Volunteer Hub

Convo Club Project Leaders - 2024/25 (SA 24-25)

Organisation Details

Student Action - Refugee & Asylum Seekers' Conversation Club

Activity type: Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Children, Community Work, Culture, Education, Fundraising, International , Languages, Race and Ethnicity, Religion, Teaching, Training and Coaching, Youth Work and Young People
Stellify Award: This opportunity is part of 'Step Up and Lead'
Organisation Description: We run friendly, conversational English classes for refugees and asylum seekers living in Manchester. Sessions run from Monday to Saturday every week and volunteers can help out as little or as much as they want. Our aim is to help refugees and asylum seekers improve their language skills and confidence whilst providing them with a safe and fun space. Each week is a themed lesson and discussion on varying topics to help them practice their conversational English.
Our student volunteers play a vital role in helping to ease their transition into life in the UK.

We are part of Student Action and work alongside STAR (Student Action for Refugees) who deliver our training and advise us on how to make the club even more productive.

Join our Facebook group to hear more about what we are up to
or email us at uomconvoclub@gmail.com with any questions
Description of role: We are recruiting new project leaders for our Convo Club sessions resuming in September 2024, who can commit to the role for the academic year. As a project leader, you will work as part of a team to ensure that the society runs efficiently and that all English lessons are organised and prepared to a good standard. Some of your main responsibilities will include:

1. Coordination and communication with student volunteers. This will include creating a VolHub advert at the start of the year for new volunteers, and ensuring that everyone has been given a chance to work for their chosen project. Project leaders help ensure that everyone has the necessary DBS checks and has completed any training, deal with any queries or concerns, and provide updates on any group chats/social media accounts.

2. Communication with our outreach projects.

3. Creation and management of a budget and risk assessment.

4. Support in organising any social events, training, fundraisers, campaigns, etc.

5. Creation of content for weekly English lessons, including lesson plans, activities and any necessary resources.

At Convo Club, we run friendly, conversational English classes for refugees and asylum seekers living in Manchester. As we currently work alongside five outreach sessions around Greater Manchester, different sessions are run from Monday to Saturday every week and volunteers can help out as little or as much as they want. Our main aim is to help refugees and asylum seekers improve their language skills and confidence whilst providing them with a safe space to have fun and enjoy their learning.

We are looking for students to take on leadership roles, at each of outreach projects. These are:

- Migrant Support
These are English classes for adults, led by a qualified ESOL teacher, and so the primarily responsibility of the project leader for this group would be to organise and supervise our student volunteers working as classroom assistants, and also take part in assisting with the lesson themselves. Migrant Support run various classes every day of the week, so you would not be expected to attend every session, just to ensure that you are coordinating other volunteers who want to attend, and making sure you log their hours correctly on the Volunteer Hub.

- Stockport Refugee Support Group
This is a conversation class run once a week on Saturday for adults. We send volunteers to work either one-on-one or in small groups with learners to work through a weekly topic. As project leader you will be preparing resources and lesson plans each week as well as leading the classes.

- Rainbow Haven
For these classes we send volunteers to work one-on-one or in small groups to go through a weekly topic. We provide our own resources for this. The Rainbow Haven project leader will be working alongside one of our existing project leaders so will have some support with their role. You will be expected to attend the two hour sessions every week, as well as working to prepare resources and lesson plans.

- Avensis Support
This is a conversation class run once a week on Saturday for 16-18 year old unaccompanied asylum seekers living in supported housing. As project leader you will be preparing resources and lesson plans each week as well as leading the classes.

- Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST)
This is a conversation club aimed solely at female asylum seekers at the Methodist Central buildings in the Northern Quarter. Here we provide our own resources, and volunteers must be female due to the nature of the charity.
Skills / qualities associated with the role: Creative Skills, Leadership, Oral Communication Skills, Practical Skills, Project Management, Public Speaking, Team Working, Written Communication Skills
Are volunteer expenses available?: Yes
Duration of role: Ongoing / Long term
Opportunity times: Monday AM, Monday PM, Tuesday AM, Tuesday PM, Wednesday AM, Wednesday PM, Thursday AM, Thursday PM, Friday AM, Friday PM, Saturday AM, Saturday PM
DBS required: On
Can reasonable adjustments be made regarding additional needs?: Yes
Is this organisation part of the Sports Volunteering Scheme (SVS)?: No
Minimum hours commitment: 2 hours per week
Location:
Multiple locations around Greater Manchester
Manchester