Conversation Over Borders offers free online English classes, mental health and digital access support to refugees and asylum seekers across the UK. Our work started during the first COVID-19 lockdown in order to bring people together in a time of isolation.
We operate under four main projects: English & Befriending, Wellbeing, Digital Inclusion, and Refugee Voices. Our English & Befriending Project brings together displaced people and the wider community through our one-to-one English classes to facilitate human connection, reduce social isolation and build confidence in spoken English. Our Wellbeing Project offers online peer-to-peer mental health support groups and support for refugee clients, where active participation and facilitation of the group sessions by people with lived experience of displacement is encouraged. Our Digital Inclusion Project repurposes donated phones, laptops and tablets by passing them onto refugees and asylum seekers across the UK alongside prepaid data-loaded sim cards. This works in conjunction with our other Projects so that clients can access our online support, and stay connected to their friends, families and communities. Our Refugee Voices Project platforms the voices of displaced people through film, photography and writing. Through our current project, in partnership with Refugee Radio and National Lottery Heritage Fund, we are releasing a documentary, podcast series and book in December 2022.
We are looking for volunteer tutors to work one-to-one with refugees and asylum seekers online delivering our English conversation classes. You will be working with the same person twice a week for a minimum commitment time of 16 weeks. Classes are held on Google Meet and are an hour long, they can run between 9am-6pm on Monday-Thursday. You do not need to be a trained teacher to apply and we provide teaching support and resources for our volunteers.
The project is all about human connection; the one-to-one nature of the support allows people to build long-lasting, sustainable friendships and creates an environment that supports mutual learning and cultural exchange which ties into the overarching aim across our projects of humanising the narrative around displacement. Our services are client-oriented and we therefore arrange to interview and induct volunteers once we have a suitable client in mind to pair them with. For this reason, please provide as much detail as possible in your application. As far as possible, we take everyone's preference into account when it comes to age, gender and the level of English that you feel comfortable tutoring.
We require our volunteers to DBS checked, we can apply for an Enhanced DBS check on your behalf.
How to apply
1. Register your interest via the Volunteer Hub account.
2. Go to https://www.conversationoverborders.org/volunteer and complete the application form (if you do not complete the form here then your application will not be accepted)
If you would like more information please get in touch with aine@conversationoverborders.org.
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2 hours per week