Volunteer tutors needed for Girvan and South Carrick area

Did you know…?

One in every 28* adults in the Scottish population has difficulty with reading, writing and numbers.  Many people find it difficult to read and count sufficiently to enable them to go for their shopping, read the instructions on their medication, help their children with their homework, read letters or fill in forms.  These are only a few examples.  

Would you like to help an adult overcome these problems?

At Adult Learning we offer free support to any adult who wants to improve their reading, writing, spelling, numbers or computer skills.  We train volunteers to help adults who want such support. 

If you are interested in finding out about becoming a Volunteer Tutor  in the Girvan and South Carrick area, please contact the Carrick Opportunities Centre Reception on 01465 716600 leaving your name and number and your local Literacy Development Worker will be delighted to have a chat with you.  

Here's what one of tutors has to say:

"I have been a voluntary tutor for nearly 10 years and still love helping others to better themselves by learning a bit more. 

We aren't teaching to a university level - (I, for one, couldn't do that anyway ) - just helping those who maybe missed a bit at school or want to be able to read the newspaper or a book to their children or count up what they spent every week or understand what a supermarket receipt says.

If you put yourself in the shoes of someone who has plucked up the courage to ask for help and show them how easy it can be to learn, you get a nice warm feeling. You don't have to be a "teacher" type of person, just more like a friend helping a friend.

There is always plenty of help when you become a tutor.  I have only to ask and there will be some sort of resources to help me.  There is also a friendly person to give me advice if I am not sure about something."  

Please, help us to make a difference.

* Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies 2009 report of findings.

SYRIAN AND AFGHAN FAMILIES ESOL LEARNING PROGRAMMES

The ESOL Family Learning Programme started in Troon in July 2015 to provide a learning opportunity for a group of Afghan women and children.  The women continue to  improve their English language skills while the children enjoy learning through play.     

In Ayr, we are delivering ESOL literacy classes to some of the Syrian families recently resettled in the area. 

We are delighted that these groups can now receive Scottish Qualifications Authority accreditation for their learning.

The accreditation is delivered by Ayrshire College.  ESOL lecturer Orsolya Dunn recently visited the learners on site, “ it’s great to see how much they achieve and how determined they are to succeed”.  

The adult learners will be presented with their certificates at our ESOL Family Summer Social in June. The children will also be presented with certificates from our Early Years partners, for their participation and progress in learning.  

Receiving accredited recognition for their learning is highly motivating for the learners and the children.  Both are making great progress and we look forward to celebrating this with them and other families, at our annual summer social event.

Susan Wilson

Christmas Shutdown

Adult Learning will be closing on Wednesday 21st December at 1pm and will reopen for classes on Monday 9th January at 9am. Staff would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year!

AFGHAN ESOL FAMILY LEARNING PROGRAMME

SEAGATE CHURCH TROON

Autumn/Winter 2016

The women and children have enjoyed a varied range of activities and opportunities over the last two terms.

There has been a turnaround in numbers with some of the older children now accessing local nursery provision in Troon, Prestwick and Ayr.  We have welcomed 5 new babies to the group who are settling into the Seagate crèche with their older siblings.

The children have enjoyed playing and learning in the crèche, while their mums get their heads down to focus on their English language skills.  This term we introduced literacy through topics such as time, weather, food and drink and looked at healthy eating using the eatwell plate. 

To encourage community integration we arranged trips to the local library for Bookbug sessions.

Parent and child together crafty sessions allow the mums to have fun and learn together with their children. 

In the run up to Christmas, we all had a messy time making colourful Christmas crackers and stockings which were hung on the wall of the church.  Fruit Santa hats and reindeer biscuits added to the festive theme.  Pastor of Seagate Church, Richard Woods accompanied us on the guitar and the families enjoyed singing along to some of the more popular children’s songs.  Jingle Bells, the firm favourite. 

We are delighted to announce our new joint partnership with the CEMVO (Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations) Scotland.  Looking forward to 2017, we will be working with Parveen Khan, the Health and Social Care Officer, to develop exciting new opportunities for this group.  

           

Susan Wilson

Celebration of Learning

On the 24^th September 2016, our adult learners were invited to the University West of Scotland to receive certificates for their achievement and commitment to learning.  Two members of staff from the Adult Learning team presented the learners with their certificates. 

There were stalls where information was available about various Community Learning and Development facilities, such as Youth work, PEEP, Duke of Edinburgh Awards and of course Adult Learning.

It was an enjoyable day where families could take part in organised activities and a light lunch was served to all.  The weather wasn’t nice but this didn’t cause much of a problem, as we were all indoors and nice and dry!

Well done to everyone who received a certificate and we look forward to next year's event.

And we're here!

We are pleased to say that our move to new premises has gone well. Our tutors and students have been making a great effort to keep attending their sessions, using map reading skills and reading bus timetables to get to their new meeting points - we can even create learning opportunities from our relocation! Well done to everyone concerned and thank you for the extra effort put in to make this possible.



We have had a slight hitch with our phone lines but can now be contacted using the freephone number - 0800 3898 320  and can always be contacted using our mobile number - 07907 847870

Anyone looking to speak to us in person will find us in the John Pollock Centre in the Adult Learning Room (previously known as the Flexible Learning Centre) in Mainholm Road, Ayr.

We're on the move!

As many of you will have heard, the Adult Learning team will be moving out of The Learning Shop in August.

We will have a two week shut down from Monday 1st August to get things moved and organised in our new locations. We will be ready and raring to go in the following places from Monday 15th August.

John Pollock Centre

Our new base will be at The John Pollock Centre in Mainholm Road, Ayr where you will find our admin team and most of our tutor/student pairings will also work from here.

Lochside Learning Centre

We will also be working from the computing suite in Lochside Learning Centre, Lochside Road, Ayr where all our computing classes will be held in addition to our literacy job search club.





If you're not sure where these new locations are or how to get there, please ask any member of staff in at The Learning Shop, we have access to online maps and bus timetables to help you.


Please feel free to pop in and visit us when we are in our new locations. You'll find the same friendly faces and, as always, the offer of a cuppa! We'd love to see you!

Gail