# Transcript

JULIE MCKIRDY (LIBRARY SUPERVISOR, THIMBLEMAILL LIBRARY)
So José told me his story, and I loved José the minute I met him. He felt like he was my younger brother straight away.
DAVE WILLIAMS (PASTOR, BEARWOOD CHAPEL)
I think the things you realise immediately is that this is someone who’s very open. He’s very passionate.
GERARDO ARRIAGA GARCIA (VOLUNTEER ESOL TEACHER)
He’s a guy of doing things. It’s not about … He’s not a guy of just ideas and talking about the ideas. He likes getting things done.
KEVIN SADLER (SENIOR PASTOR, RAGLAN ROAD CHRISTIAN CHURCH)
There’s just something about the man that was honest, real. I guess, when you’ve been stripped of everything, you can only be real.

TEXT ON SCREEN: The Language of Collective Leadership

José and his family came to the UK to claim asylum.

Until a decision is made by the Home Office, they are not allwoed to take paid employment or claim benefits.

Their court date keeps being adjourned.

JOSÉ GALINDEZ (ASYLUM SEEKER AND ESOL CLASS FOUNDER)
The past three years, I’ve been here. It has been great. It’s a good place, even though it’s considered one of the roughest places to live. For me, it’s a safe place. I feel safe. I feel I can go here, I can go anywhere.

TEXT ON SCREEN: José set up English classes in a diverse community in the West Midlands.

He receives no funding and voluntarily runs the classes with support from the local community.

They are free and open to anyone.

JOSÉ GALINDEZ
We open at 11 o’clock but I have to come and be early to set up. We are in the hub. This is the place where we actually teach the people that want to learn the language. We are in the middle of the park. This is Victoria Park. And now I have to set up one, two, three tables. We’ve got to put the chairs around.
Being an asylum seeker, it is very hard. It is complicated. It’s hard because you leave everything behind, because you need to be in a safer place. People think the worst of it – the asylum seeker, refugee, this foreigner, all these people coming. But they don’t see the problem. And the main problem is we came here looking or seeking protection.
The ESOL classes came about because we started a Bible study. And then, by November, December 2014, we have 30, 40 people in this house. I said, goodness me, where are these people coming from? Not many of them really speak the language. So I started teaching this family and their sons, teach them the language. And I was taking them to the hospital when they needed to go to the hospital. I was the translator for them in the school and the GP. So that’s how the English classes started to grow.
Then, by that time, Pastor Kevin Sadler, he took me to one of the church leader meetings in Smethwick. This is my book. This is my Bible.
KEVIN SADLER
I sensed he was a leader. And people are drawn to him because he’s not the kind of hands-off leader; he’s a hands-on leader. He’s a leader that just sees a need and will help and find others if he can’t do it himself to help them. He reproduces in others who he is. And what I’ve noticed about José is that he gets people to do things. If I go meet him and we have a coffee, I usually end up with a couple of jobs.
JOSÉ GALINDEZ
He introduced me to one of the councillors, Mr Santok Singh. I told the councillor, I said, well, we have a lot of people in our house, in our dining room. We have 10, 15, 20 people and we’re teaching them English, and we need a place. And that very moment, he picked up his phone and he called Mrs Julie McKirdy.
JULIE MCKIRDY
José told me his story, about all the people he met on his journey. And they asked if they could bring their ESOL class to the library. And the rest is really history.
JOSÉ GALINDEZ
We provide it free. We don’t charge. And we don’t get paid. None of the teachers get paid. People who are qualified, and people who say, well, I’m going to devote two hours on Monday and Tuesday here to help – so that’s, that’s amazing.
BOB ADAMS (VOLUNTEER ESOL TEACHER)
Well, my background is that I was a teacher. I’ve taught in primary and secondary. I come here basically because he asked me.
DAVE WILLIAMS
What motivates people to get involved in a project where there isn’t, on the surface, anything in it for them? I think a very key thing is that there’s a compelling vision. I think that’s the first thing. There’s a compelling vision of this is what we’re trying to do. José is able to help people see why something is important and vital. They see his enthusiasm for it.
GERARDO ARRIAGA GARCIA
Most of the people who go to the classes are not because they enjoy it. It’s not because they want to have fun. It’s not just because they want to learn a new language. This is people who need the classes. This is people who are in this country and who need English to communicate.
ALICE LOWE (VOLUNTEER ESOL TEACHER)
I’ll very often have people I’ve never seen before, for the very reason they only arrived in the country last week. So we have to adapt any material we do have and use experience and what we have to help the people who are there.
JOSÉ GALINDEZ
There are difficulties – the lack of resources, because we don’t get funding from no one. So we are very flexible – not only myself, but we, the teachers.
GERARDO ARRIAGA GARCIA
The moment you feel that you are free to teach the way you think you should be teaching, that moment you felt it’s your class, so you take ownership and pride of what you’re doing. It doesn’t look like he would be the leader, even though he works as it, because it’s not hierarchical. It’s more like horizontal. The way he does things is giving you things, just because he believes that he can give you something.
JOSÉ GALINDEZ
It’s a whole different approach. I think it’s the best way to do things, in a way that you work together with everybody, because I see their effort, I see their passion, and I see all those things they give themselves to what we do.
GERARDO ARRIAGA GARCIA
When you have something that is as collective as this, then you actually realise how much you can actually do.
DAVE WILLIAMS
You’ve seeing things happen. You’ve seeing people’s lives changed. From that, I think it follows on that, because this is inclusive, it isn’t passive. Rather than somebody saying, I’ve been taught some English or I’ve been given some advice, it means they’ve been drawn into a community. And they can start to, very quickly, find their role and their responsibility and what they can give back and what they can give on.
JOSÉ GALINDEZ
What I see or what I have seen is the integration of people who would not talk to each other in the streets. They get to know each other here. They get to start having a conversation. Where are you from? These kind of things. So it doesn’t only benefit from the language, but it benefits them to know each other. So you have people from Sudan, from Pakistan, from India, from Romania. And you have different people, and they become friends.
My plans were not to set up a church or English classes. I had more things to worry about. I had this case. Until we get a decision from Home Office, I don’t see any future, because you don’t see any future. You don’t plan. So that really drains mentally, emotionally, because this case depends, everything – our lives depend on this case.
It’s my faith that keeps me going, and the things that we do. And I think, all that is happening the church – the ESOL classes and all that stuff – it gives me something to look into, something to say, no, I have to do it, because if I don’t do it, who else is going to do it? And that gives you the strength to keep going.

TEXT ON SCREEN: José and his family are still waiting on a decision on their asylum application from the Home Office.

Demand for the English language classes continues to grow.