English as a foreign language

The problem in recruiting foreign staff is their inability to understand English adequately. Recently in the East Surrey Health District we organised an induction course in Spanish for domestic staff in one of our largest hospitals. (See June issue of this journal). As a result of this course we discussed the practicability of teaching English to members of staff. It was agreed at the outset that we would not teach English in duty time and that members who wished to learn would have to do so in their own time. We tentatively approached Redhill Technical College. Their General Education and Liberal Studies Department agreed that they could provide a course in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). This would consist of twenty 90 minute sessions spread over ten weeks with tutor attending the hospital at a specially arranged fee. The next step was to see if the course was viable numerically and we again approached the Domestic Department. Twelve members of their staff (ten Spanish and two Portuguese) agreed to attend the course in their off‐duty time. We called them together for a talk by the deputy Domestic Superintendent who is a Spaniard and he explained that the course would be given to them free (with a free cup of tea and biscuits at each session!) only on condition that they would agree to attend the whole course.