was cut, and decided to continue with informal English classes to complement their Literacy class. They felt Creative English offered the holistic experience they desired, and many of their learners now continue their experience through a…
Community Resources
The Community Resources Hub in Dagenham works to build community cohesion in its local area. It is primarily staffed by local volunteers who are passionate about sharing in the development of their community. Sally Dixon, the Hub’s facilitator, told us about one of their learners. Elsa has been coming to…
Pendle Women’s Forum
Pendle Women’s Forum support the women of the Pendle area with advice and guidance. In addition to running a Creative English class, they have also received a grant from the Creative English Innovation Fund for their ‘Cook, Chai, Chat’ project, where women work together to bake cakes and put on…
Oasis Drop-In Centre
The Oasis Drop-in Centre serves as a place of both community and learning, helping people find the local services they need and supporting them to gain better confidence and language skills. The team at the Oasis Centre told us about a mother-daughter pair that joined their Creative English class together.…
Project BME
Project BME provide numerous services, from advice and advocacy and mentoring to training and capacity-building for other organisations, across Lancashire. Their Creative English class is run at the Darwen Aldridge Community Academy in Blackburn. Programme leader Zed Ali told us about some of those involved in the class: Karim said…
West London Refugee And Migrant Women’s Forum
Souri stands out due to her commitment, energy and willingness to go above and beyond and use the Creative English methodology to meet the wider needs of the participants she works with. The first training that she attended as part of her involvement in the programme focused on using drama…
Loxford Children’s Centre
The Creative English class at the Loxford Children’s Centre in Ilford is led by Sue Griffin, who has written about her experiences before. Last year, local MP Mike Gapes came to a class to see how Creative English is changing people’s lives. Sue told us about one of her learners…