“A guid Scottish nicht”

On Thursday 12^th February 2015 in the John Pollock Centre Ayr we had our Scottish celebration evening.  Our invited guests were our learners, their family and friends and Greg Cassidy, Arlene Trapp and Orsyla Dunn, our partners from Ayrshire College. We had the pleasure of having volunteers from the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.  Wilma Brown who is the secretary of the Ayr branch very kindly helped us with dancing routines for our ceilidh and David Ross the accordionist played traditional Scottish dancing music.  

Our evening started with Rhonda Leith our team leader who welcomed everyone.  Eileen Opiolka one of our ESOL tutors addressed the haggis.  Everyone enjoyed a “ guid” Scottish dinner of Scotch broth or cream of vegetable soup which was prepared by the chef at the John Pollock Centre.   Offerings of haggis neeps and tatties were also on the menu!

We also had the pleasure of listening to Bivas play Auld Lang Syne on the trombone and then later, we all got emotional when the young Kyle Academy pupil sang Caledonia.  Eileen’s learners also gave us a couple of versus of “ Yi cannae shuv  yer Granny aff a bus” 

The evening was a great success and everyone enjoyed themselves.  A big “Thank You” to our ESOL tutors Liza Donaldson, Eileen Opiolka, Irene Lamont and Susan Wilson for all their help.  Thanks to Wendy Kerr our admin guru who welcomed everyone and made sure they were all directed into the cafe area.

The evening proved to be a good example of collaborative partnership working to allow our international learners and their families feel part of the Scottish community.

To the next “nicht oot”                                                                

Ann

Volunteer with us!

Here is some recent feedback, given to Ann Gentilomo, from one of our volunteer tutors: “My training and tutoring experience with the Learning Shop have been valuable parts of my professional development as a teacher,  and they have helped me greatly in work I have done later with other colleges and educational providers.”

If you’d like to get involved in supporting some of our lovely learners please get in touch with us on 01292 263304, we’d love to hear from you and would welcome the opportunity to meet and tell you a bit more about us. We deliver a tutor training programme to ensure you have all the skills required to help an adult to improve the things they've told us they want to get better at.

So what are you waiting for? We look forward to your call, Zoe.