Case Study

Introduction

Aayatiin Foundation, a member led community organization, was established in July 2005 with the aim of improving educational opportunities for the Southwest London Somali community. It serves a total of 80 children and operates 5 days a week, including weekends. When the foundation was established it focused on providing study support, homework clubs, religious, cultural and youth development initiatives, using the Somali language, for children between the ages of 6-16 years old. Over the years the Foundation has developed to serve the whole Somali community, advising on education, training, employment, mentoring and helping recently arrived members to integrate into British society.

The teachers have qualified teacher status from Somalia and some have received further training in the UK. Once a week they teach Somali to their students. This helps both students who already have enough Somali knowledge to prepare for exams, as well as support those who have little knowledge to develop their own language skills and cultural identity within the community.

The partnership

Aayatiin Foundation is working in partnership with Lambeth Academy, and they constitute the London cluster of the community languages project. They linked up when Lambeth Academy contacted Lambeth Ethnic Minority Achievement Team (EMAT) for advice on a Somali complementary school to work in partnership with. After attending a briefing partnership meeting, Aayatiin Foundation decided to join the partnership as they saw the opportunity to promote the Somali language, to recognize the language skills of their children and celebrate children’s’ achievement. Accreditation through the Asset Languages scheme is a key feature of the partnership

They have now developed an action plan for the future, reviewed the available literature and investigated different community languages providers in London.

The partnership has evolved to include mentoring and consultation exercises at Lambeth Academy. Together, they are discussing how to best meet the basic needs and expectations of young Somali speaking children in Lambeth, by identifying possible barriers and by mapping out the route to success in learning.

Impact

The partnership has helped strengthen Aayatiin Foundation’s commitment to teach Somali and has motivated them as the importance of community language teaching and learning has been recognized in the mainstream sector.

They feel that they joined the partnership just at the right time as many parents were worried about their children’s lack of Somali language skills. Some children also felt they were losing contact with their own culture as well as language, and subsequently felt a lack of confidence in expressing their feelings.

The partnership plays an important role in improving the Somali language skills of its pupils which reconnects them to their community and their roots. The children normally enjoy the extra language classes and never fail to attend the sessions.

Successes

• Pupils and students are reminded that their Somali language has a worth and is recognized alongside European and other modern foreign languages taught in mainstream schools.
• Increased engagement between parents and their children, particularly those children who were born in the UK or arrived here at an early age. They are now able to connect with their parents through a shared language.
• Parents and other adults have worked together to produce resources which can be used in delivering the language course.

Challenges

• Some pupils felt that the Somali language was perceived by others as being of less importance than, for example, the modern foreign languages taught in school.
• To increase awareness among pupils that their own language is valued.
• Lack of suitable teaching resources continues to be a problem.

Future plans

They are now developing a standardised course plan together with other Somali organisations and interested individuals and have put together a working group to focus on the development of teaching resources.

They also plan to target children at a younger age so that they can develop their skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing more easily. These children will hopefully also value their language more when they realize that their language skills are accredited just like any other language taken in school.

About the Schools