UWI: Free English tuition to refugees

In a release, UWI reported that through the “U, We and Refugees” project in the TESOL programme of the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (DMLL), Faculty of Humanities and Education they have been saying “you matter” to the refugee community by offering free tuition to 80 refugees and their families. UWI noted the special students are currently receiving core instruction in English for 32 hours, and co-curricular instruction in drama, music and dance for 16 hours, at the St Augustine campus. The instruction began on June 10 and will end on June 29.

UWI also reported that in celebration of World Refugee Day on June 20, the DMLL had also enlisted experts to speak on “Contexts, Displacement and the Refugee Situation in the Caribbean.” Represented among the speakers were the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and UWI staff from the Hugh Wooding Law School, the Faculty of Food and Agriculture, the Institute of International Relations, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Humanities and Education. The discussion took place last Friday at the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) and followed by the public screening of the 2015 film Warehoused, a documentary on the plight of long-term refugees.

The week closes on Tuesday with a screening of Beneath the Blindfold in commemoration of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. This event takes place from 6 pm to 7.30 pm at CLL.