Date:

11th June 2026
12:00 – 13:00hrs

Venue:

This workshop is delivered remotely via Zoom.

Description:

South West Councils are happy to offer this upcoming forum hosted by English Unlocked.

Student with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) is a well-known term among educators in the United States but not well known here.

Many ESOL students have below functional literacy in English, but not all of them are SLIFE. Students who missed a lot of education may be unable to read or write in their first language. This has a massive impact on their ability to take independent action here in the UK, and learning English is much harder without classroom skills or the ability to write things down.

Everyone who has experience of supporting non-literate refugees in invited to the forum. You may also find it helpful to attend our training on the topic. Unlike the training, the forum is a networking opportunity and a chance to learn from your peers. We’ll share some of our findings, and we look forward to learning from you.

Who is the forum for?

Are you an ESOL practitioner, or a resettlement worker? You’re invited to share your experiences of helping Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE).

About Shelley:

I’m the founding director of English Unlocked workplace training providers. My previous career was teaching ESOL. For 25 years I taught English to people from around the world, some of whom could not read or write in their own language.

During all those years I never heard the term SLIFE, but I wish I had done. It would have been so helpful to understand the connection between being SLIFE and struggling in the ESOL classroom, and I think I would have started looking actively for indicators that my students were SLIFE. In retrospect, I could have served these students better.

About Joshua:

Joshua is a Refugee Resettlement Team Leader and an expert in Refugee and Migrant Personal Finance. In 2018 a refugee that he was supporting revealed that he could not read or write his first language. Joshua began to explore strategies to help this young man become more self-sufficient, strategies he shares in the workshop that he co-created with me.

Price: FREE, 40 places available on a first-come first-serve basis.

Please use this Application Form to enrol, and return the form to training@swcouncils.gov.uk

Course reference: SMP/26/130
Closing date: 1st June 2026