ESOL Course Helps Non English Speaking Student to Realise Her Dream and Open Own Salon in Cornwall.

A Beauty Specialist from Poland has broken down language barriers to pursue her dream of starting her own successful business in Cornwall.

Renata Redas, 43, from Falmouth, worked as a nail technician in Poland for two years before immigrating to the UK. She immediately got a taste for Cornish life by working in a Cornish pasty factory but soon felt restricted due to her struggles with learning the English language.

It was after seeing an advertisement for an English language course at Truro and Penwith College that Renata decided to give her ambition of opening her own nail salon another shot.

“I arrived in England in 2013 and moved to Cornwall,” she said. “I enjoyed my time at the factory but my passion is beauty and I really wanted to work in the area I love, but, I needed to learn English to speak with my customers.”

After one year of working in the factory, Renata applied for an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) course at Truro and Penwith College. ESOL is a 4-8 week programme that provides students whose first language isn’t English the opportunity to develop their language skills.

“The ESOL course helped me break down the language barrier,” she said. “It really helped me to learn the language, which has been important in the preparation of my business. It has also given me the confidence to speak with my clients, which is really important for the social environment in a salon.”

In Poland, Renata took several courses to learn her trade and become a beauty therapist. She then received a certificate for earning her licence to practice nail therapy and eyelash treatments.

Renata’s salon, Renee Beauty, has grown from a start-up business to having over 50 regular clients.

She said: “The salon has been very successful, and growing at a fast rate, with new customers on a daily basis. Beauty has always been a passion of mine, and it was an amazing feeling to achieve my dream and start my own beauty salon.”

Renata’s teacher, Louise Canham, an ESOL trainer from Truro and Penwith College, was impressed by Renata’s progress: “Renata has passed her E1 and E2 this year and she recently left her factory job and set up her own salon in Falmouth. She also created a website and Facebook page in English, which looks very good!”

“I learnt a lot at Truro and Penwith College, and I want to learn more. Louise is a very good teacher, and I am so glad she is the one who taught me,” added Renata.

Truro and Penwith College has expanded their team due to growing popularity of the course. Paul Green joined with previous experience as an ESOL Tutor (English for Speakers of Other Languages). Paul takes great pride in measuring his students’ progress and watching them start to communicate in order to be able to integrate into their communities and progress in their lives.

Another new member of their ESOL team previously worked in the private and state sectors in the UK and abroad, Cyd bases her classes on developing learner confidence with a strong focus on the language and skills learners need to progress. Having lived in South America for 11 years, Cyd has personal experience of the kind of language and cultural issues ESOL learners face.

To find out more about how you could benefit from one of Truro and Penwith College’s Part-Time courses, visit the website.