Fáilte Isteach groups celebrate another year
Students and volunteer tutors from Fáilte Isteach Bray and Kilcoole conversational English language project celebrated the end of another successful year recently and received their certificates at presentation ceremonies.
The project is run by Bray Area Partnership with classes in St Peter’s Parish Centre Bray and Kilcoole Community Centre.
New classes will also be starting in September in St Kilian’s Community School in Bray.
The idea of Fáilte Isteach is that people volunteer their time to teach practical conversational English to people from other countries who live and work in their community.
Improving their English helps students to participate more fully in society, take part in further education and gain employment.
The word Fáilte describes the spirit of the project – welcome to our community. Classes are free (but a €2 voluntary donation per class is requested) and take place through friendly small group conversations over a cup of tea.
In addition to helping learners improve their English, classes also have regular talks from different services that provide a wide range of supports in the local community.
‘It’s brilliant to see how students and volunteers have benefited from taking part,’ said Lorna Lafferty from Bray Area Partnership. ‘Everybody gets to develop their skills – as well as making friends with neighbours from different backgrounds. We want to say a huge thank you to all our students and volunteers – without whom none of this could happen.’
Fáilte Isteach Bray and Kilcoole is part of a national Third Age Ireland initiative. To find out more see www. brayareapartnership.ie or call Lorna on 01 286 8266.