Zoe FordGuess what? SPEAK has landed in Turin and the first set of courses is ready to start! Woohoo!!
I know, I know. We admit it. We might have got a little excited. Can you blame us though?
What you probably don’t know however, is the amount of great work and help that has been behind this SPEAK achievement. And, with the first few courses starting, the success of our very first event in Turin last month and the next one already on the go, what a better time to thank all our new friends!?
Organizations, volunteer teachers and members of the community all joined us last month for a fun event at Casa del Quartiere. The SPEAK spirit was embraced at its fullest, celebrating different nationalities and cultures by learning about each other’s countries and traditions with an Around the World quiz!
Wish you had been there? The good news is that we have another one coming soon! We are hosting one of our renowned Language Exchange events this week so you will have the chance to meet the great people who worked so hard to make SPEAK Torino possible.
We are still all amazed by the hospitality we have received by everyone in Italy to help us to set up in Turin. As SPEAK’s co-founder Hugo says “Our objective is to connect migrants, refugees and locals by giving them the tools they need to integrate. We have launched in Italy to reach more people and to test SPEAK’s methodology outside Portugal so that we can take the project to even more countries where it’s needed. We are very excited to be in Turin and we look forward to working more with our new partners to increase the social impact of SPEAK.”
We would like to thank all of our wonderful Torino partners for their support in taking SPEAK to Italy. We couldn’t have done it without you! Let’s meet them all!
Fondazione CRT is a private, non-profit organisation which targets various sectors, for example education and training, assistance for vulnerable social groups and the preservation and promotion of the artistic heritage and cultural activities.
Fondazione CRT has helped SPEAK hugely with our launch in Italy, and we can’t thank them enough!
Massimo Lapucci, Secretary General of Fondazione CRT says “The chance to support SPEAK was an excellent opportunity for us to import a best practice for the benefit and enrichment of the local territory, and we can already see that there is great potential for the project here in Turin. Working closely with the SPEAK team and with Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and the Laboratório de Investimento Social has been an added bonus as a positive and fruitful example of cross-border collaboration.
Fondazione CRT itself has an important role to play in the local territory, acting as a bridge between the local territory and a wider European and international dimension, which allows us to see which successful best practices from abroad have the potential to be scaled and implemented locally, and SPEAK is a prime example of just that.”
SocialFare® is the first Centre for Social Innovation based in Turin. Founded in 2013, their mission is to catalyse, generate and innovate solutions for the social good, in order to promote change, generate and accelerate new social entrepreneurship, knowledge and social impact.
“SocialFare® is glad to welcome SPEAK and partner with them for their first pilot in Italy!”
Mosaico is a social solidarity based association born in 2007 in Turin by a group of refugees. Their goal is to support social integration of refugees and their families, and to promote the creation of national and international networks of correct information about the issue of forced immigration.
“Mosaico-Azioni per i Rifugiati sees its participation in Speak as a great opportunity to manifest a concrete action towards integration that bases itself on language and cultural exchange.”
Born in 1999 by a group of young active citizens, ACMOS works to find and support educational projects that aim to a democratic integration of all.
“For ACMOS, cooperating with SPEAK means working together to connect people throughout Europe. We believe that this collaboration is of extreme importance as we are working together between organizations of different countries to share our languages and cultures with the new Europeans.”
SPEAK is a project that relies on people to make social change. We can’t reach our goals alone! Our courses are lead by volunteer teachers, who we are so grateful to as they make our project possible! And Turin is no exception.
James is one of our volunteers teaching English in Turin. He enjoys learning about other cultures, and understanding more about the places that people come from.
“The SPEAK event brings people together and gives you the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. I enjoy teaching so that others understand more about my culture, and we can share our experiences and learn together.”
Our Turin community is growing fast, and our courses are just about to start! So why not join us today, share your world and get learning?
