The Cothrom class in English for Speakers of Other Languages is held in a very well appointed upstairs room in the new Balivanich Community Hall. Mary Morrison leads the class with assistance from Suzanne Morrison. It’s a multilingual classroom with learners from Latvia and Poland, who also speak Italian and Russian. There’s a wide range of English levels in the class, with some members having arrived in the Hebrides several years ago, while others have been here just a few months. But there’s a strong desire to learn in the group and a positive spirit of co-operation, so newer arrivals are helped by those who have been here longer.
Last night the Island Voices project co-ordinator Gordon Wells visited the group, so class members had a chance to practise introducing themselves – saying who they were, where they were from, and where they were working now. They also talked about some of their favourite parts of Benbecula. Because it was a very pleasant summer evening the group then made a plan to tour round some of these sites and make some short video recordings.
Favourite spots were the beach, of course, and the community riding school where they got some lovely pictures of the horses.
Another highlight was Benbecula airport – because that’s the quickest way to Poland! And Olga wanted to make a film about Balivanich Primary School, where her daughter has been a pupil for three years now.
Here she talks about her impressions of the school, and how much her daughter enjoys it.