A Werribee church is helping new migrants improve their conversational skills over a cuppa and cake.
The Werribee Church of Christ has been running free conversational English sessions every Saturday morning for the past two years, helping participants gain confidence by having a yarn, getting them to read a newspaper or playing word games.
Volunteer Bronwen Hickman said the group also ran role play situations to make job interviews, opening a bank account or getting a driver’s license that bit easier.
Ms Hickman said many of the participants were taking formal English classes, but didn’t have many opportunities to practise the spoken word.
“Some of them are teachers or nurses and need to brush up on their English to get a job,” she said.
Fellow volunteer Graeme Jones said the sessions were about how to have everyday conversations rather than being about grammar or spelling.
“It’s having them read from newspapers, or having a conversation like you would with your friends,” he said
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