Language is identified in the European Union Common Basic Principles as one of the elements in integration. JRS Ireland provides one to one peer tutoring in English language for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants.

Since 2007 JRS Ireland has been developing its language support services.

Three initiatives are underway involving one-to-one peer tutoring in English language for asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants. The first of these involves Transition Year students from Belvedere College who provide language classes to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. Another initiative is being run in conjunction with the Suas Society in Trinity College. The Suas volunteers provide one-to-one peer tutoring for the residents in Hatch Hall Reception Centre. Lastly, the Transition Year students from Clongowes Wood College in Kildare are providing one-to-one peer tutoring in English language to residents of Eyre Powell Direct Provision Centre in Newbridge.

At the moment we are introducing the recently developed TIE English Language examination framework to guide both content and tuition in our classes.

This examination consists of two parts - oral and written - which are marked separately so that our asylulm seeking candidates, who live or who have lived for a long time in Ireland, will have their sometimes high level of listening and speaking skills recognised. TIE is recognised by the Irish Department of Education and Science and follows the Council of Europe grading method. 

JRS hopes to eventually fund a number of candidates for the actual TIE examination leading to their being awarded an internationally recognised certificate.

The TIE preparation content and method will give a common framework to the  English Language Lessons providing a cirriculum for the volunteer tutors to follow and a consistant standard of teaching. 

We also hope that not only will the possiblility of taking a public examination motivate our asylum seeking students but that when they are "dispersed" to other parts of Ireland they will be able to continue their TIE preparation with external support from the volunteers in our English Language programme.

In order to develop the use of the TIE framework we cancelled a weekly evening English Language Lesson previously given in Belvedere College with the help of local tutors and a few Trinity College Alumni. The number of classes offered depends on the availability of volunteer teachers, suitable venues and above all  the collaboration of the management of the direct provision centres.  We are grateful for the support of all parties involved in our English Language programme.

We are grateful to TIE Examinations Ltd, the Advisory Council of English Language Service, Belvedere College SJ, Clongowes Wood College SJ , Alpha College of English Teacher Training and publishers OUP, CUP, Macmillan and John Hinde Postcards  for their help both financially and materially in the preparation and implementation of this new development.

For more information contact  Sr. Eleanor O'Brien RLR Language Acquisiton Officer at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it