Call for more tutors for Ukrainian refugees

A company which is providing English lessons for Ukrainians who have fled to the UK, is calling for more tutors to come forward to meet demand.

Functional Skills UK, based in Brighton, has already taught English to refugees from all over the world and has so far taken on 130 students from Ukraine.

The courses are free of charge to the refugees and are funded by the Department for Education.

Class tutor Dariia Semenenko said: "It is really important. I can help people."

Ms Semenenko herself fled Kharkiv earlier this year with her teenage son.

She said: "A lot of these people are depressed because they're here without their relatives and friends. They are in a totally different society."

Student Tatyana said: "It's support for us to be together. We are not alone."

Functional Skills UK said the language barrier is one of the biggest challenges facing the refugees as they try to settle in the South East.

The company said it was in the market for new tutors to meet the demand of a growing number of refugees in the Brighton area wanting to learn English.