The Home Language Conversation Café is an initiative to welcome immigrants living in the UK who do NOT have English as their first language.
In this friendly and welcoming environment, immigrant speakers of the same language will have the opportunity to connect with their counterparts and find peer support through exchanging experiences about living in a country with a different language and cultural background.
Conversations involve shared experiences about living away from home, including the challenges and opportunities in the (re)settlement process, the impact of cultural differences, types of support available and also funny stories about moving abroad.
The monthly meetings involve several groups/tables. Each group/table speaks in a different language. At the moment we have meetings in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.
*Please, note that this is NOT a language exchange initiative.
Our objectives:
– Create a welcoming/familiar environment where people can meet their peers and share their experiences of living abroad.
– Discuss issues related to immigration and the process of adapting to a different country, culture and language.
– Welcoming new immigrants arriving to Bristol.
– Provide informal peer support through active listening and exchanged experiences, which might help people to overcome the challenge in the adaptation process.
– Sharing information about social activities, learning opportunities and support available in Bristol.
– Fight isolation;
– Develop a sense of belonging and confidence so that people can secure their rights, develop potentials for creativity and achieve more effective participation in the local society.
– Collect life stories to be published in Vocalise magazine or on the LIB (Latinas in Bristol CIC) blog, which supports this project.
