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Volunteering is “challenging, but rewarding”
Volunteer Esther is living proof that anyone can do something small to make a big impact, writes Hannah Lantsbery.Published: 22nd Aug 2014
A MUM of two young children, Esther Sohatee, 29, has her hands full with her busy day-to-day life, but that doesn’t stop her doing something positive for others.
Every Wednesday night, Esther leads an English conversation group at the Northampton Jesus Centre, where she helps people that can't afford English lessons and classes to speak better English. The group is free and welcomes anyone. It has been going for about nine months now, and will re-start when the holidays are over.
“The group can be both challenging and rewarding,” Esther explains, “It can be disappointing when there's only a small turnout of people. Because we don't charge anything the number can differ every week.
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Broken physics boff finds hope at Northampton Jesus Centre
On yer bike! Troubled Hungarian's true tale...Published: 15th Feb 2013
"PATRIK HAD been a physics lecturer in Hungary, his home country. He was quite broken by the needs that had led him to seek shelter in Britain."
Elaine Baker teaches ESOL, English for Speakers of Other Languages at the Northampton Jesus Centre. She told Streetpaper Patrik's story.
"Patrik had been in my ESOL class for a while," says Elaine, "We got to the part of the lesson that day in which we practice talking about our week. He told us about how he now had a menial job (working at a factory in an industrial area) and that he regularly had to walk for two hours to get to work. He was grateful for the work but it really brought home to us the difficulties some of our students...
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Making it work
From weight loss classes to immigration services, the support groups that are running in all three Jesus Centres help to provide "worship, friendship and help for every kind of person". "With support groups we can link up people to listen to each other and give mutual support," says Piers Young, manager of Coventry Jesus Centre. "It can make a big difference. We've seen it."Published: 21st Jan 2010
LONDON
"Making it work," is a relatively new job-search support group at the London Jesus Centre. It has been running for over nine months, during which Alison Moore, who runs it, has seen over 50 different people who are having difficulty finding work. It runs every Thursday by appointment, from 8.30am-3.30pm.
She helps them to put together their CVs, helps with interview skills, gives employment advice, searches for jobs with them, makes phone calls to employers and, as she puts it, "I do a lot of chatting, praying, solving problems, laughing, crying and drinking tea."
"My Spanish has improved!" laughs Alison, "And I've learnt about helping migrant workers to find jobs and a lot...
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A much needed welcome
Sue Withers has taught English for Speakers of Other Languages at Northampton Jesus Centre; she is currently doing the same in London Jesus Centre.Published: 11th Sep 2006
CAN YOU imagine yourself arriving, sometimes through difficulty, in a bewildering foreign environment where you can't speak the language?
"Can you imagine yourself grappling with incomprehensible forms, unable to understand the signs in a supermarket, baffled by the GP receptionist or dumb in the face of hostility?
"In my career as an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher my students have told me stories like these.
"In the Jesus Centre our aim is to teach immediate survival English to those at the lowest level of speaking and listening, but also improve the literacy, pronunciation and grammar of more advanced students.
"Classes can be a shock to those who expect to...
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