Bridgwater & Taunton College are proud to celebrate 10 years of our award-winning Conversation Café. Located in the Learning Resource Centre (LRC), this special occasion was marked by over 40 ESOL students and staff as well as a cake-cutting ceremony led by Adam Sturt, Deputy Director of Quality. The Conversation Café is a weekly drop-in session enabling speakers of other languages to practise their conversational English over a cup of tea or coffee in a social yet educational environment.

The initiative is facilitated by library staff and a new topic is chosen each week to initiate a conversation and equip the Café members with everyday language skills. Topics range from talking about diverse countries, cultures, and traditions to “how things work in the UK”.

The Conversation Café also supports students’ literacy skills by engaging them in library reading initiatives. Members who participate successfully will receive a Reading Ahead certificate when they complete six books. This builds on their confidence, which encourages students to advance their literacy skills and motivates them to read continuously.

Jolanta Peters, Research & Library Services Manager said

Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of the college’s ethos and it’s great to see that the Conversation Café initiative in the LRC plays a valuable part in embracing this. Over the years we have witnessed the positive impact that the Café has had on students’ language and literacy development and building their confidence levels.

If you want to find out more, visit our website on www.btc.ac.uk or call 01278441234.