National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults (NATECLA) is a British professional organisation of teachers of ESOL

English language learning and teaching

English as a second language , English for speakers of other languages and English as a foreign language all refer to the use or study of English by speakers with different native languages. The precise usage, including the different use of the terms ESL and ESOL in different countries, is...

 and what are known as "community languages" to adults.

Through its branch network, workshops, national conferences and publications NATECLA shares information, expertise, comment and good practice with its members, most of whom are involved in the education and training of adults whose first language

First language

A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...

 is not English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. Typically members are teachers, tutors, trainers, lecturers, teacher trainers, trainee teachers or researchers, managers or organisers.

NATECLA supports the Ruth Hayman Trust, which gives grants to individuals whose first language is not English who otherwise would not be able to study or train in Britain. The trust was founded in honour of Ruth Hayman

Ruth Hayman

Ruth Hayman was a lawyer and anti-apartheid campaigner. She was one of the first women in South Africa to qualify as an attorney. Through the Black Sash organisation, Hayman offered free legal advice to many people, usually women, who had approached the Black Sash Advice Centre in Johannesburg,...

, who worked for racial equality and justice.