ESOL students raise money for UNICEF by sharing cultures at International Day event
萌妹社区鈥檚 ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) Young Learners held an International Day event last month to share their cultures with those at the College, whilst also raising money for their chosen class charity, UNICEF.
Organised by the Sighthill based Young Learner group, who are all aged 16-20, the event saw the class of 23 use posters to teach their fellow students about different aspects of their countries at Sighthill, Granton and Milton Road Campuses, with each campus having a different theme, so that the students could build confidence in speaking English.
Sighthill Campus鈥� theme was 鈥榝estivals in our countries鈥�, Granton鈥檚 theme was 鈥榝ood in our countries鈥� and Milton Road鈥檚 was 鈥榠nteresting facts and places to visit in our countries.鈥�
As part of sharing this knowledge, the students also brought in homemade food for those in attendance to try, and encouraged people to donate to UNICEF (the United Nations Children鈥檚 Fund), which they raised over 拢300 for on the day.聽
Class representative for the Young Learner Access to College course, Naba Sapkota, said: 鈥淚 was excited about this event a lot because we got to share our festival and culture, how we celebrate in our country. Sometimes people don鈥檛 know anything about our festival and culture so I was so happy to tell them.
"We were wearing our traditional dress and people wanted to try it and I gave them my extra saris to wear. They tried it and we took lots of pictures, I was so happy. One of my favourite parts doing the event was talking with people and sharing each idea about our country. I鈥檝e even become more talkative and more confident after this event. Now I can talk with people without being nervous."
To arrange the event, the group who are from countries including Sudan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Vietnam and Ukraine, enlisted the help of around 60 Level 4 ESOL students from across the College, enabling them to make further connections with others in Edinburgh.
It was also an opportunity for the students to embrace their developing digital skills as they each digitally produced the posters and other display materials that were on show at each campus.
Carol Butters, Curriculum Team Manager for College-Based ESOL, said: 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 believe that they鈥檝e done it, that鈥檚 the great thing. They can鈥檛 believe that they鈥檝e shown other people things about their country and they feel so proud of themselves.
鈥淟ots of them dressed in their national dress, lots of them brought food. It鈥檚 so important for them to share food, it鈥檚 such an important part of their different cultures. They had music on, there was Syrian dancing at Milton Road. It was a really colourful and engaging event and everybody who walked past really enjoyed it.
鈥淎 big thank you to all the lecturers and students involved in the success of this day.鈥�
Designed to give ESOL students a positive experience sharing their cultures and speaking to people in English, the International Day event is a staple in the ESOL course calendar.
It was a new opportunity for me and great to get to know other people’s cultures and show our culture. I was nervous to do it at first but when we started the event I was more relaxed and much more comfortable.Hassan Sayedahmed, class representative for the Young Learner Access to College course