Multilingual Language Assistants (MLAs)

EMAS recruits and trains multilingual education assistants, known as MLAs, to support bilingual children in schools. They work in a range of settings from private nurseries through to Post 16 further education and every age group in between.

EMAS recruits MLAs who have moved to the UK from all around the world. Many have applied for jobs because they can use their language skills in schools and can contribute to the country that has welcomed them and their families. They receive comprehensive induction training before beginning work in schools. They are DBS cleared and complete Level 1 Safeguarding training.

We currently offer MLA support for the following languages, subject to availability:

• Amharic - limited availability
• Arabic
• Arabic Sudanese - limited availability
• Bengali
• Cantonese
• Czech - one off meetings only
• Dari - limited availability
• Fante
• Farsi
• French - limited availability
• German - limited availability
• Hindi
• Hungarian - limited availability
• Igbo
• Italian
• Kurdish Badini
• Kurdish Kurmanji
• Kurdish Sorani
• Latvian
• Malayalam - limited availability
• Mandarin
• Nepali
• Panjabi
• Pashto - limited availability
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Romanian
• Russian
• Sinhala - limited availability
• Slovak - one off meetings only
• Somali - limited availability
• Spanish - limited availability
• Taiwanese
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Tigrinya - limited availability
• Turkish
• Turkmani - limited availability
• Twi
• Ukrainian
• Urdu

If a language you need is not on this list, please contact our Admin team: admin.emas@coventry.gov.uk or call us on 024 7697 5491.

The main role of the MLA is to work with newly arrived young people in mainstream settings, translating and explaining lesson content so that it is accessible.

MLAs may also:

• help to show new parents and pupils around school and explain school routines
• help pupils with basic survival language
• provide school professionals with cultural and linguistic background information
• share information about a pupil's prior education, academic strengths and fluency in their first language
• act as an interpreter at meetings, parents' evenings and home visits
• explain homework tasks to parents

Booking a MLA

MLAs are available for morning or afternoon sessions throughout the week, and may also be booked to make phone calls to families on behalf of a school. We offer Service Level Agreements to all schools but can also arrange one-off, or pay-as-you-go support if needed. EMAS Admin staff will guide you through the process and answer any questions you may have: admin.emas@coventry.gov.uk or call us on 024 7697 5491.