A thank-you for your English conversation club volunteers: a photo of the tea table as a jigsaw, with your note at the end

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Puzzlify is our product, so weigh what follows with that in mind. We've tried to make this useful even if you never use it. We're not affiliated with any conversation club, conversation café, ESOL class, ESL or EAL programme, language school, college, library, adult education service, refugee or migrant charity, resettlement scheme, church, mosque, community centre, council or government department, or with the British Council, the Refugee Council, City of Sanctuary, Refugee Action, Literacy Volunteers, ProLiteracy, the International Rescue Committee or any similar organisation. Nothing here is legal, immigration, safeguarding, teaching or privacy advice. Check the club's own rules on gifts, photos and contact with volunteers.

It's eleven o'clock on a Saturday morning in the back room of a public library, and the kettle has just clicked off. Six small tables are pushed together into three bigger ones, each with a plate of biscuits, a jug of milk, a pile of picture cards and a laminated sheet with the week's topic printed at the top: "Shopping and money". At the first table, a retired nurse is helping a young man from Eritrea work out the difference between "How much is it?" and "How many are there?", using a bag of oranges she brought from home. At the second, a student who started volunteering in September is laughing with three women from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan about the word "bargain", which none of them can pronounce the same way twice. At the third, an older man who used to run a hardware shop is listening, very patiently, while a doctor from Sudan tells him, in careful English, about the exam she is studying for so that she can work in a hospital again. Nobody is marking anything. Nobody is being tested. At half past twelve the volunteers wash up the mugs, put the picture cards back in the box and stack the chairs. "Same time next week?" says the coordinator, and twenty voices say yes.

That's an English conversation club. Depending on where you live, it might be called a conversation café, a conversation group, an ESOL or ESL conversation class, an English corner, a language café, a talk-and-tea club or a welcome café. Some are run by libraries, colleges and adult education services alongside formal English classes. Many are run by churches, mosques, community centres, refugee and migrant charities, or by a few neighbours with a borrowed room and a kettle. They give people who are learning English, whether they arrived as refugees, as workers, as students, as partners or as new grandparents, a safe, friendly place to practise speaking without being corrected at every word. Most of the volunteers who run them are thanked, if at all, with a quick "see you next week" at the door.

If a conversation club helped you or someone in your family find their voice in a new country, if you've referred learners as a teacher, a caseworker or a health visitor and seen what a weekly chat did for their confidence, or if you've volunteered alongside people who give up their Saturday mornings to talk about the weather with strangers, a short, specific thank-you can mean far more than its size. This guide is about how to say thank you well, kindly and safely, with or without a photo puzzle.

Who we mean by conversation club volunteers

Every club is a little different, but the people who keep it going usually include some of these:

• the table hosts, who sit with a small group of learners each week, ask questions, listen, explain idioms and keep the conversation moving gently;
• the coordinator, who books the room, plans the topics, welcomes newcomers, matches learners with volunteers and answers the emails;
• the welcomers, who stand by the door with the sign-in sheet and a smile, and remember everyone's name, even the ones that are hard to spell;
• the tea makers, who keep the kettle going and the biscuits coming, and often end up doing as much conversation practice as anyone;
• the childcare volunteers, who play with toddlers in the corner so that their parents can sit down and talk;
• the volunteers who help with the practical side: reading a letter from the council, filling in a form for a library card, practising for a job interview or a driving theory test;
• the trained ESOL, ESL or EAL teachers who give up their spare time to help, and the volunteers who are learning to teach;
• and the founder, often someone who was once new in a country themselves, or who saw a neighbour struggling, and started it with a few chairs and a kettle.

If you know someone in any of those roles, this is for you.

Words first

The puzzle is the wrapping. The words are the gift. Before you choose a photo, write down what the club did, in plain language. Conversation club volunteers see learners for an hour a week, and then the learners move on: to a job, a college course, a new town or simply to a life where they don't need the club any more. Most of the time the volunteers never find out what happened next. So the most useful thing you can do is close the circle. A good note usually has three parts:

• the specific thing you noticed: "You were the first person in this country who asked me what I did before, and listened to the answer";
• what changed because of it: "I spoke to my son's teacher on my own for the first time last month. I didn't need anyone to translate";
• something about the people, not just the club: "To Margaret, who brought oranges to teach us about shopping: I still say 'that's a bargain' every time I buy fruit."

Write it in English if you'd like to, even if it isn't perfect. Conversation club volunteers will be delighted by a note in the English you learned with them, mistakes and all. If you'd rather write a line in your own language as well, that's lovely too.

Be specific without giving away anything private. You don't need to explain how you came to the country, mention your immigration status, your asylum case, your work, your money or your family's situation, or give your full name. "From a learner who came to the Saturday club in 2025" is enough.

Who it suits

A photo puzzle works best when the people you're thanking would enjoy a small, light moment with a cup of tea, and conversation club volunteers almost always would. Picture cards, word games and quizzes are part of the furniture at most clubs, and a jigsaw on someone's phone at the end-of-term party will be passed around every table. It suits:

• a table host who has sat with the same learners every week for a year;
• the coordinator, at the end of a busy term or when they hand over to someone new;
• the whole volunteer team, at the end of the summer or before the club breaks up for the holidays;
• a long-serving volunteer or founder stepping back after many years;
• a library, church, mosque or community centre that hosts the club and gives up its room for it.

It may suit less well if the club, or the organisation that runs it, has strict rules about personal gifts, or if the volunteer you want to thank prefers to stay in the background. A card for the whole team might be the better fit then.

Gift rules and good timing

Conversation clubs often work with people who are new, sometimes vulnerable, and sometimes going through a long and stressful immigration process, and they rightly have clear boundaries. A few things to keep in mind:

• many clubs ask volunteers not to accept personal gifts, not to share personal phone numbers or social media, and not to meet learners privately outside the club; send your thank-you to the club, through the coordinator, not to an individual's private account;
• if you're a learner, it's completely fine to say thank you, and you don't need to spend any money to do it; a few words are enough;
• if the club is run by a library, a college, a council or a charity, it may have its own policies on photos and gifts, so a quick word with the coordinator saves any awkwardness;
• volunteers never expect anything back, and some will feel uncomfortable if a learner who is struggling financially spends money on them; if you're in that position, a card or a message will mean just as much;
• don't include anything that identifies another learner: no names, photos or stories about anyone else;
• a thank-you is a gift, not a request. Never send it alongside a request for a reference, a letter of support or other help; ask for those separately, through the proper route.

A few moments land especially well:

• the end of a term, or the last session before the summer or the winter holidays;
• the day you pass an English exam, a citizenship test, a driving test or a job interview that you practised for at the club;
• Refugee Week in the UK in June, World Refugee Day on 20 June, Volunteers' Week in early June, or National Volunteer Week in April in the United States;
• International Translation Day on 30 September, or International Mother Language Day on 21 February, if you'd like to say thank you in two languages;
• the session when a long-serving volunteer says goodbye, or a coordinator hands over.

If you're not sure, just send it when you think of it. A thank-you on an ordinary Saturday in February can be the one that matters most.

Why a jigsaw can fit

Conversation club volunteers spend most of their time doing small, patient things: asking a question, waiting for an answer, explaining a word, pouring a cup of tea. A jigsaw is a small, patient thing too. It takes a few minutes, it doesn't need any words to solve, and at the end there's a note that says, in your own English, what all those small things added up to. It doesn't need to be printed, posted, wrapped or stored, and it works just as well for a learner who has moved to another city or another country.

If you're a learner, or a learner's family

If you came to the club to practise your English, your thank-you is the one volunteers most want to hear. Choose a photo that has nothing to do with your private life unless you're happy to share it: a cup of tea on the club table, a page of your notebook with your first English sentences, a picture card you remember, a plate of food from your home country that you brought to the end-of-term party, the view from the window of your new workplace, your graduation certificate with the name covered. A photo that says "this is where I am now" closes the circle beautifully. If you're writing for a parent or grandparent who learned English at the club, a photo of them reading to a grandchild or chatting with a neighbour can say more than any note.

If you refer learners to the club

ESOL teachers, college tutors, resettlement caseworkers, health visitors, job coaches and librarians often send people to a conversation club because a formal class isn't enough on its own. You see the difference a weekly chat makes in a way that volunteers sometimes don't: the learner who finally speaks up in class, the parent who talks to the school on their own. A short thank-you from your team, sent to the club at the end of term, tells the volunteers that the professionals noticed. Keep it general, never mention individual learners, and check your own organisation's rules first.

For fellow volunteers and organisers

Volunteers who host the same table every week often become close friends, and the coordinator is usually the person who holds the whole thing together. If someone is stepping down, moving away or coming back after a long break, a puzzle from the volunteer team can be a lovely way to mark it. Collect a line from each person, keep it light, and use a photo everyone recognises: the tea table, the box of picture cards, the whiteboard with the week's topic, the library room with the chairs set out.

Photo consent and choosing the picture

Good photos for a conversation club thank-you include:

• the tea table, with the urn or the kettle, a row of mugs and a plate of biscuits;
• the box of picture cards, word games and laminated topic sheets spread out on a table;
• the whiteboard with the week's topic and a "thank you" written on it in several languages;
• a table set for the end-of-term party, with food from many different countries;
• the empty room with the chairs set out, before anyone arrives;
• for a learner, a notebook page, a certificate with the name covered, or a photo of where you are now.

A few kindnesses keep it comfortable and safe:

• never photograph learners without their clear permission, and never share a photo of a learner outside the club; some people have very good reasons not to be found, or not to be seen at a club for refugees and migrants;
• follow the club's own photo rules, and ask the coordinator before taking any photo on site;
• leave out sign-in sheets, name badges, forms, letters, phone screens and anything with personal details on it;
• ask volunteers before using a photo of them; some are happy to be pictured, others prefer not;
• if in doubt, use the tea table. Everyone at the club recognises the mugs and the biscuits, and it says "thank you" without showing anyone at all.

Getting a good JPG

Library back rooms and church halls are not always the brightest places, so a few things help:

• Colourful things make satisfying puzzles: a table of food from many countries, a fan of picture cards, a whiteboard covered in words in different colours, a row of mismatched mugs.
• Big areas of plain table, grey carpet or white wall are hard to solve, so crop in on the interesting part, or go lower on pieces.
• Take the photo near a window in daylight if you can, or turn on all the lights.
• If there's writing you want people to read, like "Thank you" in ten languages on the whiteboard, take the photo straight on and pick a higher piece count.
• Save the original JPG straight from your phone or camera rather than a copy from a messaging app, which compresses it. If your photo is in another format, save it as a JPG first.

Privacy, an optional PIN, and saying it's from you

The puzzle sits behind a private link, so only people you send it to can open it. If you'd like an extra layer, add a short PIN and share it separately, for example in a card handed to the coordinator.

Clubs are rightly careful about links from people they don't know, and many charities have been targeted by scams. Tell them clearly that the link is from you and that it's a thank-you, not a request. A one-line message helps: "This is a thank-you puzzle from Amira, who came to the Saturday club last year, for all the volunteers. It's not a request for anything. The PIN is in the card." If you want to stay anonymous, say so: "from a learner who'd rather not say who".

How many pieces?

Times vary with the photo. For a thank-you, finishing beats difficulty; 48 or 80 is a gentle middle. A colourful party table or a busy whiteboard can be easier than it looks, while a plain room or a white table is harder, so go lower if most of the picture is one colour.

The leaderboard: only for a group of volunteers

If you're thanking all the volunteers at a club, you can turn on the leaderboard so everyone solves the same photo. Ask the coordinator first; some teams would rather keep things simple. Keep it light and optional, never a contest that singles anyone out. For one volunteer, or a puzzle in memory of a learner or a volunteer, leave the leaderboard off.

A few note ideas

The note appears when the last piece goes in, so keep it short and warm:

• "When I came to the club I could only say hello. Last week I gave a talk at work in English. Thank you for every Saturday."
• "To the volunteer who taught me 'a bargain': I still say it every time I buy oranges. Thank you for your patience."
• "From an ESOL teacher: every learner I sent to you this year came back to class braver. Thank you from all of us."
• "To our coordinator, stepping back after eight years: you started this with six chairs and a kettle. Look what it became. Thank you."
• "Ten years of Saturday mornings, thousands of cups of tea and not one wrong answer. Thank you from everyone at the club."
• "From a learner who'd rather not say who: you made a new country feel like home. Thank you."

How to make one (about a minute of setup)

1. Open Puzzlify's puzzle maker in a browser: https://puzzlify.app/en/puzzle-maker/
2. Upload the photo (JPG works best).
3. Choose a piece count for how much time they might have and how detailed the photo is.
4. Add your thank-you note and, if you like, a PIN and a leaderboard (for a group of volunteers only).
5. Preview for free. When you're happy, publish the link with one credit and send it with a message, a card, or through the club's official email address or the organisation that runs it.

Honest pricing and notes

The preview is free, so you can see exactly what the puzzle looks like before paying anything. You only pay when you publish the link: one credit is €3.99, three credits are €8.99, and Plus is €14.99 a year for ten credits. If you're thanking several people (the coordinator, your table host and the tea maker, say), three credits works out cheaper per puzzle; for one thank-you, one credit is enough. If money is tight, and for many people who are new to a country it is, a card, a message in your new English or a few kind words cost nothing and are a perfectly good choice. If you'd like to see it first, the free preview is here: https://puzzlify.app/en/puzzle-maker/

The person who receives the link doesn't need an account, an app or a printer; it opens in a normal web browser. Photos are not used to train AI and are not shared with third parties.

This is a digital jigsaw you play on a screen. It isn't a cardboard puzzle in the post, a printed product or a public puzzle board, and it isn't connected to any conversation club, college, library, charity or government service. It's also not puzzlify.io (a chess site), Puzzlit, Puzzly or Puzzify, which are different things with similar names. A message in your own words is often what people remember, so the puzzle works best alongside one rather than instead of one.

Keep the gift small and separate from any donation. Never present a personal gift as if it came from the club, a college or a charity unless they've asked you to send it on their behalf, and never use an organisation's logo in your puzzle as if it were official.

Other ways to say thank you (no Puzzlify needed)

1. Volunteering yourself: as a table host, a tea maker, a welcomer or a childcare helper. Many former learners find that coming back to help newcomers is the thank-you that matters most to them, and clubs love having volunteers who know exactly how it feels.
2. A donation to the club or the organisation that runs it, rather than a national body, so it stays local; or bringing something they need, like tea, biscuits, picture books or games.
3. Turning up: to the end-of-term party, the open day or the fundraising quiz, and bringing a dish from your home country to share.
4. Telling people about the club: a neighbour who has just arrived, a parent at the school gate, a colleague who is learning English, so that more people can find it.
5. A short, kind review or a post on the club's own page, with no personal details about any learner, saying what the club meant to you.
6. For a long-serving volunteer stepping back, a small book of thank-you notes from learners past and present, in English and in their own languages, collected with permission, alongside one from the team.

Whatever you send, the most important part is the sentence that sounds like you, written to the people who put the kettle on every Saturday morning, set out the picture cards, wait patiently for the end of a difficult sentence, laugh at the word "bargain" for the hundredth time, and ask "What did you do before you came here?" and really listen to the answer, so that a room full of nervous newcomers can, one cup of tea at a time, find their voice in a new home.

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Not affiliated with any conversation club, conversation café, ESOL class, ESL or EAL programme, language school, college, library, adult education service, refugee or migrant charity, church, mosque, community centre, council or government department, or with the British Council, the Refugee Council, City of Sanctuary, Refugee Action, Literacy Volunteers, ProLiteracy or the International Rescue Committee. Not legal, immigration, safeguarding, teaching or privacy advice. Check the club's own rules on gifts, photos and contact with volunteers.