Call for volunteers to help City Gateway charity’s ‘lunchtime literacy’ project

A women’s project is looking for volunteers to help teach English at lunchtimes in London’s East End.

Literacy sessions are being run by the City Gateway education charity’s Millwall centre on the Isle of Dogs every Thursday.

The sessions have been developed to help women in the community learn and practice their English — but the charity needs helpers to keep sessions going.

“We are looking for women volunteers, due to the vulnerable nature of some of our female students, to join us at these sessions,” the charity’s Razia Mestry said.

“Some volunteers commit to one session every four to six weeks, but others choose to come more regularly. It’s up to them how often they come.”

The role the volunteers is to sit with a group, usually two to four women in the one-hour lunchtime sessions, and take them through worksheets and speaking-listening tasks selected by City Gateway’s English tutor.

Several students are on an English course at the Women’s project and the additional lunchtime language practice in small groups is seen as crucial to their development of long-term literacy skills.