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Volume 6, Wednesday July 22nd, 2009
Outback
A Father
Roxby
Page 4
Page 8
Pages 9 to 11
for all arrives in town
Clean up
Races feature
English lessons needed here P
By Celeste Lustosa
eople from more than 60 different countries, from all the continents, and every state and territory in Australia have lived or worked in Roxby Downs in the last few years. In a town of approximately 5,000 people, that could represent 35% to 40% of the population. Only BHP Billiton has people from around 30 different nationalities working at Olympic Dam. According to Diana Hodgson, Head of Human Resources of BHP Billiton Olympic Dam, “A Cultural Awareness Program has been provided in recent years to employees where this service has been available in their home country. “This service is generally provided prior to departure for the purpose of providing our international families a greater understanding of what life is like in Australia.” “Some of our employees are also eligible for English language classes and the company has initiated a Business Writing Skills program for employees from non-English Speaking countries. All programs are specifically tailored to meet individual requirements,” Ms Hodgson said. The Family and Youth Officer of Roxby Downs Council, Tom Beever, believes these people have been embraced by the community. “There’s even an initiative to celebrate a Multicultural Day here in Roxby.” Although foreigners have been welcomed in the community, Mr Beever acknowledges that language can be a huge challenge for the new arrivals. “People that come from countries where English isn’t a first language face problems in finding a good job here,” he said. Despite the significant number of foreigners in town, the campus of Tafe SA in Roxby doesn’t have an ESL (English as Second Language) course in their program. According to the campus manager, Terry Sibenaler, “A new course can be opened if there’s a demand but we need a minimum of at least 10 people interested and we haven’t had this demand here at the moment.” Mr Sibenaler also added that the more people in the course, the lower the costs get. “I think it’s very sad there’s been no initiative from Tafe to explore the thought of creating ESL courses in a community as multicultural as ours,” said Mr Beever. Cecilia Benavides from Chile has been in Roxby Downs for three years and still hasn’t had the opportunity to improve her
English with face-to-face lessons in town. “I’ve moved to Roxby when my husband was transferred by BHP and, although the company provided English lessons for us in the beginning, I feel I still need to improve so I can get better jobs here. But Tafe only provides online courses and I am not interested on that.” One of the main challenges foreigners face in Australia is understanding the “Aussie” accent, therefore Ms Benavides pointed out that “an Australian teacher is the ideal for us to learn all the expressions and get familiar with the accent.” Ritu Grover from India is taking online English lessons from Tafe but she had to discover this option herself because no information of choices was provided from the Roxby Campus. “I am taking English lessons online because I have no option and I need to improve my English to take an international exam and be able to register as a teacher in Australia. I can’t travel to Adelaide to have a course because I have my children to look after here. “But what we really need here in Roxby is to have the facilities and a qualified Australian teacher, so we can learn the Australian abbreviations and vocabulary, apart from getting used to the accent,” Ms Grover added. There is a free of charge option for some immigrants, according to Renee Wyatt Educational Manager of the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP), funded by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship of the Australian Government. “All eligible clients can enrol in distance learning with the support of an ELS teacher in regular phone contact.” “This means that even if there aren’t sufficient numbers to open a class, all clients who are eligible can have an AMEP provision.” Ms Wyatt also pointed that TAFE SA English Language Services (ELS) is in a position to open classes so long as there is a minimum of eight people who are eligible for the AMEP and eligibility can be checked by telephoning ELS and speaking to Sophie on 8226 6710. “For those who are interested in volunteering to be tutors, Tafe provides an online training course for free and also matches the tutor to a student from the Tafe’s Home Tutor Scheme,” added Ms Wyatt. The lack of communication, even more than the lack of language skills, has been the biggest barrier for the overseas residents in Roxby, as Tafe assures courses can be created, people affirm they need those courses and are willing to pay, but still the town has no native speaking teachers or courses available.
Even though more than 60 “nationalities make Roxby Downs the most multicultural place in
Australia, there are no face-to-face English lessons available in town.
Cecelia Benavides from Chile and Rita Grover(top) from India are looking for English classes to help them
”
Has the swine flu arrived in Roxby? Rumours that the swine influenza has now reached Roxby Downs have been running rife through the town, but confirmation has not been forthcoming. The Monitor has been contacted by several people who say they know friends or acquaintances that have allegedly been confirmed as having the swine flu. One report on Monday from a person who claimed to have contracted the swine flu at work in Roxby Downs and has now recovered past the infection stage, said that she was the 16th case confirmed in Roxby Downs. It has also been alleged that two contactors who flew in for a shut down have been returned to Adelaide. Our local medical services have been proactive in advising the community how to protect themselves and their families from the flu. The precautions being recommended are listed on page 16 of this paper and the local Health Services is providing testing, kits and masks on request. However, there seems to be reluctance from all the medical services, locally and from the State Government Health Department, to say that there have been any confirmed cases in Roxby Downs. While there is no need for the community to be panicked or overly alarmed it would seem that it is important for them to know the swine flu is here. Confirmation would make people more likely to take appropriate action and precautions particularly around children, pregnant women and the frail and e elderly. Continued on page 16
DO ROXBY RESIDENTS HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW IF SWINE FLU HAS REACHED THE TOWN SO THEY CAN TAKE PRECAUTIONS?