‘When Katie reads a poem I look up the Persian meaning and learn new English words, which makes me very happy’  

The Reader works closely in collaboration with Our Liverpool’s ‘stop-gap’ education classes for children of sanctuary seeking families. The charity runs an ESOL Shared Reading group for parents and adult guardians whose first language is not English, where they connect over poems. Both organisations recently came together for a special celebratory meal.  

In September The Reader hosted a special celebration meal for families, volunteers and staff involved with Our Liverpool’s temporary educational classes for asylum-seeking children, and an ESOL Shared Reading group for parents or guardians who speak other languages, run by the charity. Here people connect and share experiences using stories and poems. 

At the meal, funded by the Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust, which supports charities and charitable projects in Merseyside, Our Liverpool teachers, teaching assistants and parents seeking sanctuary, together with their children, enjoyed a relaxed, informal afternoon socialising with Reader staff and volunteers over poetry and food. 

Our Liverpool – a Liverpool city council funded project - runs temporary educational classes for children of asylum-seeking families and unaccompanied asylum seeker children from when they arrive in the UK until they are allocated a permanent school place. It provides a ‘stop-gap’ as families await the outcome of their asylum applications, helping children continue their education and settle into the community during a period of uncertainty. 

For three years national Shared Reading charity The Reader has been running a weekly ESOL Shared Reading group in close collaboration with Our Liverpool to help support the wellbeing of parents and adult guardians. 

Katie Clark, Director of Literature at the UK’s largest Shared Reading charity, warmly welcomed the group to a celebration meal with a reading of Elizabeth Jennings’ poem A Company of Friends; which one of the parents, a Kurdish mum-of-three, then read aloud in Farsi (Persian).   

She said: “The poem sparked rich discussion within the group about favourite meals and memories associated with them, illustrating how food can bring different cultures together and helps us share our stories.  

“I always say, 'I'm not an English teacher' but I use Shared Reading to help me think about the words and language and that can help with English learning. Often people who are learning English are doing it alone, using their phones or YouTube. You can see the joy in people's faces when they have that connection with another human, and the difference that makes.  

“You can learn all the words, but if you don't have that connection with another human to be able to put them to use, it feels very lonely and isolating. That's why I think the big need the group is addressing is connection and confidence, which is such a huge part of learning a language.”  

Guests who attended the meal ranged from a single mum and former primary school teacher from Pakistan with her six-year-old son, to two unaccompanied teenage sisters seeking asylum and a 22-year-old member of The Reader’s staff team who arrived in the UK from Iraq as an asylum seeker. 

The group, which is free, aims to bring people together to connect with the poems and each other. There is no pressure to talk or read aloud. It is one of 15 ESOL Shared Reading groups The Reader runs across the UK and findings from 2024’s Evaluation revealed high engagement. 

Ninety-three per cent of ESOL group members agreed that Shared Reading lifted their mood, 89% said hearing other people’s thoughts gave them a new way of seeing things and 78% said Shared Reading helped them to connect with others in a deeper way. They were also more likely to say they felt it had a positive impact on their lives outside the group with 59% saying they felt more confident. 

The Teacher 

‘We do not know what happened before a child came to Our Liverpool – we never ask a single question. When they do tell you it’s of their own accord. It’s the best job I’ve ever had – it's so rewarding. We’ve had children come here who want to be doctors – and if they want to do this, or they want go to Oxford University, they can 100% achieve this. It is a reality; they can work towards being whatever they want to be.

‘While their kids are at lessons the parents, or guardians, can do something for themselves. We have seen how much of a difference The Reader’s Shared Reading group has made to people’s lives and helped them to improve their communication skills. For one mother, whose English was already really good, it was more of a confidence thing. She ended up becoming a volunteer at The Reader, welcoming people on the front desk.’

The Teaching Assistant   

‘I have been a teaching assistant for more than 20 years and been working on this project for two-and-a-half years. It has opened my eyes to a lot of things I wouldn’t know about otherwise. Some children in parts of the UK are waiting up to 18 months for a school place, and they can fall further behind. This is why this school, which is run by Liverpool City Council, is so important. It’s I am really grateful I do this, it suits me down-to-the-ground. I like the ethos and the variety.’

A Kurdish mum-of-three seeking sanctuary from Iran (Interview via Google Translate) 

‘’My husband died of Covid. A few years later I remarried. Unfortunately, there was a problem in our lives that forced us to leave. My relatives said: ‘You have no right to remarry’. They threatened to kill me and hurt my children and husband. My life was in danger and we were all unsafe. I left the job I’d had for many years, my home and our life behind.

Back in Iran I ran a gymnastics club for children and women. I was the only sports coach in the city responsible for all the women who lived there. I tried to encourage women to exercise and study and helped them to find jobs. I was interested in books, mostly about raising children. I am also interested in sports and exercised every day as I ran a gym for women and children in the city where I lived. So, I also read books about sports and some stories

I have three children aged six, 11 and 14 who go to school at Our Liverpool, and I have joined The Reader’s Shared Reading group. When Katie (Clark, Director of Literature at The Reader) reads her poems I look up the Persian meaning and learn new English words which makes me very happy. The people at The Reader’s home are very kind and I like coming to the park. I really like to learn English as I will be more in touch with people.’

‘Here was a world of care  

And I think we all slept  

Better for our words of joy and grief' 

From A Company of Friends by Elizabeth Jennings (Collected Poems, Carcanet Press, 2012) 

To find out more about The Reader’s Shared Reading in Communities visit here. If you are interested in joining a Shared Reading group, visit the charity’s Find a Group page here. Or if you are an organisation and would like to learn more about partnership opportunities visit here.