Common Conversation

Common Conversation offers free conversational English classes to asylum seekers and people of refugee status. We meet every Saturday from 12 - 4pm. We also meet on Tuesdays 5 - 7pm for conversation, tea and coffee. Oblong has helped them secure funding, recruit volunteers, design publicity and even plan some of the lessons!

Common Conversation is held at The Common Place on Wharf Street in Leeds city centre and offers free English language lessons followed by a communal meal. As well as providing an opportunity to learn English, the group has become very popular as a social space where the students can meet, make friends and feel they belong, improve their confidence using English and get involved in running the project too– cooking, cleaning up, assisting with lessons and helping organise social events.
Common Conversation has been running since May 2006. We meet every Saturday from 12 noon to 4pm and the lesson runs from 1pm to 3pm and is followed by the meal.

Common Conversation is entirely run by volunteers and the students themselves. We always benefit from new people getting involved. You do not need teaching experience to make a positive difference to this project so don't be discouraged from coming along to assist if you haven't any experience or qualifications. We really need people to help with general management of the project too, so even if you don’t feel like teaching there are still plenty of ways in which you can help!

Volunteers can help in any of the following ways:
teaching support during the lessons,
· lesson planning,
· getting feedback and evaluation from students,
· keeping a record of topics/areas covered in lessons,
· cooking and buying ingredients,
· opening up and closing the building,
· day to day finances,
· funding applications,
· organising volunteers and the rota,
· publicity,
· buying resources,
· organising trips and visits,
· and in other ways too!

Get in touch if you have any questions, join the group list to be kept up to date with what’s happening, and come along one Saturday (put your name down on the online rota first).
Email address: commonconversation@yahoo.co.uk
Yahoo group list: http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/commonconversation
Website: http://commonconversation.org/

We won a national award -

http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/news/press/2007/december/13122007.htm

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Award-gives-studentsplenty-to...