The figure of the Polish plumber or builder has long been a well-established icon of the British national imagination, uncovering the UK's collective unease with immigration from Central and Eastern Europe. But despite the powerful impact the UK's second largest language group has had on their host country's culture and politics, very little is known about its members. This painstakingly researched book offers a broad perspective on Polish migrants in the UK, taking into account discursive actions, policies, family connections, transnational networks, and political engagement of the diaspora.

This book is about the teaching of English to migrants and refugees. It is written from the perspective of those who work with and teach this diverse group of adults and children. Migrants and refugees come from very different geographical areas and have left their home countries for very different reasons.  They will have had very different experiences of education. In this book we are concerned with English language teaching in a country in which English is the dominant language of a substantial, often monolingual, majority and learners need English to communicate in their daily life.