Outstanding Learners - Birmingham Adult Education Service

Learning a language comes with an extra challenge for Howard because of a speech impediment.

This difficulty sometimes means he needs a bit more time to answer questions in class. However, his desire to succeed, and the trust he has in his fellow learners means he has the confidence to take his time before he speaks. When he does answer, he is invariably correct in his response.

Bushra dreams of going to university to study Law so she can fight injustice.

She wants to champion women’s rights, especially young female immigrants who are victims of abuse and support young women overcome cultural and social barriers.

Olga graduated with a Law Degree in Moldova. Until recently, she worked in a hotel in Birmingham.

Olga joined an ESOL course with BAES as she is keen to find a better job and eventually attend University in England. She also wants to understand the schooling system in England so she can be a strong advocate for her daughters.

Haja had never previously attended any sort of schooling and cannot read or write in her native language, Arabic.

This pattern had continued into her learning of English. In September 2023, Haja took the big decision to enrol onto a Pre-entry ESOL course.

Amanuel wants to find employment.

This is his greatest motivation. He has studied over many years to build his skills and gain qualifications to achieve this.

When Aruna enrolled on a Performing Arts course in early 2023 she had no previous experience of acting or singing.

However, Aruna saw the class as an opportunity to challenge herself and to increase her self-confidence. Having suffered with depression for many years, Aruna has previously found her condition a barrier to accessing education.

Having escaped war-torn Ukraine to begin a new life in the UK, Valentyna started to learn English in a community project run by BAES.

After finishing her ESOL Communication class, as a result of her diligence and competency, it was decided she should skip a level and go straight to Entry 3 level.

Siema has dedicated her life to caring for her family. She has watched her children growing up and work towards achieving their career goals.

Happy to see them exploring their options, there was a part of her that regretted she had never had the opportunity to reach her own potential as a learner.

Ebtesam left the Yemen in 2021 and started studying ESOL in 2022. Since then, she has progressed to Level 1 and also started a computer course.

Soon after starting studying with BAES, she became an ESOL buddy supporting Pre-entry learners.

David is 77 years old and has several health and mobility problems.

In spite of these difficulties, he is always on time for his computer classes and puts 100% effort into completing his work. After class, he spends his afternoon using the centre’s IT facilities. BAES has become his second home.

Geoff had to leave his job as a care worker when he needed to have a hip replacement.

In March 2021, he decided to get out and start looking for a new career. With a lifelong love of numbers, he chose an Accounts course at Brasshouse.

Read more: “I just love my numbers!”

Maria is a native Greek speaker who started studying Spanish with us nearly three years ago.

By day Maria works as an Urban Designer and in the evening comes to Brasshouse Centre to indulge her love of languages.

Ghasem joined BAES in September 2023, enrolling on ICDL Advanced, a level 3 IT qualification, and also an ESOL entry level course.

In Iran, Ghasem worked as a highly skilled Network Engineer. He is keen to build a new IT career in the UK and enrolled onto our ICDL course to improve his knowledge of Microsoft systems, software and computer networking. His goal is to secure a place at University to further improve his employment prospects.

Axel arrived in Birmingham in 2022 with the Cameroon Weightlifting Team for the Commonwealth Games.

After a successful Games Axel made the brave decision to seek asylum. This was no easy thing to do. He knew no-one in Birmingham and was leaving family, friends and team-mates behind.

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