hey! i'm khawar and i head things up at somos 😊👋🏽
growing up with my nani (grandma) in southall, west london i spoke a blend of languages that represented my family's migratory history - punjabi, urdu, english (each peppered with swahili words & phrases).
like a lot of second/third generation migrants to places like the uk, my teenage self gradually let english take over at home and school (especially after a fresh prince style move to greater london suburbia 😱)!
as an adult wanting to reconnect, i was fortunate to set-up and run apples & pears - a charity that built community projects with often overlooked groups across london.
engaging with migrant communities similar to the ones i grew up in brought me halfway 'home' and i was eager to complete the journey!
lacking the confidence to bring it up (or practice!) with my wider family, i started looking for online punjabi, urdu and swahili teachers as a way of revisiting my heritage and ancestral memory.
the process uncovered some uncomfortable truths:
- online 1:1 language teachers often face poor pay, burnout, loneliness and no or limited access to employee style benefits.
- as a student (especially of heritage, creole languages), it's not always easy to find reliable conversation partners to practice with!
- most of the world's 7,000+ languages have very little online/digital representation, worse still up to 40% of those are in danger of extinction over the next 80-100 years.
enter somos... a project on a mission to:
- enable teachers to earn & live well;
- provide access to affordable language education; and
- support language rights for all people.
we've ambitious goals for somos, starting with our free to join community for online language teachers, which - if you teach languages online - we invite you to join here!
we'll soon be launching our 4-week conversation courses too!
- language teachers: apply to become a course creator here.
- language learners: you can browse our courses here.
if you'd like to find out a little more about how somos is managed, our team, plans for the future and approach, please see below.
thanks!
- km 😘
you're welcome to connect with me👋🏽:
linkedin | twitter | instagram | newsletter
