ESOL Learners Enjoy Rounders with Police and Fire Brigade
Our lecturers are always looking for ways to enrich the experiences of learners. Recently our ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) learners were involved in an exciting rounders match, where they took on members of Avon and Somerset Police.
ESOL lecturer, Liam O’Callaghan shared his account of the day, take it away Liam!
“Since Spring of this year, the ESOL department has sought to strengthen ties with the community to make it a safer and more welcoming place for our learners. At the forefront of this initiative has been PCO Mike Jordan. He has spoken to our learners several times about police procedure, their rights and what to expect from police in the UK. He has built strong and trusting relationships with our learners and sought to build on that by organising a fun, easy going sports session between the police force, the fire brigade and our learners.
“After some training by taskmaster coach John Robertson, the ESOL learners came to grips with rounders. The ESOL learners showed up in force on Thursday. Mike had the idea to integrate the teams with learners from the college, members of the police and members of the fire brigade. Four teams were created and named by the learners: Team Liam, Team Tony (or the TTs), Afghanistan and Team Destroyer.
“After a round robin style tournament that saw stand-out performances by heavy handed batter Romina Niazi, deft fast bowler Tony Mawlani and dubious calls by self-appointed referee Mohammed Ali Shinwari, Team Destroyer and Team Afghanistan fought to a tense stalemate.
“Nevertheless, the atmosphere in the sports hall was welcoming, good-humoured and inclusive. Adding to this the police and fire service were kind enough to bring food along and take the time chatting and getting to know the learners.
“Some of the learners were particularly impressed with the muscles of the fire brigade and ask to take “gun show” selfies with them, while others were especially pleased with being able to explore the fire engine that was parked outside and were even able to try on some of the equipment. Learners left sessions exhausted but happy and relationships were strengthened even further.”
A huge thanks to PCO Mike Jordan, and to all of the police and fire-fighters who came along to visit our ESOL Learners.
To find out more about ESOL courses, click here.
See below for a video featuring the highlights of the day!
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