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THE BEST OF ALLEGRO

"You tell that Commission that we want more Dutch lessons."
A learner attending a taster course in Nottingham Prison, England

People with learning disabilities in Nottingham, England enjoy singing, ‘I can see clearly now,’ in French and La Bamba.

"I have learned as much from the people I have taught as they have learned from me."
A teacher in Nottingham, England

Nottingham prison, UK, teaches Dutch, Spanish and Italian.

500 marginalised learners across Europe are learning languages with ALLEGRO.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS IN DENMARK

In December 2004 we finished a Swedish group at Lokalcenter Vestervang which is a municipal care and activities centre for pensioners staying at the centre and living in the local area.

The group consisted of eight pensioners all residents at the care centre; normally none of these ladies would have an opportunity to learn Swedish because they were all strongly walking impaired and one was also blind Allegro coming to them gave them an unique opportunity to take part in a language class.

The teacher was not a trained teacher but a Swede living in Denmark and he introduced the group to Swedish language and culture. They had many discussions among them the teacher speaking Swedish and the pensioners speaking Danish - on subjects ranging from linguistic differences between Swedish and Danish over immigration policies to Swedish Christmas traditions. The teacher also happened to be a professional musician and he always brought his guitar and sang one or two Swedish songs with the group.

One sure subject whenever foreigners meet is food and the teacher told the group about some of the typical courses they had in his childhood in Sweden and the rumour spread to the centre restaurant who obtained the recipe for a Swedish speciality called Janssons Frestelser. and t was put on the menu one Friday in the centre restaurant which caters to about 300 residents and outside users of the centre.

Although Sweden is our neighbour Danes are not well-acquainted with the country, its language or culture and the members of the group felt they got a better understanding of Swedish and have learned a lot about Sweden.

And activity like this has never been offered at the centre before Allegro introduced it. Coming together to learn about another European country and its language is quite different and to many users more challenging than the standard activities. It generated a general interest in this kind of language learning and when later on we offered an Italian course 15 people signed up.

Members of the English class with teacher Miss Lene Jørgensen