ESOL Magazine June 2014 | Page 22

ESOL 1 and 2 Learn Scottish Country Dancing! On 31st March, ESOL 1 and 2 had a chance to get to know some more Scottish culture when two dancing groups came to teach them some traditional country dancing. The event was organised by Alfie Dickson, one of the conversation volunteers who comes in to practise speaking with ESOL 2. Alfie has some great connections, as we saw when he organised the Burns Supper event. His wife, Ruth, brought her Scottish dancing group and teacher George, whilst Timmergreens Primary 4 came with their teacher, Mrs Fordyce. After some demonstrations, our students threw themselves into the dancing with great enthusiasm, showing that energy and a good sense of rhythm are international. Svetlana and Zanna gave a vote of thanks and the event was photographed and more pictures of our own poster stars Agne and Silvia appeared in the local newspapers. Afterwards, Valentina wrote a thankyou letter to the dancers and we received some pleasing reports from the primary children. Overall, this was an excellent event to encourage involvement between different groups in the community and it is hoped that some of students will take part in more country dancing events when the season starts again in the autumn.