INSPIRATIONAL IWONA: TUTOR TEACHES VALUABLE ESOL COURSES TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE COMMUNITY

An ESOL tutor has been teaching entry-level 1 and 2 to participants within the community who may be struggling to communicate with others, as English is not their first language.

Iwona Makuchowska has been a tutor at Workpays since the New Year and is thoroughly enjoying providing education to adults after a previous career of teaching younger children. Iwona first got her love for teaching in her home country of Poland.

She said: ‘’In secondary school, I was in classes for students who wanted to teach, and that’s where my passion started. Once I had graduated, I taught in a Polish primary school for ten years until moving to England.’’

Once Iwona had moved from Poland, she began to teach older students ESOL at South Leicestershire College for thirteen years.

She stated: ‘’After teaching primary school children, I was looking for my next challenge, and wanted to teach adults ESOL. It was great to support others and understand what they were going through, as I was going through the same process of moving countries.’’

Whilst at the college, Iwona started to teach other nationalities, including Chinese and Arabic. It was here that she also began to teach functional skills alongside ESOL. In January, she decided to leave the college and teach at Workpays. She finds her role extremely rewarding and is enjoying being part of the team.

She said: ‘’Teaching ESOL is not only about the language – it is about making the learners feel comfortable and making them more confident in mixing with other people.

‘’Within my classes, participants learn about each other’s cultures, helping them to overcome language barriers they face in everyday life. My students are constantly reminding each other to speak English where they can, which is amazing to see as everyone is so keen to learn.

‘’By learning functional skills, it teaches learners about British values and how they can be applied within their career.

‘’If English is a barrier to someone getting a career, an ESOL course is the perfect solution.’’

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