EFA students took to the stage in an interactive community theatre performance that explores barriers to accessing English language provision. Audience members took part by proposing solutions and testing their ideas through creative action.Â
Migrant language learners from EFA came together over the course of 8 workshops to build a theatre performance based on their own experiences and challenges of finding and accessing ESOL classes in London. They held a participatory performance and public conversation in April with an audience of 50 community members and stakeholders in central London.
The performance features scenes at the job centre and the GP where migrants with low levels of English often struggle to access the support they need. Skilled migrants are routinely turned down for job opportunities because they are not proficient in English and many patients must rely on interpreters in order to communicate about their health concerns.
The play went further in highlighting the problem that even the most helpful of Job Centre coaches and healthcare professionals are often at a loss when it comes to signposting migrants to English language courses. A lack of coordination and publicly available information about classes is preventing many migrants from accessing what little provision is out there.
Through the play and interventions from audience members, it became apparent that not only is the supply of ESOL courses failing to meet the demand, but that information about ESOL classes is conspicuously absent in many London boroughs.
The range of experiences and expertise in the audience, including many EFA students as well as participants from King’s College London, Southwark College, Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers, Parent Action and Citizens UK, enlivened the creative interventions and discussion on possible solutions, and rooted them in the everyday realities of working within and in partnership with the ESOL sector.
English for Action teachers and students are excited to be taking the play to the City Hall later this month for a performance that will be attended by members of the GLA as well as partners and stakeholders from London local authorities, colleges, job centres and healthcare professionals. They will continue having conversations, building relationships and making the case for better coordination, collaboration and investment in ESOL.
The performance was held as part of the transnational research and training project, Community Organising For All which aims to make community organising more accessible to migrant communities through creative methods including Legislative Theatre.
