The English Hub for Refugees

The English Hub for Refugees helps unaccompanied refugee minors to gain the English language skills they need in order to integrate into their new communities and access mainstream education and jobs. The project also develops English language learning materials for refugees and migrants, which are freely available on the project website.

This project was initiated by Dr Gloria Chamorro from the University’s Centre for English and World Languages in 2016 in collaboration with the organisation Kent Refugee Action Network. The young refugees, who are between 14 and 18 years old, come from a range of backgrounds and countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Syria and Sudan, and they have recently arrived in the UK unaccompanied by adults. Many of them have had limited or no access to education because of conflict or because of the community they come from.

The aims of the project are:

  • To help young refugees and asylum seekers to gain the English language and computer literacy skills they need to access mainstream education and integrate into their new communities.
  • To allow students at the University of Kent to gain language teaching and volunteering experience, which will increase their employability and internationalization.

The project involves undergraduate and postgraduate students teaching English to the young refugees for two hours every week at the University. The students work very closely with the refugees using an online programme, which also allows them to develop computer literacy skills, as some of them have not used a computer before or do not have access to a computer at home. Developing English language and computer literacy skills are key for the refugees to be able to access mainstream education and to work. Many of the young refugees who started the project in 2016 are currently attending college.

We also develop resources to teach English to refugees and migrants, which are freely available in our Resources section, and give talks at schools and other institutions to raise awareness about the situation and needs of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

Following on from an activity completed at Valley Invicta Primary School and in order to continue to raise awareness of the project, the situation and needs of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, Dr Gloria Chamorro is also offering an interaction session for schools. The workshop will cover a number of different aspects including; who refugees and asylums seekers are, number of refugees in the world/UK, where they come from and where they go to, the journey they go though, how they arrive in the UK and the reasons why they flee their countries. The session will involve students doing some activities to discuss and learn facts about refugees and asylum seekers. This activity session can be adapted to match the age of the students and/or the school’s interests.

For more information on this project or to organise a workshop, please visit The English Hub for Refugees website.