“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.

Activities for over 55s at 'the book and bun'

Fond farewell to Heather

It’s with a mixture of sadness and happiness that I have to announce that Heather has moved on to pastures new!  She has managed to secure a permanent job in a local Primary School and everyone at The Learning Shop wishes her well in her new job.

She has been a great asset to our Team – always smiling, helpful – willing to go the extra mile for students, tutors and colleagues. It has been great having someone younger in the office to keep us in line!

She will be sorely missed and hard to be replaced.

Wendy(wendy.kerr@south-ayrshire.gov.uk)

Cinderella

In the lead up to Christmas some of our students were involved in the production of “Cinderella” – a pantomime produced by Recovery Ayr. Tickets were free but donations were taken for Cash For Kids. The event was a huge success and we would like to say a great big “WELL DONE!” to all who were involved in making this such an enjoyable show!

Gail

Wishing you all a lovely Festive break

The Learning Shop is closed from today, Friday 19th December, until the 5th January. Staff would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and thank all students and tutors for all their hard work this year. You make our work worthwhile. Thanks also to everyone who donated to our Cash for Kids Christmas jumper day. We raised £36.36 and Wendy kindly took the donation and dropped it off to West FM.
We hope that 2015 brings many good things and we look forward to seeing all our familiar faces and some new ones too. We will come back in January ready to do some interesting work and look forward to catching up after the festive break,
Have a good one, one and all!!!
Zoe

Volunteer Tutor Training

Nineteen tutors have just undertaken and completed the 11 week Tutor Training course – the largest number ever to finish the course. So well done to all those who took part!

·       ‘Very worthwhile’,

·       ‘I have learned to be more tolerant and understanding’

·       ‘I am more aware of other people’s challenges’

·       ‘Informative, educational and fun!’

·       ‘Great course’

·       ‘Illuminating and challenging’

·       ‘It helped me empathise with people who have learning and numeracy issues’

These are just some of the comments that were received from the feedback.  We now wish them luck as they undertake their final assessment and we look forward to working with those who have not yet been paired with a learner, in the New Year.

Eric and Julia