Ale, in her 40s, is one of the many Nepalis who attend the English for immigrants program, known as ESOL, in the United Kingdom.[break]
At a centre in Harrow, one of London’s boroughs, a group of men and women – the majority of them are women and most of them from Nepal – attend to enhance their language skills and sharpen their conversational ability.
But for Ale, it’s about more than mastering the language; it’s about making one of her dreams come true.
“I have never stepped into a school or been in a classroom,” Ale says. “I always wished I could go to school, and I’m doing that here.”
During the hour-long class, it seemed she struggled to deliver her best in English. Outside the class, though she expresses her determination to learn the language, Ale hesitated to reply in English. She found comfort in her mother tongue.
Yet she realizes the importance of learning the language of her home away from home.
“We have to talk in English everywhere—shopping, getting on a bus, on the train,” she says. “Not knowing the language will make it difficult.”
But the recent changes on ESOL policy might change the scenario for many learners, especially women and the elderly.
The changes in the funding and eligibility criteria targeting people actively seeking work, says Geoff Trodd, Manager of Adult Community and Family Learning at Harrow Council, would have an impact on the elderly and children and mostly women who wouldn’t meet the new eligibility criteria.
According to the latest report by Department for Business Innovation and Skills, women constitute a majority of the ESOL population: 68.1% in 2009-10.
One of the clauses of the latest change has a provision for free tuition only for learners in receipt of Job Seekers’ Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance.
Trodd says it is important for everyone to have an opportunity to acquire the language skills. “It helps with community cohesion and community integration,” he says. “Especially for women and elderly, it is a vital tool to stop isolation.”
Linda Lee, an ESOL teacher for 13 years, agrees. But at the same time she also notes that most of the women live and find comfort in their small communities, and that they don’t bother to venture out.
And even if they do, they tend to get through the language barrier for there is a big South Asian community speaking and sharing similar culture and even language up to a certain extent.
“But you need to learn the language of the country you’re living in,” Lee says. “If you live in any country and you don’t speak the language, you’re going to feel isolated.”
And learning the language with the goal to fit into the new society is Rama Devi Rai, who came to the UK three months ago.
Though her English is a step ahead of most of the Nepali women in the class, Rai says she needs to improve.
“In order to get a job [and also promotion], you need to have an advanced level of understanding and conversational English,” she says.
“Also it helps with carrying your day-to-day life. You don’t have to be dependent on your husband and children.”
Rai expresses her happiness on having an opportunity to take the English classes without having to pay. She adds that it wouldn’t be feasible for her to continue if she were to pay.
Marfua Alam, who has been living in the UK for five years, nods in approval. A housewife from Bangladesh, Alam says having the benefit of knowing and being able to speak the language, makes it easier to go around, talk to people and be a part of the community.
“I come here to improve my conversational skills because I want to get outside of the house,” she says in her best-spoken English.
And it is to break away from their household duties and become independent in a foreign land that most of these women join the English classes.
For some women, the latest change in policies could play a part in hindering their opportunity to learn. But Ale believes in the notion that where there is a will, there is a way.
She says she paid £250 when she started in 2007 and £450 the following year. Though studying for free at the moment, she says she’s ready to pay the amount if she doesn’t fit into the new eligibility criteria.
“I’ve always wanted to go to school and learn,” she says. “Now I’ve been able to at least come this far, and even if I have to pay, I’ll continue. I want to learn English.”
Bhandari is a UK based correspondent for The Week.
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