Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
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Questions about the Letter
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Student Testimony (Beginners)
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Student Testimony (Entry 1 Lower)
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Student Testimony (Entry 1 Higher)
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Student Testimony (Entry 2)
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Student Testimony (Entry 3)
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Student Testimony (higher levels)
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Ken Livingston’s letter to John Hayes
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Let me tell you about myself
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ESOL Cuts Class Survey
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Go Petition
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Student Petition
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John Hayes and George Osborne contact details
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To keep up-to-date:
National Action: the Action for ESOL national coordinating group meets
in London. Next meeting Wed 26 Jan. For further information on the
national group (meetings, activities, etc) join twitter, facebook and the
JISC email list. Contact Mel Cooke for further information
melanie.cooke@KCL.AC.UK or Dan Taubman (UCU) at
DTaubman@ucu.org.uk or Pat Sullivan (NATECLA)
pat207@btinternet.com.
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Action for ESOL activities
What can the college and staff and students do to petition against the
cuts?
2.1. The letter should ideally be typed and saved so that can each letter can
be emailed to the following people: the student’s (1) local MP (2) local
councillor (3) John Hayes; Minister for FE, Skills and Lifelong Learning.
2.2. For students to find their MP, first type their postcode at
http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/. Once the MP is found, click the name
to go to a page with full contact details including email address.
2.3. For students in Leeds to find their local councillor, first type address at
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/page.aspx?pageidentifier=5468a57e-e64f-4bdf-
9569-7c31d1b93cc3 and click Search. Click Ward to find councillors.
Click Constituency to find their MP.
2.6. If students are unable to send a letter via email, please write a paper-
based version in class. If you can establish the MP's details, send to the
MP. Otherwise, collect all the paper versions and send through the
internal post to Mary Clayton, Thomas Danby Campus, Enfield Centre.
These will be sent to John Hayes. See contact details for John Hayes on
page 18.
3. Complete a class survey to gauge potential impact. See page 15. Perhaps
post to John Hayes.
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5. Students to complete a community / home survey. See Student Petition
page 17.
6. Invite local MPs into the college / classroom for a discussion on this topic.
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Read the letter and answer the questions
Dear students,
The government has already said it will stop the EMA, which helped
635,000 students to stay in education last year.
Adult education and ESOL are also being attacked. If you are not on
'active benefits', for example Job Seeker's Allowance or the new
Employment Support Allowance, you will have to pay full fees for
your course. This will discriminate against women who depend on
their husband's benefits.
Best wishes
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Questions about the Letter
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2. What is it about?
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Student Testimony (Beginners)
Address
Date
Dear ________________________
My name is ___________________________
I need English
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to get a job
to buy food for my family
Choose from/add own to help my children at school
to understand letters
not to need an interpreter in NHS
to be part of UK life
Next year I can’t study because I can’t pay. Please stop cuts to
ESOL.
From
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Student Testimony (Entry 1 Lower)
Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully
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Student Testimony (Entry 1 Higher)
Dear Sir,
We are not rich people but we want help with our classes. Please try
to help us to be good citizens with our language.
We thank you.
Yours faithfully
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Student Testimony (Entry 2)
Address
Date
Dear
Please stop the cuts to ESOL because it will make life more difficult
for a lot of people and stop them contributing to society. We will
feel isolated and have no jobs, no money and no future.
Yours sincerely
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Student Testimony (Entry 3)
Twenty years ago my country started civil war. I didn’t have any
opportunities. Now I have opportunities to study.
In the wintertime you need a jacket and you can’t afford it. The kids
need a jacket and boots, winter clothes. You need to pay the bills
because the benefit is not enough. I live on £148 a week. With that I
have to pay the bills, buy food and clothes, bus fares, toys for kids,
shoes for the kids.
When they cut this benefit, how can I survive? Every three months I
go to interview and they say ‘Do you want a job?’ I apply for jobs,
and I fail the interview because I can’t speak English properly. Every
time they ask me ‘Do you have any qualifications? How can you
work because you don’t have any qualifications.’ That’s why I failed.
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Student Testimony (higher levels)
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about the future. We will not have anything positive to do.
What shall we do? Why are the politicians doing this? What good will it
bring? Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t think this will bring good
results.
Ken Livingstone
Labour Party
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0HA
Dear John,
London is the most dynamic and tolerant city in the world because it welcomes newcomers and
encourages them to make a contribution, both to the capital’s economy and wider society.
ESOL has given hundreds of thousands of Londoners an opportunity to learn new skills, find work,
create new jobs and play a positive role in their communities.
Right across the capital there is real concern about the cuts you are making, particularly the
reduction in funding rates for adults, introduction of fees for those on most benefits and their
dependents, removal of a £4.5 million learner support fund for adults on low incomes and the
removal of all funding from ESOL in the work place. These will have the effect of excluding
thousands of ESOL students from language learning.
The impact of your proposed cuts to ESOL are compounded by abolition of the Educational
Maintenance Allowance grants. These changes threaten to put education, learning and
employment out of reach of some of the poorest Londoners.
I am also concerned that of all the regions in the UK, once again the impact of Tory-led
government cuts is hitting London the hardest.
I want to know:
Have you considered the social and economic impact of the changes to ESOL and have you
completed a thorough equalities assessment?
How many Londoners will lose support because of the changes you are making?
How will the cuts to ESOL affect the number of people claiming other benefits?
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Does the Mayor of London support your cuts to ESOL and has he made any representations to
you?
Finally I urge you to think again before you make these sweeping changes to ESOL and extinguish
the hopes and aspirations of thousands of Londoners.
Yours sincerely,
Ken Livingstone
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ESOL Cuts Class Survey
Do you get JSA?
Can you pay the full course fees next year?
Will you come back to college next year?
How will this affect you?
Can I take your name?
Male / Female
Do you get JSA?
Can you pay the full course fees next year?
Will you come back to college next year?
How will this affect you?
Can I take your name?
Male / Female
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Go Petition
Tutors could do the paper-based version first with their learners then block-
book a computer suite to do online.
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/defend-esol/sign.html
ESOL students are keen to learn the language and integrate into society. In
order to do this they need programmes that enable them to do so. We pledge
our support to defend ESOL. Complete the fields below and click 'Sign'.
Optional fields may be completed or left blank. * - required fields
Student’s
email address
is their student
ID (on their
badge)
followed by
@student.leeds
citycollege.ac.
uk
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Student Petition
Ask the students to collect as many signatures as possible from family and
friends and the local community. Return the petitions to their teacher. Forward
to John Hayes MP and local MPs.
ESOL students are keen to learn the language and integrate into society. In order to do
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this they need programmes that enable them to do so.
Contact details:
Westminster
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 1389
Fax: 020 7219 2273
hayesj@parliament.uk
Constituency
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Office 1, Broad Street Business Centre, 10 Broad Street, Spalding, PE11 1TB
Tel: 01775 711534
Fax: 01775 713905
davieshm@parliament.uk
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