Senior Social English Group

Senior Social English Group 2011

Target group: Elderly, Nepali speaking Bhutanese people, recently arrived in Nelson.

Background:
Until 2011 only one elderly Bhutanese man (aged 70) had been resettled in Nelson. In February 2011, a group of former refugees arrived through the Quota Immigration programme which included 4 elderly people. Because of their age and therefore illegibility to receive government support for English Language study, there was no capacity within the Nelson community to offer English language provision to these people.

The social isolation resulting from them being a very small group with no ability to communicate with the host community raised an urgent need to offer them empowerment. Learning basic English language phrases around social interaction was the means decided upon to ensure some measure of positive, achievable settlement outcomes.

The lead teacher who volunteered to instruct the class has Nepalese as a second language. Research into language acquisition shows that for pre-literate learners first language interpreting is vital in assisting learning of a second language.
The lead teacher used the Total Physical Response (TPR) methodology, which has proven positive results world-wide for low-level language learners.

The assistant teacher was able to learn the methodology and language from the lead teacher on Day 1 of the week and review and enforce the learning on Day 2 of the week.

The course ran for 14 weeks, from March 29th - July 14th 2011, and was held in the Victory Community Centre.

Senior Social English Group

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