Bridges to esol

Bridges to ESOL - Laying the Foundation for Successful Language Learning

The BRIDGES Project partners are excited to release the first instalment of their BRIDGES to ESOL programme during Refugee Week 2022 to support those seeking refuge in the UK and Ireland. These innovative, interactive resources are designed to help migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to start their language learning journey.

The course is very much skills focused and based on providing learners with functional vocabulary and basic grammatical structures at a CEFR Pre-A1 level.

Content in all 12 lessons is presented in a very minimalistic way so as not to overload learners either linguistically or visually. As important as starting to develop basic language skills, the course aims to provide learners with a positive learning experience, to build confidence in language learning and develop a foundation for success in more formal learning.

The interactive content allows learners to have control of the learning experience by reviewing, repeating and reusing the language in each task or lesson as many times as they feel they need to master it.

The project is led by Southern Regional College with partners Salpaus College (Finland), Dundalk Institute of Technology (Ireland), Decroly (Spain), OCN NI (UK) and RIC (Lativa). The partners are working collaboratively on the project aims to promote inclusive education and training within local communities by fostering a culture of respect and mutual understanding. The specific objectives of the project are to:

  • Improve the digital competencies of marginalised older learners.
  • Develop a suite of free online courses to support flexible modes of learning with focuses on digital, employability, language and citizenship skills.
  • Develop of an accreditation framework to map qualifications to the EQFM.
  • Create an effective outreach, guidance and motivation strategy.
  • Work collaboratively with 6 transnational partner organizations.
  • Develop innovative materials for adult tutors/practitioners that will be initially delivered to 25 adult tutors who will then pilot the materials with 100 adult learners across Europe.

The project was co-funded by the Erasmus+ project of the European Union.

Find out more about the project as well as the details of the other courses currently in development on the project website www.bridgesproject.online or follow us on Twitter (@BridgesKA2) for regular updates.

For questions or enquiries, contact SRC International Affairs Team internationalaffairs@src.ac.uk

Course materials are available at https://www.bridgesproject.online/the-learning-environment/language-skills

Course flyers are available in 16 languages (and counting) are available at https://www.bridgesproject.online/dissemination/bridges-to-esol-flyers