Bronwen Hickman can still recall the events that lead to her beginning her free English support group, Let’s Talk.
It was about eight years ago, when newly arrived immigrants came to the Werribee Church of Christ looking for help.
“They had [just gotten a flat] but they had nothing, no bedding, no furniture, no saucepans, nothing,” Ms Hickman said.
“Their English wasn’t very good, but they saw that we were a church and thought it could be a good place to get help.”
The community got together and donated the bits and pieces needed to transform the men’s flat into a new home.
At the time, Ms Hickman had five family members from overseas living in her house, and while she wasn’t able to donate tangible items, she could help with something else.
“I thought at least I can help them with English, and I went to their flat and helped them several times,” she said.
“I started looking around for materials to help, I’m a trained English teacher, but some people are trained in teaching English as a second language, and I didn’t have the resources.”
Ms Hickman said she’s seen the benefit Let’s Talk provides, and she has recently began promoting the group at local primary schools.
“Once we started, then we just kept finding people who needed to come, we began with Saturday morning sessions with about 10-15 people and we would try to break them into groups of ones who could speak really well, and ones that were just beginners,” she said.
“We’ve discovered that quite a few families rely on primary school aged children to come and help them translate.”
Ms Hickman said the group runs on a Saturday from 10-11:30am at 200 Tarneit Road, Werribee.
“Although we hold the classes in a church building, we make no attempt to push religion in anyway, it’s open to people of any faith,” she said.
Details: 97492510
Fatima Halloum
