Jonathon Placement Report

What is your name?
My name is Jonathan .



What is the name of the company you are working at?
I’m working in a Children’s Centre in Burnley.
What is your role in the organisation?
There I’m at a placement and support the whole team.
What are your daily tasks?
I’m a very busy man ;) To my daily tasks belongs to participate in different groups:
Mondays: babymassage, Teenager Lunch Club, Dad’s club (support to cover the group),
Tuesdays: computer course (help other people), working at a college to teach German
Wednesdays: Nursery School, DJ school, Badminton (as a student)
Thursdays: Dodgeball (as a trainer), working at a college to teach German
What are your achievements so far?
I improved my English skills. During my stay here I learned a lot, especially English. It’s now easier to communicate with others. I also became more independent.

What were the challenges and how did you manage them?
The language. I improve my English skills everyday in the way I listen carefully, speak to others and I started reading an English book.
What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?
Continue to improve my English skills. Learn more vocabulary, ask for words I don’t know.



How is your cooperation with colleagues and management in your placement organisation?
Very good. They support me, e.g. they describe words I don’t know.
How do you experience to speak another language at work?
I get used to it. It’s the first time I had to speak another language without somebody standing next to me who will support me. I have to speak English and nobody can translate for me, but I get on with it.
What have you learnt so far?
I learned to work with babies, how to carry them and so on. I also learned a lot about the babymassage, it was something new for me. Furthermore it was new to work as a trainer, I really enjoyed it and I could imagine to go on with it when I’m back in Germany.

Interview with Terri

Located:
Burnley Wood Children’s Centre

What are the aims and objectives of your organisation?
Achieve positive outcomes for families, children and young people.

What are you offering?
We work with families, children and young people who are at risk of poor outcomes and offer education and childcare, family support and outreach work as well as child and family health services.

What kind of jobs/placements can young people do at your organisation?
Young people can do admin and early years work.

What kind of experience did you make with having a foreign student in your organisation?
Cultural awareness for staff and service users like language, food, family info. It’s also an additional resource and it made other staff aware of equality and inclusion.

Stefanie Placement Report

What is your name?
My name is Stefanie.

What is the name of the company you are working at?
I have to two placements. Two days a week I’m working for Embrace Coop. Ltd./Northern Branch. And my second placement for the other two days a week is in a Children’s Centre.

What is your role in the organisation?
I have a placement as Social Pedagogy (Social Work) there.

What are your daily tasks?
First I’ll speak about my tasks for Embrace. I support the Embrace team in different tasks. It begins with the preparation for new groups who arrive in Burnley (Welcome folders, translating CV’s), welcome new groups (introduction, translating, health and safety, show Burnley) over to support them with their placements and life here in UK (answer questions about shopping, excursions etc, visit them at their placements) and finally to say “good bye” (including to prepare and give references together with my colleagues). Furthermore I do the filing. And as well as you can see we have the blog about our experiences in the UK and this is coordinated by me.
Next I’ll explain my tasks in the Children’s Centre. There I work in two teams, Mondays for the Family Intervention Project and Thursdays with the Prevention Early Intervention team. When I work in these teams I assist on the one hand my colleagues at different activities and on the other hand I work on my own. This means I have sessions with the children which I prepare, carry out and evaluate.

What are your achievements so far?
I achieved already a lot. When I came to the UK my English was okay, but I haven’t understood everything because of the accent and it was also a barrier to speak. But this is getting really better. I can follow conversations and contribute to them. So I really improved my English skills. Furthermore I achieved a lot concerning my tasks at my placements. I’m able to prepare, practice and evaluate sessions in English. During my placement at Embrace my achievement is to organise and coordinate a lot of things (blog, documentations etc.).




What were the challenges and how did you manage them?
My biggest challenge was the language. Speaking and understanding was sometimes very difficult. One problem was the accent (it’s not as easy as it is in school) and another the correct pronunciation. So I watched TV, listened to the radio and read books to improve my English skills and of course having conversations. I have the courage to speak not thinking about the correct grammar – just speak.

What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?
My plan for the rest of my placement is to use every single day and every chance I get to take part at sessions, meetings or events. Also to inform myself about the topics which are an issue at my placements and discuss it with my colleagues.

How is your cooperation with colleagues and management in your placement organisation?
The cooperation with my colleagues and management is at both placements very good, we come along with each other very well and they support me during my work (show and explain things). They also ask for my opinion, so I’m involved as much as possible.

How do you experience to speak another language at work?
It’s a very good feeling to speak another language, now. Honestly the first time was hard because I always thought about the correct words and grammar. But now I speak without thinking about if I say it correctly. And everybody supports me in the way they explain words I don’t know.



What have you learnt so far?
I’ve learnt a lot so far. Life skills like how to come along in another country, it means different traffic, a different language and daily life. Furthermore I learnt about the English culture (celebrations, meal and way of living). At my placement in the children’s centre I’ve learnt new techniques concerning the work with children and they also have a little bit different material they use than the once I know from Germany. Furthermore I’ve learnt about the family support system in the UK. Working for Embrace gives me the opportunities to receive more information about exchanging programs and how they work, to work with groups and get to know different facilities and organisations in the area around Burnley and to write reports about the life and work here. And of course I learnt about the organisations I work for.

Frank placement report

What is your name?
Frank Wegner



What is the name of the company you are working at?
Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic College
What is your role in the organisation?
I’m a member of staff. I do all sport specific things at ‘spirit of sport leisure centre’.
What are your daily tasks?
My tasks are:
Supervise groups of students
participate in lessons
support the PE teacher
Visit some sports events (like football year 9 ‘Lancashire cup’ etc.)
What are your achievements so far?
Improved my English and communication skills. Working with youngsters.



What were the challenges and how did you manage them?
Get involved in the lessons.
What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?
Wanna do some more into the lessons. Give some instructions etc. And maybe become more a colleague for the members of staff.



How is your cooperation with colleagues and management in your placement organisation?
I got a really good relationship with my colleagues. We talk together, laugh together as well as work together as a team. I feel really comfortable there.
How do you experience to speak another language at work?
The first days it was difficult but during the time we adjust ourselves with it.
What have you learnt so far?
I think my biggest improvement is my English. I also learnt a lot about the English way of living and traditions.

Katja Placement Report

What is your name?
Katja Blank

What is the name of the company/institution you are working at?
Burnley Borough Council – Town Hall

What is your role in the organisation?
I work at the personnel department of the town hall in Burnley. I assist my colleagues concerning the redundancy preparation, litigation and administrative office work.



What are your daily tasks?
My daily tasks are:
• Pick up the post
• Filing, open new litigation files
• Invite people to meetings and advice sessions concerning the redundancy
• Get chances to attend meetings
• Room booking for meetings
• Typing and writing stuff, typical office work

What are your achievements so far?
My achievements are that I’m able to work in a foreign country, So my English knowledge is probably not as bad as i thought ;-). Here I have normal working days as in Germany. I can handle my tasks, have conversations with colleagues which I can understand and follow them. Everybody is friendly to me and accept me as I am.

What were the challenges and how did you manage them?
My big challenge at work was to make or pick up phone calls. At the beginning it was hard to understand all accents, but now everything is fine. I’m able to handle those situations.

What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?
I will try to start more conversations with my colleagues to improve my English skills. In addition I want to have more impressions how they work in a personnel depart in England because I need more work experience concerning my occupation.

How is your cooperation with colleagues and management in your placement organisation?
Everybody is very friendly. Unfortunately they don’t have so much time to support me or give me specific tasks. I hope I will got more involved in the future. But I have to say because of the redundancy problem there aren’t many tasks for placements at the moment. That’s the problem.

How do you experience to speak another language at work?
My experience is very good concerning my language abilities at my placement. Everybody can understand ma and I’m able to understand my colleagues as well. If I would get the chance to work abroad again after my stay, I would take it because that’s the best way of improving my English skills.



What have you learnt so far?
I learnt that I can be more confident concerning my skills and that my English is not as bad as I thought. I can take challenges wherever I want and the best thing is I met a lot of nice people, which I like very much. Last but not least I want to say that I enjoy the stay very much and it helps me a lot. Thank you very much! ;-)

Christina Placement Report

What is your name?
Christina P.

What is the name of the company/institution you are working at?
Holiday Inn Express Burnley

What are your daily tasks?
Clean tables, wash dishes, tidy up kitchen and breakfast area

What are your achievements so far?
Understand English better than before
Speak more English
Saw London, Manchester and York
What were the challenges and how did you manage them?
To understand the Burnley dialect is really difficult, so I listen and try to communicate.

What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?
Maybe visit Liverpool but there’s too much snow in the moment. I want to see as much as I can from England.

How is your cooperation with the colleagues and management in your placement organization?
They are all very nice people and we have a lot of fun at work.

How do you experience to speak another language at work?
Most of the time I use words and phrases that I’ve known before but sometimes I learn new things and that makes me a little bit proud of myself than I can speak more and more English.

Melanie Placement Report

What is your name?
Melanie

What is the name of the company/institution you are working at?
Slattery – a Patissier and Chocolatier

What is your role in the organisation?
I’m got there a placement as a cake maker.

What are your daily tasks?
It’s around decorating cakes:
Spread sponge cakes with jam and butter cream,
Put Icing and marzipan on the cake,
Decorated cakes for all kind of events including inscription,
Created handmade chocolates.
I decorate the cakes how it is ordered or I get a picture of it and realise it.

What are your achievements so far?
Finding the right way to my placement because my placement is near Manchester and I have to change the busses. Another achievement is that I can conduct conversations with my colleague and that I understand the cake order.

What were the challenges and how did you manage them?
The language, but I speak a lot with locals to improve my English.

What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?
To speak more to my colleagues.

How is your cooperation with colleagues and management in your placement organisation?
I have good conversations 8including to use body language) with my colleagues about baking cakes in the UK and in Germany.

How do you experience to speak another language at work?
It’s hard to learn a new language but my colleagues support me very much, They show me all and explain a lot of things. They are very patient with me.

Nanette Placement Report

What is your name?
Nanette

What is the name of the company/institution you are working at?
Towneley Hall

What are your daily tasks?
Set up tables with cups and sauces
Washing up, hooving
Serve tea, coffee and mince pies to guests
Prepare events
Spend time with school classes

What are your achievements so far?
I understand the sense of sentences people tell me. I overcame my fear to speak English and to ask people if I have any questions.

What were the challenges and how did you manage them?
To understand elder people. I’m always niece and smile although I don’t understand and I ask them to repeat it.

How is your cooperation with colleagues and management in your placement organisation?
It’s great! My colleagues are very nice and friendly. They help me to understand the guests. They take care of me and bring me soup to work and tell me about their life.

How do you experience to speak another language?
It’s a strange situation because I sometimes feel like I don’t have enough vocabulary especially the right words (expressions) to say what I want to say or what I want to know.

What have you learned so far?
How beautiful it is to be at home with my friends and family. That I would never live in England.

Paul Placement Report

What is your name?

Paul

What is the name of the company you are working at?

Forshaws BMW & MINI Specialist

What is your role in the organisation?

Volunteer as a Car mechanic

What are your daily Tasks?

I carry out service checks, brake- pads – and – disc – change as well as health checks.
I help my colleagues to work on the engines and sometimes I work with them on very expensive cars

What are your achievements so far?

I have improved my English language. I have learnt a lot about working in England. I have had a view in to the English culture. I have met a lot of different people.

What were the challenges and how did you manage them?

In the first few weeks I had a big problem with understanding and speaking the English language. I managed to understand it more by learning the body language and lots of new vocabulary.

What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?

I want to have a better understanding of the English language. I hope that I can speak better English. Better understanding of the English working way.

How is your cooperation with colleagues and the management in your placement organization?

Sometimes it is really hard to understand the Lancashire accent. But with time it will get better. My colleagues there are very friendly and helpful. They help me with speaking the right sentences.

How do you experience to speak another language at work ?

At the beginning it was really hard. But then you learn to understand a lot more, if you use the body language and learn a lots of vocabulary. Now I think that the work is not a problem anymore.

Tanja Placement Report

What is your name?
My name is Tanja

What is the name of the company/institution you are working at?
The name of the institution where I work is Towneley House (a residential home).

What is your role in this organisation?
There I’m working as a trainee for occupational therapy.

What are your daily tasks?
My daily tasks were the following:
Make tea for the residents,
Talk to the residents,
Help in the kitchen,
Doing occupations with the residents (bake, art and handicrtafts, talks).

What are your achievements so far?
I had a lot of achievements during the last 4 weeks. The language was the biggest part. I think that I improved my English skills, I understand and speak better English because of this experience here in the UK. I never worked with residents before – so I learned a lot about how to work with residents.

What were the challenges and how did you manage them?
The language was a big challenge for me. But it’s getting better and better when I speak with the residents or other people. The trips we made in our leisure time were a challenge too, like to drive with the correct bus or tube.

What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?
I would like to get to know the residents better and also the staff. Everyday I want to go in an good mood to work. I want to enjoy the last days with the people in the house. I would like to talk a lot in English so that I can further improve my English.

How is your cooperation with colleagues and management in your placement organisation?
The cooperation is very good. If anyone has got problems, they talk to each other. There is a good relationship between staff and management. Everyone is friendly and polite. I never saw a situation of argument. I really felt well in this placement.

How do you experience to speak another language at work?
The first time it was a little bit unaccustomed to speak another language. But after the first two weeks it was normal to speak English. Now I don’t think a lot about the words, I just start to speak.

What have you learned so far?
I learned a lot about the northern English accent. It is really difficult to understand the people. I also learned something about the British life. For example when you cross the street, you should first look right and when left. There are a lot of differences between the UK and Germany like the English breakfast with eggs, toast, beans and sausages.

Thomas Placement Report

What is your name?
My name is Thomas

What is the name of the company/institution you are working at?
Towneley Park City Learning Centre

What is your role in the organisation?
I’m a stuff for media technology.

What are your daily tasks?
Every day is different. My main tasks are web design, video editing and image editing. I also do the set up for events/meetings in and outside the CLC and filming.

What are your achievements so far?
I got the northern accent a bit better. I worked at a couple of events/meetings around Lancashire. I fixed the CLC website. I did filming and video editing for a project from the “Princes trust”.

What were the challenges and how did you manage them?
I had to do some interviews for a DVD. So I prepared questions. I keep talking to get the northern accent and the industrial English.

What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?
I don’t have a real plan but I know there will be a lot to do. I’ll create a new design for the website. I’ll also get few more video projects.

How is your cooperation with colleagues and management in your placement organisation?
All my colleagues are really friendly. I learn a lot from them and learn from me as well, sometimes.

How do you experience to speak another language at work?
It’s not that easy but I think I’m doing well. My English is getting better every nday.

What have you learnt so far?
I learnt about the English way of working. It’s much relaxer than in Germany. I learnt about video editing.

Anna Placement report

What is your name?
Anna

What is the name of the company you are working at?
Offshoots Permaculture Project

What is your role in the organisation?
I am a volunteer at Offshoots and work closely together with the site manager and other volunteers.

What are your daily tasks?
My tasks are very weather dependent due to the facts that Offshoots is a community garden, Horticultural work like weeding, sieving compost or watering plants are as well part of my daily tasks as helping to deliver environmental workshops to school and college groups, volunteers and community groups. I´m involved in coordinating and supervising volunteers and support the site manager with applications for fundings for new projects. So I do both brain work and practical work.

What are your achievements so far?
I realised that my language improved because I´m able to talk fluently with English people and I even understand strong Lancashire accent. I learnt really much about managing a project like Offshoots, but also small things that are important in gardens or in social behaviour. I ran my own workshop and made friends at Offshoots.

What were the challenges and how did you manage them?
Of course I struggled with the English language at the beginning of my adventure here in England, but I didn’t hesitate to speak and listened carefully. I think my biggest challenge was to slow down a little bit. The English way of working is less fast than in Germany and it took some time to adapt. But finally I managed to relax a little bit and I am now fully aware of my position and value in Offshoots.

What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?
I will work as good as possible and try to find something, a workshop or an improvement or something, that reminds the volunteers and staff from Offshoots that I have been there after I left. I want to get stronger involved into funding applications to learn how to write them and in the end I want to be able to write a formal text in English without problems.

How is your cooperation with colleagues and management in your placement organisation?
The site manager as well as the Offshoots staff and the volunteers work closely together with me. We get along really well and have fun with each other. They know that they can rely on me and I know I can rely on them. Some of them are friends now.

How do you experience to speak another language at work?
Sometimes I struggle with explaining interesting facts about plants, traditions or working methods so that the English language seems to be a barrier. But in normal case the person I speak to is patient enough and helpful so that I can manage to say what I wanted to say. I really enjoy speaking English.

What have you learnt so far?
I learnt that I´m quite good in teaching children. I learnt that it seems to be difficult for teenagers from Burnley to get in contact with me. I learnt how to clean a chainsaw and build it together again afterwards. I learnt how to light a fire. I learnt that it is good to stay calm in events of fire at site, frozen pipes or simply heavy workload. And I learnt that I really love England and that I want to stay here.

Interview with Phill Dewhurst

1. Are you a commercial or charitable organisation?
Charity Organisation

2. What are the aims and objectives of your organisation?
From the Management Agreement Offshoots Permaculture Project:
The Offshoots Project shall be managed to fulfil the following objectives:
To provide a learning environment for local people, promoting sustainable practices.
To create demonstration gardens to promote sustainable land and resource management.
To encourage local action by making skills, produce and tool loan available through Burnley LET System.
To provide therapeutic gardening work for Greenspace volunteers.
To work co-operatively with other environmental projects in East Lancashire.
To create the smallest possible ecological footprint whilst achieving these aims projects.

3. What are you offering?
Opportunity to understand Permaculture Principles.
Help to deliver Permaculture Project in a Permaculture Garden Site

4. What kind of jobs/placements can young people do at your organisation?
- Horticulture
- Woodworking
- Beekeeping
→All depending upon season

5. What kind of experience did you make with having a foreign student in your organisation?
Benefited enormously
In case of good level English speaker no problem.
With low level English speaker more or less difficult, because needs more attention and help (translation) → fluency in English required.