Ema

Ema is from the Middle East and has a stable family life. She is married and has her mum, dad and brothers and sisters living in the same city. She also gets EMA.
She also works part time to help with the family business. She is a regular attender of the voluntary sessions, even during her pregnancy.
At first Ema was not familiar with the relaxed style of the voluntary sessions. She asked many times about what we were learning. She told me she wanted to learn English. She would argue with the content of the sessions. The fact that she was arguing and was trying to get her point across was a positive step towards using language for making decisions and assigning roles. She was one of a few females in the group and quickly began to bond with the other females. She was very adventurous and was happy to take part in all activities.
She does not like to use the video camera, but loves to be filmed. We go to the woods to find out about managing invasive plants. It starts to rain and she screams, running to the tractor cab. She sits in the tractor and asks someone to take a shot of her. She starts laughing and tells the group that she will drive them all back to college in the tractor. Other members start to clamber into the cab. She quickly orders everyone about when it stops raining, including me. She tells people where to go to pick the Himalayan Balsam.
In the editing sessions she is happy asking people to search for video clips. She asks for a particular clip. When her partner shows her what she thinks is the clip she explains in more detail which clip she wants to include. She grows in confidence in her decision making language. These skills take to a volunteering placement working with young children.
She is currently attending an ESOL course at Level 1. She hopes to take a childcare course after this year.