Free, adult English language lessons
Free English courses are run by Skills and Learning (Adult Community Education) on behalf of Dorset Council and BCP. There is also support for childcare and transport to help access these courses.
Skills and Learning ACE also have a dedicated part of their provision especially for Ukrainian Refugees and Hosts to access HERE.
Shaftesbury courses
All take place at Gold Hill Museum in Shaftesbury SP7 8JW See here for the current courses and how to apply
Everyday English
This is a basic 18 week course for people who have limited English starting in February 2023. Monday and Tuesday from 10.00 to 13.00. Course Code: QE1964C
Improve Your English (level 1-3)
These take place Wednesdays and Fridays from 10.30 – 13.30. Course code QE1810C has spaces. Two courses run at the same time.
To book someone onto a class, please phone ACE Customer Services on 01202 123444
Any questions about these courses can be addressed to Bella Blanchard Assistant Curriculum Manager bblanchard@salbcp.com Working days: Tuesday to Friday.
Gold Hill Museum
Courses in Sturminster Newton For those people living nearer to Sturminster Newton , Skills and Learning, ACE also have two classes at The Exchange, one of which is aimed at higher level learners and is in the evening.
Information about the current ESOL classes across the County can be found here.
Online Courses There is also an online class, Improve your English Online Level 1 – Level 2, Course Code :QA1771C which is on Mondays 18.00 to 20-30 weekly. You can use a phone, laptop or ipad to access the online classes. Details here
All the above classes are free to all refugees.
If you would like to speak to someone about enrolment, or new classes then please call Julia Markus of Skills and Learning ACE on 07786703671 or e.mail her at julia.markus@bcpcouncil.gov.uk
Skills and Learning ACE have lots of other types of classes which are run throughout the county and you can find them all here:
Free childcare costs, transport support and laptops to help you attend English courses.
A link to the Discretionary Learning Support (DLS) form Learner support - Skills & Learning Adult Community Education (skillsandlearningace.com) helps people attending English courses to get help with childcare costs/taxis to and from language classes and laptops. The funding is usually available for learners whose household income is less than £25k pa.
Practice through conversation
If anyone learning English would like to practice over a cup of tea, or a walk we have volunteers, often with English teaching experience, who can help. Just email us shaftesburyrefugeegroup@gmail.com
Or try online….
To top up language skillls between lessons you can also use online courses. For example the Open University has free classes that support English and much more. See here
Here’s another recommendation from a colleague in Bridport:
From Roy. ‘Am delighted to see all the enthusiasm to help refugees in Bridport. There is a clear need to help them to learn English. I am learning French at the moment and have tried three online packages. The first two turned out to be disappointing but I found THE one. Lingq is excellent and has been developed by a remarkable chap called Steve Kaufmann who speaks at least twelve languages. The even better news is that he is giving it to Ukrainian refugees for free!
There is a link below to the site
LingQ Learning Languages Simply
Steve has endless films on Youtube. Below is his seven secrets to learning a language.
Read Easy
For adults (18+) who have a reasonable grasp of spoken English and would like to improve their reading Read Easy Blackmore Vale North is a local charity, part of national charity Read Easy. The group provides free one to one coaching for adults who would like to improve their level of reading English. This involves meeting a trained coach for half an hour twice a week at a convenient local neutral location. Contact Lesley, for Shaftesbury and Sturminster Newton 07510 250365 or email her at
bvn-sturminstercoordinator@readeasy.org.uk
Reading books to support people with learning English from English Story Time
English Story Time have stories from nursery rhymes all the way to Pride and Prejudice. So there is a gradual increase in the level of English.
New books are being added all the time. They are UK's favourite books so displaced people will learn about the UK and its people and history. And of course all its literature.
There are over 40 titles and they all have videos of the stories being read to them, so one can see the mouth for the sounds; it has the full text of the book, so can be read at the same time and so people can listen to how the words are pronounced.
There is a comprehension quiz and a dictionary at the end of every chapter so displaced people can learn the words in the chapter. There is then a challenge to participate in and write in the comments section. Full immersion into English!
Access is online and can be found here at www.englishclassicstorytime.com or
Once you fill in your email address, you need to add GIVEAGIFT where it says 'Add Coupon Code'.
This will give you access to all the stories, and you can just pick one and start listening/reading.
Government advice on learning English
The government believes lnderstanding English will help you when adapting to life in the UK. The guidance they give can be found here
