On Thursday 1st December 2016, Inala Community House’s Free Thursday English Class had an end-of-the-year celebration with our students and volunteer tutors.
We offer Free English Class every Thursday 10am-12pm at Inala Community House (38 Sittella St., Inala). We welcome English learners of all ages, levels and backgrounds to come and learn how to speak, listen and write better English. We also welcome volunteers to join our team.
More importantly, we focus on the needs of migrants and refugees who have just arrived in Australia, as well as those who have been in Australia for years but still experience difficulty in navigating or accessing government services, education or employment.
One of our students is 47-year-old Mamay from Ethiopia who arrived in Australia in May 2016:
“I have been experiencing difficulty to secure a job in Australia due to my limited English skills. Thus I have been coming to free Thursday English Classes at Inala Community House for two months and counting. I can finally read and write better now. I will try to job-hunt again next year, probably in the cleaning industry,”said Mamay.
“I have been volunteering at Inala Community House’s Free Thursday English Class for a few months now. I work part-time as an occupational therapist. I also volunteer at Romero Centre to teach refugees. The best thing about volunteering is watching the students engage better and improve their English abilities,” said one of our volunteer tutors Clara Chan.
Another volunteer tutor is 72-year-old Musnarti Dickinson who enjoyed teaching at our English Class every Thursday.
“It is a challenge to maintain students’ interest in learning English. However teaching is a highly rewarding experience and I am happy to dedicate my time in volunteering to make life more meaningful,” said Musnarti.
“The English Classes have been going really well. Currently we have two groups based on skill levels: beginner and intermediate. We have had increase in student numbers due to positive word-of-mouth recommendations. We thank everyone for their support, especially two of our most loyal volunteers Mus and Clara. We look forward to expanding our class by offering mock interview sessions to help our students in increasing employability,”said Coordinator Anushka Abeyewardene.
Please note that the Free Thursday English Class is now closed until next year. We would like to wish everyone happy holidays and a bigger and better English Class in 2017!
To become a student or volunteer tutor at Free Thursday English Class, please contact info@ich.org.au or call (07) 3372 1711 today!