A volunteering project focused on helping refugees and asylum seekers improve their English language skills has been running for 20 consecutive years on Royal Holloway’s Egham campus.
The ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) project which is run in collaboration with Runnymede Borough Council and Surrey Heath Borough Council aims to support refugees and asylum seekers in improving their English language skills, helping them to integrate into English society.
Over the years, the student-led social action project has helped a vast amount, and variety, of people who lack conversational English language skills. Last year, the refugees involved in the project primarily originated from Ukraine and the Middle East.
This July, students contributed to a conference focused on engaging with and understanding refugees. The ‘Supporting Refugees, People Seeking Asylum, and Others Affected by Forced Migration Conference’ took place at the University’s Egham campus, where volunteers from ESOL spoke alongside several Royal Holloway academics.
The project also received the Outstanding Social Action Volunteer Award at this year’s Runnymede and Spelthorne Volunteer Awards, hosted by Royal Holloway. The award recognised the significant contributions in the community made by the project leaders in teaching English and other valuable skills to refugees.
The project leaders of ESOL also organised several student-focused events on Royal Holloway’s Egham campus throughout the last academic year, aiming to bring together Royal Holloway's community of international students, as well as offering educational and social opportunities.
Diya Mahil, one of the project leaders of ESOL, said: “Working on the ESOL project has been a hugely rewarding experience. By tailoring sessions to the refugees’ needs, we have not only seen a development in their linguistic skills, but also a massive growth in their confidence. Our project’s success is owed to our keen volunteers from the student community, who help us deliver weekly lessons and support the refugees’ learning consistently.”
Luke Russell, Volunteering Manager at Royal Holloway, added: “The ESOL project is one of our oldest projects and continues to demonstrate the impact that students can have in their local community. It is always fantastic to see students using volunteering as a way of developing their skills and exploring their passions. Hopefully the ESOL project will continue for 20 years more!”
Please feel free to reach out them for any other information: ESOLTutoring@rhul.ac.uk
