Hull Chinese Community Centre Set up to serve the Chinese community in Hull, which is spread across many of the outlying villages as well as the city itself, the ACLF project provides help to individuals with poor English language skills and other basic skills needs. The work is based on a small estate of bungalows built for the Chinese community, in a purpose- built room. Working with individuals from 18 to 80 years old, some of whom may have very little contact with the outside world due either to unsociable working hours or childcare responsibilities, the centre offers a way of meeting people and building confidence. The project is very much a partnership. Century Housing owns the building, Beverley College holds the funds and pays the project co-ordinator as well as providing a tutor for IT courses and help with planning issues. The community centre itself houses a voluntary group with 200 members across the Chinese population of Hull, and the project co-ordinator is the group's vice president. The centre offers two levels of English language classes. Individuals are informally assessed by the project co-ordinator and assigned to one of the groups. Progress is monitored and individuals moved up when relevant. In tandem, the centre runs IT courses although individuals normally need a certain level of English before they can start these. The courses have experienced very low drop-out levels and their popularity has grown as word spreads. One of the key factors in the project's success is that the project co-ordinator is a native Chinese speaker and so can tailor the courses directly to the needs of her learners. Learners are also able to communicate much more effectively with her as their guide and are able to ask questions in their own language and be understood. Some of the learners have tried adult education classes before but didn't stay or feel that they were making progress. The provision is unique in the area. Working with the tutor from Beverley College has also had its advantages. Having the project co-ordinator on hand to provide translation had made it far easier and less threatening for individuals to work with a non-Chinese speaker. "I may be the first Caucasian person that they have had any real contact with so it really helps build their confidence about talking to the white community". So far the centre has put 50 individuals through an OCN-accredited course (levels 1 and 2) in IT, and for a lot of these people, this will be their only qualification. Other outcomes are less easy to measure but Learners highlighted things such as shopping in British supermarkets, and communicating with their children via e-mail. Also, some individuals are illiterate in their own language, so coming to the classes has given them literacy skills which they have never had before.

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