Many of our students are studying with us to build their skills to enable them to find jobs or change jobs. So every term in Adult Learning we have a week dedicated to the topic of employability. Last week across all the classes we read job advertisements, practiced writing CVs and covering letters, learned words and phrases to use in job interviews and learned words to share our skills, experience and knowledge.
This term the focus was especially on volunteering. We looked at opportunities to volunteer in Banbury and Oxford and thought about the value of volunteering. A real highlight was our guest speakers from Aspire, Oxford Mutual Aid, Good Gym and Banbury Advice Centre. Every class enjoyed asking questions and meeting different volunteers from these organsiations and we are really grateful to the 12 people who gave their time to visit our classes. At the end of the week, Sam ran drop in sessions to help students apply for volunteering posts. It was a really positive week – and we hope many of our students will consider volunteering in the future. Here is what some of the students said:
“ I liked hearing from the guest speaker – making questions for her and listening to her”
“I can fill in the job application now.”
‘The session was useful. In the future, I plan to work as a volunteer so I can also improve my English.’
‘I sincerely like to volunteer because that’s how I help people. I learned that helping people makes you feel pretty good about yourself.If I had the opportunity to volunteer in the UK I would.’
‘The lessons were interesting, informative and motivating.’
‘I learned that volunteering is a rewarding experience and I learned how it works.’