Work English classes a huge learning curve

Photo: NEIL DUDDY

MAKING ENGLISH WORK: From left: Tutor Marion Hemmingsen works with GMP employees Jacqueline Ramos and Sarah Lin twice a week.

A new training programme is boosting the language and literacy skills of migrants whose first language isn’t English.

English for Employees is funded by the Tertiary Education Commission and is for migrants who work and are permanent residents.

The two-and-a-half hour weekly training sessions have a wide focus – from employment contracts to cultural norms.

The programme was developed by English Language Partners New Zealand – formerly ESOL Home Tutors – and launched last month.

Marion Hemmingsen tutors three weekly classes at GMP Pharmaceuticals in East Tamaki.

She meets with her students twice a week, often at the start or finish of their shifts.

Teaching people in their workplace is ideal, she says, because they can study things they need to understand like accident reporting forms, employment contracts and packing slips.

"It’s learner-centred. I ask: ‘What’s hard for you? What do you need to learn’?"

One of her students Jacqueline Ramos moved here from the Philippines late last year.

A packer at GMP, Mrs Ramos says the lessons are refreshing and helpful.

Fellow packer Sarah Lin says improving her English is good for her job and she enjoys listening to Mrs Hemmingsen’s pronunciation.

English Language Partners chief executive Claire Szabo says the training focuses on the language of work and helps people’s performance in the workplace.

See www.englishlanguage.org.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News