SOL NEEDS YOUR HELP

SOL is a charity which is trying to help young people who live a financially very restricted life in European countries which themselves have got enormous costs of reconstruction following 45 years of communist rule.

Our work may not be life-saving, but it is life-changing. Having good English will open up career opportunities they could not dream of and travel possibilities too - ones that are taken for granted by people in other parts of Europe and North America.

For these countries good English speakers are essential for trade with other countries, and will also enhance other links across cultural, educational and tourism related areas.

SOL does not wish to compete with the innumerable charities, which help the ill, the dying, the handicapped and the old in so many wonderful ways. We do hope though that people will see how important our work is, helping ordinary young people living in economically very poor circumstances get themselves a far better future.

English is so taken for granted by most people whose first language it is, but to put it into perspective, think on the questions:

• How many world famous actors/actresses don't speak English?
• How many world famous authors don't write in English?
• How many world famous singers don't sing in English?
• The answer is probably close to zero!

How many of them would have been world famous if they hadn't had English? Despite their talents, few if any would have succeeded. The cinemas of the world are full of English language films, even if they are dubbed. The book shops are full of English language authors, albeit translated and the CD sales across the world are overwhelmingly English songs.

English is the main international language of communication and trade, with many more people speaking it as a second language rather than as a first.


HOW DOES SOL HELP?

Our main work is the recruitment, VSO style, of native speaker teachers into state schools and colleges in several countries of Eastern & Central Europe, in particular Romania, Hungary and the Czech and Slovak republics. With more help we could do more. The teachers earn as little as £80 a month in Romania and up to about £300 in Hungary. Average salaries are about that level, which shows why so few of them can afford to travel abroad.

Having regular contact with a native speaker teacher can transform a student's ability dramatically. This is because a very high proportion of their teachers themselves only learnt English after 1990 when Russian was removed as compulsory language. Up to then English, particularly in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, had been terribly restricted so there were very few teachers able to teach it when the lid was taken off and almost every young person wanted to learn it. In these two countries 20,000 teachers of Russian suddenly faced a future with no work. A very high proportion retrained to teach English, but had to learn it first!! Their students meanwhile had MTV and films to pick up on English. Very many of these teachers still lack the confidence to speak English in the classroom, so their students never get a chance to use it themselves, even if the theoretical knowledge is good.

A native speaker teacher will tap into this knowledge and transform the student's confidence to use English, and in real rather than text book contexts. In a year a SOL teacher will teach between 150 and 300 students and whilst we don't claim life changing results for all, many of them will certainly have very much better opportunities as a result. Since 1991 SOL has recruited around 500 teachers for 1 year contracts, thus benefiting well over 100,000 students.


WAYS OF GIVING

Any donation would be appreciated and will be acknowledged. Don't forget that if you live in the UK, through gift aid or covenant, whatever you give will be increased by the basic rate of tax as long as you are a taxpayer. You may click here for the forms.

If sending a cheque, our address is: SOL, Bridge Chambers, The Strand, Barnstaple, Devon EX31 1HB
If you would prefer to send a donation by Bank Transfer, then here are our details. You may prefer to send a donation using your credit or debit card. This is a very secure way and can be done by clicking on either of these two organisations that handle charity giving. You will need to specify that you wish to give to SOL (or Services for Open Learning, which is our full title). Our charity number is 1019182.
www.givenow.org or www.dovetrust.com
For those with a charity card, you can give directly from that by going to www.CAFonline.org.