SOAS partners with social enterprise Chatterbox to provide online language coaching for SOAS ...

7 May 2020

The School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics is delighted to announce their continued partnership with Chatterbox to provide extra-curricular language coaching sessions for students of strategic and vulnerable languages. Following on from successful projects in 2017 and 2018, the current project has been made possible by generous donations to the school’s fundraising campaign.

Chatterbox is a social enterprise which trains and employs highly skilled and motivated refugees to teach their languages, helping them to integrate socially and economically. Chatterbox and SOAS share a passionate belief in social justice and in language as a key cultural competence and promote the study of language as widely as possible.

Starting in the third team of 2019/20, the school will offer sessions in Bengali, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Somali, Swahili, and Urdu with ambitions to make further languages available over the next months.

In response to the current Covid-19 crisis, all sessions will be offered online, and each session will involve a group of 2-3 students, fostering collaborative learning and social interaction in a time of social distancing.

If you are a SOAS student find out how you can get involved in the scheme on MySOAS .

How to support

These sessions are a key element of support for our students who continue their studies in the difficult circumstances of Covid-19. Please consider supporting this project with a donation which allows us to offer more sessions and more languages. Go to our giving page and choose ‘Chatterbox’ from the ‘Designation’ drop-down menu for gifts small and large.

Thank you from our language students and refugee language coaches!

About Chatterbox

Chatterbox provides a platform for refugees to demonstrate their full potential, connecting their talent with demand from companies. Empowering people to reenter the world of work with confidence and self assertion, we simply provide the tools for them to rebuild a valuable network and achieve professional growth. In parallel, we strengthen businesses with global expertise and inclusivity. Through valuable learner/coach exchange driven by common interests and professional backgrounds, we’re breaking down barriers and tackling social prejudice head on.

For further information, contact:

For further information and enquiries please contact the Chatterbox Team or the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics