Bradford students learning English perform Shakespeare play
A group of students who came to West Yorkshire as refugees or asylum seekers are set to perform Shakespeare's The Tempest, after using the play as a way to improve their language skills.The teenagers are learning English at Bradford College, with some having only been studying the language for less than a year. Their teacher, Esther Wilkey, said learning the play has been more about understanding where language comes from rather than performing. The college has collaborated with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) for the past seven years, and is the only college in the country to use its programme with almost all its students learning English as a second language.
Of the 40 ESOL (English speakers of other languages) students taking part, more than 20 nationalities will take part in the performance on Friday. ESOL lecturer Ms Wilkey said: "What is really powerful about this is we've got so many different nationalities and some of these countries are at war with each other, and we've got peace in our department."
Explaining how she has taught her students the sometimes complex language of Shakespeare, she said: "What's really lovely is sometimes we will look at a text and I will say to them, what do you think that means? "And they will say, I don't know, and I will say, I don't know either let's work it out from the context. "That is really relevant to them, when they come here and they don't understand words. If they can work out the context, that transfers into working on GCSE English."The students have been studying The Tempest since September, and is a tale of shipwrecked strangers meeting on an island which has obvious parallels with their experience as refugees, making Shakespeare's language come alive. Student Daniel Ghadiri said: "I want to be honest with you, when we started Shakespeare, it was boring for me, and I was thinking why do we have to study Shakespeare in Bradford College? "But when we came to the performance it was interesting to me. "If I come to Bradford College next year, I want to do Shakespeare again."
Habiba Syedi added: "It really helps me because Shakespeare obviously, it is the language and the vocabulary, it really helps to improve your speaking skills. "It improves everything like English, friends, teamwork, everything."Abdurrakhman Korzhavin said: "I enjoy because I can show my vision of character to everyone, and the teamwork, it is really helpful."The college was named the 2025 winner of Association of Colleges' The Bell Foundation Excellence in ESOL Award, for its innovative approach to English teaching thanks to its work with RSC. The performance coincides with Refugee Week, which is the world's largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
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