Gill and Zahra have made excellent links with Cardiff and Vale College (CAVC) - so much so that in November CAVC will have a FAN group for students as part of their Wednesday afternoon enrichment programme. Rob Parkin head of languages and ESOL has recognised that FAN can be a useful tool to encourage the integration of ESOL learners into the wider college community. 'In short, FAN is an organisation that brings together people who don’t have English as their first language together with native speakers in discussion groups at various venues around the UK. This has two positive benefits for ESOL learners: they practise their listening and speaking skills and they meet native speakers outside their classroom or community setting.'
I took part in CAVC's Freshers Fayre and had a warm welcome from CAVC students. They were interested in the FAN model and more than 50 students requested additional information about FAN and the new CAVC group. Several CAVC staff members also recognised the potential of FAN and we have already had one new participant joining an existing group. The enrichment FAN group starts on November 6th. Here's to its success.
Sarah Duncan-Jones