We all like beautiful things, don’t we? When we find something magnificent, we have a great desire to keep it. Have you ever collected something? I collected stamps when I was in primary school. I had two stamp albums, and most of the stamps were from my...
Food For Thought | Learner-led Blog Project 2022 - 2023
We wanted to use more of our online platforms to offer a voice to people learning English, whilst at the same time developing English language skills in a creative, meaningful and practical way. This blog aims to give people learning English the opportunity to voice their thoughts, opinions and stories in English in a creative, structured and reflective process. This is a 4-week rolling project run by Heart & Parcel volunteers, where previous blog writers will continue to mentor new writers to the project, and benefit from the help & support of volunteers to feedback, reflect and discuss their ideas before publishing.
Below are the resulting blogs in their complete form. Please take a look and comment your thoughts and ideas to the authors!
The Bloggers meet twice monthly on Mondays. If you would like to be part of this blog and find out more information about the date and time of the session, please fill out the form below to be put into our WhatsApp group.
Heart & Parcel Blog
Fill out this form to join our monthly blog project! We have two sessions a month, and then time to write your blog with feedback from our volunteers.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | The First Time I Had a Cooking Class with Heart & Parcel in the UK, by Suki
First cooking class in my life Have you ever attended a cooking class? Do you still remember when you had your first cooking class? When I was a Primary school student in Hong Kong, I still remember my first time cooking was taken in the youth service centre, where I...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | It Is My Stick I Lean On, by Asmahan Al-Atrash
Once upon a time, I witnessed an interviewer conversing with a job seeker who was down on their luck. The interviewer urged the individual to look for work, but the job seeker responded with a heart-breaking “I have no skills.” The interviewer replied, “You can learn...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Gnocchi: A Family Tradition, by Giada
I believe that talking about food, recipes, cooking is a typical topos of my people, perhaps even a preconception about us Italians. Thinking of my family, my friends, my previous colleagues left behind in Italy, I know that for most Italians this is not the case. We...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | A Cost Paid Off, by Pat Tsang
A Cost Paid Off Dear Piano White What a long journey! Finally, I returned to my mistress again after six months of waiting and traveling. Luckily, I am not a pet; otherwise, I could have died at any point in the container ship on my way to England. ...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT | The Familiarity of Blessings, Asmahan Al-Atrash
Most of us wake up secure in our property, healthy in our body and have our food, water to drink from, electricity and a warm home. How lucky are we? However, despite all those blessings that surround us, we constantly find people sad, angry, upset, depressed, and...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG |Family Time, by María Verónica Paredes
I enjoy December! Christmas and New Year are celebrations where we spend lots of lovely time with family and friends. Well in advance, we start to prepare all the stuff for these special occasions and when the days finally arrive… the feeling of being close to people...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | A Woman Who Inspires Me, by María Verónica Paredes
Some time ago, I met Rita at the Sports Centre. She arrived on her bicycle with a lovely smile, and she was very independent. When we chatted, she said: “I am Rita and I have Alzheimer’s”. Rita’s philosophy is that every day will be the best day. She loves to do sport...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | When the Sun Rises in the Southeast, by Pat Tsang
When the Sun Rises in the Southeast... It is quite common to ask friends about which season they like the most. I can tell you that most of my friends from Hong Kong like winter. It is no surprise as we can enjoy moderate temperature and plenty of sunshine even in...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Everyone Has Their First Day, By Asmahan Al-Atrash
The beginning of every stage of my life is the most beautiful because there are memories in it that I cannot forget as everyone has their first day in their studies, driving, school, university and at work. As well as this, most people feel fearful and anxious in that...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Swim Like a Fish Takes to Water, by Yaser Almasri
Hobbies play very important role in our lives. Hobbies bring us away from stress and some activities help us to keep fit and stay fit. There are dozens of different kinds of hobbies. For instance, playing football, gardening, swimming and cycling. My favourite...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | A Golden Opportunity By Svetlana Artemjeva, Asmahan Al-Atrash, María-Verónica Paredes and Pat Tsang
In this article from our Food for Thought Blog you will read the experiences of blogging from our core blogging collective as they offer advice and their opinions of learning English through writing creatively.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | A Travel Nanny, By Svetlana Artemjeva
Another dream comes true😊 Is it possible to make your dreams come true? I am going to tell you again about one of mine and how it came true. For a long time, my dream was to travel to Italy. But I never had anyone to go with nor time nor...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | What Life Has Taught Me (2), by Asmahan Al-Atrash
Your life begins with your thoughts. Change your thoughts to change your life. Let’s now continue from my very first blog post which was about what life has taught me with another important topic. Life has also taught me that sadness and misery are not all about...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Believe, by Dalia Eufracio
The verb Believe means to accept, feel sure about something being true, in others words believing requires FAITH. That’s it! . Faith in what you do, faith that today is a wonderful one, faith to solve your problems, faith that the world has the chance to be better...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG |Making ‘Newspaper-paper bag’ (it is not a tongue-twister!), by Aya Yoshitomi
Do you read a paper newspaper or online newspaper? If you have some old paper-newspapers, I'm going to introduce “Shimanto Newspaper Bag”. Actually, I’m an instructor of this humorous activity. I had worked for a newspaper company and now run a small bookshop. My love...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Reading… How to Start and Hone Your Skills?, By María-Verónica Paredes
Reading… how to start and hone your skills? If you like to occupy your mind or want to improve your language skills, reading is a great hobby. Starting to read does present some challenges: new vocabulary, unfamiliar “idiomatic expressions”, slang, and several other...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Graduation, by María-Verónica Paredes
My family decided to move to Scotland from Peru. The “Project” was to assist our daughter, Steffi, to have the opportunity to study for a degree she couldn’t have in our country and, additionally, perfect her English. This experience had challenges and rewards:...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Where Does the Weather Take You?, by Pat Tsang
Where does the weather take you? The first thing I do after getting out of bed every day is to check out the weather. I open the curtain and look up at the sky. As long as it is a bright day, I will be happy. I am always bothered by the weather....
FOOD FOR THOUGHT | May You See What I Saw, By Pat Tsang
May You See What I saw … Dear friends, amazing things do happen. I must share with you my wonderful experience that I had recently. One morning, I left home for dentist surgery which was booked at 10:15. My husband and I went to get our car at around...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | How Do We Syrian Welcome Newborn Babies, by Asmahan Al-Atrash
As I worked in the field of obstetrics in Syria for a long period of my life and as a mother of six children, I would like to talk about the ceremony of welcoming the new-born in my country so you could learn about our culture. Receiving a new-born is one of the...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Women’s Unity – Influential Empathy to Guide Our Lives, By María-Verónica Paredes
These days, I was thinking about a lovely subject to share with you and finally, I thought about the question - how important is the relation that we have with the other women? How influential are women in our life? Why is empathy important – and how can we, as women,...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Daffodils, by Tsang Pat
Have I ever made your world prettier ? My dear friends, when your car is waiting at a roundabout, or when you are taking a walk in a park in your neighborhood, have you noticed daffodils are dancing in the breeze, saying hello to you? If so, Spring has...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Dreams and Gratitude, by Svetlana
We mostly don’t receive what we want, but usually only what we really need… I am going to tell you about wonder that had happened in my life 6 years ago and it was amazing. It was April 2016 when I went to an interview in Greenwich through Canary Wharf by DLR train. I...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Why is Reading Important?, by María-Verónica Paredes
Find time to read and enjoy your books! You will find pleasure in exploring different subjects and at the same time you will improve your knowledge, grammar rules and your vocabulary!! And have some relaxing fun while empowering your mind! The written word is a gift we should all enjoy! And that is why reading is important!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Video Game Addiction, by Asmahan Al-Atrash
My friend visited me with her 7-year child. I was wondering because he does not interact with people at all, does not talk, and concentrate when people talk to him. I asked her about his situation, she replied “He was born normally but this happens becuase he addicted...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | It’s Time to Put My Big Girl Pants On, By Tsang Pat
Do you like sports? Which ones? How often do you play them? Have you given up any already? I like playing sports, namely Badminton, Tennis, Swimming, and Dancing. What’s more, when I was in secondary school, I joined the...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Together Apart (Contigo en la distancia, estoy), by Zeltzin
It was already dark outside, and the air was fresh. I was relieved to know I was going to be able to rest a little after a long working week full of activities at Legislative Museum of the Mexican House of Representatives (http://museolegislativo.diputados.gob.mx/)...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Thinking About Diversity From My Dog, by Aya Yoshitomi
Do you feel comfortable with dogs? My family has a female traditional Japanese dog, named Fuku. She is a Shikoku dog. The name ‘Shikoku’ comes from the name of the island we live in. They spread from the island. It is said that Shikoku is one of the most...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | When It Doesn’t Rain But Pours, by Pat Tsang
If you live in the UK, you must have been experiencing the three storms named Dudley, Eunice, and Franklin that hit us in a week this February. It is hard to imagine that the storms would come one after another. What a week! It was also an “extraordinary” week...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | The Special Importance of Mental Health to Migrant Women, by María-Verónica Paredes
“Mental Health” is a vast subject. Briefly, it is synonymous with emotional, psychological, and social well-being that forms in childhood and we should constantly nurture it, even after our childhood is finished, because our actions and feelings depend on it. In the...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG |Boost Your Health Just Breathing Air and More… It Is Free!, by Dalia Eufracio 
There are times in our life that we feel ill, anxious, stressed…. There are many techniques to improve our condition: exercise, meditation and relaxation practices for example. Personally. I have found out that what makes me feel better is a practice called “deep...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Love Cures by Asmahan Attrash
I got told that my mom is very sick and that she can't move, eat, drink and she was on intravenous fluids. I flew to her immediately and found her pale and white and her skin sagging. The cause of her illness was because of her deep sadness as her children are far...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Platter of Food “Sawachi”, by Aya Yoshitomi
Do you like having people round for a dinner party? One of my favorite comics is “A Bride’s Story” by Mori Kaoru. The background is West Turkestan in the 19th century. In the story, people sit down round on beautiful carpets and eat food on big platters. In the...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Lets Talk About My Daughter by Pina Tai
Yes, I’m a mother and my daughter is 5 years old. She is in reception class. We come from Hong Kong and live at Manchester about one year. She really loves live here. "When things get hard, we fall apart on the people we feel safest with." One day afternoon when she...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | ‘Do you like cooking?… Enjoy gastronomic cultural diversity too!!’, by María Verónica Paredes
For some days now, I have been thinking about a lovely experience I had when I invited my friends from South America living in St Andrews in Scotland for tea. Meeting friends at the weekend is always lovely but this experience was different because the idea was to...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | A Home for Bees by Pat Tsang
Do you know that Bees are one of the symbols of Manchester City? I haven't bothered to find it out until now I’m sitting down to write. I was not a fan of animals or insects of any kind, more precisely, I just liked what other people did -- worked...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | “Fancy a Cuppa?”, by Pat Tsang
Hong Kong is a place where you can enjoy a cup of tea with a unique flavour and aroma. It is a drink made from a mix of several types of Black Tea going with evaporated milk and sugar. You can find this special taste of tea from most of the local “Tea...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | How I Met Heart & Parcel, by Aya Yoshitomi
下記アイテムのスナップショット: How I met Heart & Parcel I’d like to tell you how I met with Heart & Parcel at first… You know, there are many street papers selling in the world. In Japan, the Big Issue Japan started their work in 2003. The company was established...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | What Life Has Taught Me, by Asmahan Attrash
What life has taught me... I am over the age of 50 and a mother of 6 children. I worked in a medical field for 19 years and I met lots of people in my life, so life has taught me a lot and some of which were positive and fun whilst others were negative and...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Is Veganism the Future?, by Marilia Okuyama
The term "vegan" was coined in 1944 but the concept can be traced a long before that. The idea promotes benevolence among all species, humans and non humans, by avoiding the usage of any kind of product or process that involves animals and poor human working...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Differences Between Living in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, by Pina Tai
Hi! I was born and raised in Hong Kong, I lived in Hong Kong for about 32 years, and I moved here about one year ago. So, it is really great, and I want to remember everything that I see about the differences between living in Hong Kong and the United...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BLOG | Improve Yourself by Learning English, by María-Verónica Paredes
I was thinking about an interesting subject to write and share with you and finally, I decided this subject is very interesting for us - women from different countries living in UK. We are in the UK to enjoy more opportunities than in our countries and learning...
Recipe for Success: Making it as a community food project.
4Lunch in partnership with Commonplace
Heart & Parcel Celebrating International Women’s Day 2021
Join us at Heart & Parcel International Women’s Day Festival this year as we celebrate all the wonderful women in our lives, their stories, experiences, skills and knowledge!
Food for Thought | Whose Food?
We explore and delve in deeper to the themes of food in our project, looking at issues of othering, cultural appropriation, and assumpltions over who earns what food.
#BlackLivesMatter
We’ve been watching the news unfold in front of us, the various events that have taken place over the last few weeks. We are moved, saddened, shocked and angry. We stand with the Black Lives Matter protesters and support those in America fighting for justice for the...
‘Come Online with Me’ Food, Connection and ESOL during COVID19 lockdown in the UK – the highs and the lows, and recommendations for others
a post by our Director Clare on our most recent devleopment: Online Cooking & ESOL classes. Here, she speaks about the process, the highs and lows and advice for practitioners carrying out similar work with their learners.
Donate to Heart & Parcel
Donate to our project to support people ?learning English to flourish in their local communities and forge connections by developing English language and communication skills through the medium of food.
Heart & Parcel Ideas for Staying at Home
Heart & Parcel’s collection of TEN tried and tested foodie activities to try out whilst self-isolating at home.
An Evening to Remember.. our Cookbook Launch, June 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OruUQRfJURg Levenshulme-based dumpling project Heart & Parcel to publish first ever cookbook in June 2019 in order to continue providing English language support for migrant women in Manchester. “Dumplings in all cultural forms are...
Why dumplings? why women? Why ESOL? Why supper clubs?
After three years of running our project, it is really important to reflect on why we decided to set up. The post below sets out the background research we did relating to women from communities who access ESOL provision. It also displays our attempts to fund raise to...
Recipe for Success with 4Lunch – Heart & Parcel Founders talk dumplings and community projects.
From 4Lunch's website: Discover what it takes to run your own food business at 4Lunch’s Recipe for Success events for aspiring foodies, entrepreneurs and community projects in Manchester. The food and drink scene is thriving and there are many opportunities to get a...
Past Reflections of an ESOL tutor
This was an excerpt from a piece of reflective writing written back in July 2015 by founder and then ESOL tutor, Clare. Although written a while ago, she has decided to share this to contribute to the ongoing conversation of the direction for ESOL provision, and...
Setting up a community project: our experiences
As we have passed into our 3rd year running Heart & Parcel, we find ourselves looking back fondly at the work we have done, the women we have met and the hundreds of dumplings we have made (and eaten). Over the years it has been really exciting to see that we have...
Dumpling Lessons: The importance of learner centred sessions.
When we do our private workshops we know our structure very well. We come in, make our coffees, set up the space. We unpack our ingredients, get out pots, pans and rollers, attach our badges to the aprons, place the water on the stove to boil and await the...
ESOL & Cooking Lesson Plan
We thought we would share this lesson plan we have used about three times now with different groups. This is an all round lesson we have created that covers many skills. It works very well with group work and building conversation. More specifically for literacy and...
Eight Supper Club Reflections
Last week brought us to the close of our intimate supper clubs showcasing our dumplings that we have been making with women from migrant communities over the last seven months. For those that are unfamiliar with our project, we ran monthly supper clubs from March -...
A Recipe for Success: English and Dumplings
There are currently many women living in Britain who have a wealth of pre-existing skills and resources to offer, but do not have the required English language level to do so. These are the women that Heart & Parcel aims to support. What is ESOL and why is it in...
Unwrapping Poland’s Christmas Parcels
In the last two decades, pierogi (small, filled dumplings) have become the real deal in Poland. The calling card of our cuisine if you like, a worthy representation of our nation abroad along with bigos stew, kabanos sausage and of course Polish chleb (bread). Pierogi...
Policy, Pierogi and the Perceptions of Women
There are many important issues surrounding our project; their influence indirectly becoming the drive behind Heart & Parcel. Having worked as an English teacher with migrant communities and Karolina working as an advice support worker, I feel the need to discuss...