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WHAT IS ERM?

An ESOL teacher with a class

ERM is English for Refugees and Migrants.

Refugees and migrants are different to any other group of English language learners.

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This means the way we teach has to be different too.

TRAUMA-INFORMED

Refugees may have been through huge amounts of trauma before they arrive in your classroom. This can cause issues with:

  • Choosing appropriate lessons, materials, and activities

  • Classroom behaviour

  • Educational achievement

  • … and many more.

 

Trauma-informed teachers anticipate problems before they arrive, manage issues calmly, and create a safe environment in which to learn.

Traumatised learner
Displaced student

DISPLACEMENT-AWARE

The effects of displacement also affect your classroom. Refugees and migrants can experience instability or mental health problems arising from:

  • Uncertain legal status 

  • Temporary housing 

  • Family separation

  • Lack of stable relationships

  • Lack of income 

 

Understanding the effects of displacement means that as a teacher you can manage your class well, avoiding confrontations.

 

Your learners will leave the class happier and more uplifted than when they arrived.

CULTURALLY COMPETENT

Refugees and migrants in your classroom come from a wild variety of backgrounds. 

  • They may have been educated to postgraduate level, or have never been to school.

  • They may have had continuous education, or very disrupted education.

  • They may be from a European country with a similar language structure to English, or speak a language that has nothing in common with it.

  • They may have lived in this country for many years, or be newly arrived.

 

All of these learners can be in the same class, nominally at the same level.

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Learning how to manage this variety means every member of your class is valued the same, and each person can gain from being in it.

Asylum seekers learning ESOL in a class
Learning to write

BEGINNER FOCUSED

You won’t know what a Zero Beginner is until you’ve taught an ERM class. Zero (or True, or Absolute) Beginners often have no English, or at maximum a very few words.

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Sometimes, they also cannot read or write in their native language.

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There may be one, two, or more of these in your regular Beginners class.

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Teaching them may seem a challenge, but all you need are some tried-and-tested techniques. They’ll be overjoyed with the rapid progress they make, and as a teacher there’s no better feeling.

With us, you’ll learn the essential skills to teach this amazing group of learners.

A confident English language teacher

What at first seems a challenge will become the essence of an always-interesting, highly rewarding career. That’s the same whether you’re a paid or a volunteer teacher.

 

Without these skills, you’ll be walking into an ERM classroom blind.

 

  • Accidentally triggering someone’s trauma

  • Unable to manage the classroom with calm and serenity

  • Focusing on what’s easy, not on what’s right

  • Leaving some of your learners behind

 

They’re easily done without the right training. With a course from TERM, you'll feel confident and supported as you teach.

FAQs

What's the difference between ERM and ESOL?

ESOL stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages. It’s a term used in the UK and Ireland for English aimed at those wishing to settle and make a life there. 

 

In practice, ESOL is usually aimed at refugees and migrants. However, it’s not an international acronym, and it’s little understood outside the UK and Ireland. Therefore, we prefer to use ERM as it does what it says.

What’s the difference between refugees and asylum seekers?

A refugee is anyone who has fled their country due to persecution, war, or violence, and cannot return home.

 

An asylum seeker is someone who is claiming refugee status, but this hasn’t been legally decided. With refugee status comes greater legal security. However, not every asylum seeker will be recognised as a refugee.

 

At TERM, we include asylum seekers within our definition of ‘refugees’. We recognise, however, that some asylum seekers may be seen legally more as ‘migrants’, while those with refugee status have a greater degree of security in their new country.

What are the other types of English language learners?

EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners often study the language to help them with business, foreign travel, or for social reasons. It’s important, but not as urgent as learning the language is for ERM learners.

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EAP (English for Academic Purposes) learners are usually college or university students who need academic English to study for a course. 

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EAL (English as an Additional Language) learners are children whose first language is not English. They can be the children of refugee and migrant parents. ERM learners, however, are all adults.

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ESP (English for Specific Purposes) learners are studying for a particular need. This is often professional, for example, Medical English for those in the healthcare professions, or Hospitality English for those who work in catering or hotels.

 

Refugee and migrant learners could be included within an ESP class if they are studying to fulfil a specific need.

Do you have to be a qualified teacher to teach ERM?

Not always, especially if you are a volunteer teacher. However, it depends on where you work. Our Core Skills course assumes a good level of knowledge around teaching methodologies and lesson planning.

 

To teach ERM, it will help you to have a qualification such as CELTA or certTESOL. These are courses accredited by Cambridge and Trinity College London respectively, and they will train you to teach EFL. They can be very useful if you’re not sure of the basics of teaching English as a foreign language.

 

We currently run short courses for people who wish to learn the core skills in teaching ERM.

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