Literacy Project
The Literacy Project for Spanish Speakers aims to develop English language listening and speaking skills in native Spanish-speaking adult and child migrants from a Hispanic background with the purposes of increasing their confidence through enhanced English language skills, and facilitating their integration in British society. As English language sessions would be delivered partially through the medium of Spanish by English native speakers with knowledge of Spanish, a secondary aim of the project is to develop the confidence of these speakers when communicating in their second language. English language sessions are delivered remotely over two terms (September-November and January-March) through the medium of Spanish by at least two native English speakers who are studying Spanish language at university level.
Read about Izzy's experience here
This project is based on a pilot study carried out in the cities of Swansea and Reading with the collaboration of the African Community Centre. The aim of this study was to reach out to migrants from a Hispanic background and deliver English sessions through the medium of Spanish. The main purpose was to build up confidence and promote conversational and listening skills through targeted skill development by encouraging interaction with compassionate listeners. These sessions were delivered by Swansea University student volunteers in their second year of Modern Languages studies with guidance from African Community Centre's counselors regarding boundaries and affective needs of migrants as participants/service users.
The pilot study ran from October to December 2020 with eight participants aged 5 to 15 plus two parents (over 18 years old). Eight English language sessions were facilitated by ten student demonstrators over Zoom. Two student demonstrators were assigned per session in order to create a conversational atmosphere for the participant and to support each other. Lesson plans were developed by two of the student demonstrators with the support of the principal investigator. At the end of the sessions, participants informally reported increased confidence in communicating with native speakers of English – for example, they reported using the set phrases learnt during the sessions. The student demonstrators reported feeling more confident when communicating with native speakers of Spanish in this language.