Saturday workshops
Workshop 1: Saturday 10:15am – 11.45am
In
Workshop 1
The bottom line in NZCEL: NZCEL is a new purpose
– developed qualification recognised by NZQA that
ELP proposes to offer more widely at Level 1
Foundation, level 1 and Level 2. Charlie Hayward,
Rose Desmond and Cholena McMillan offer insights
into the NZCEL programme during its trial in four
ELP Centres 2013-2014. The workshop will cover: a
background to the programme, programme
requirements and resources, and tips for best
practice from current CEL teachers.
The bottom line in ESOL literacy: The Bottom Line in
ESOL Literacy is a must for tutors and coordinators
involved in the ESOL Literacy programme. The
Jean
Batten
Ballro
om 2
Jean Batten Ballroom 1
Richard Pearse
Governance: discussions for the governance and
managers to further the work that arises from the
AGM
Presenter
Nicola Sutton Nicola is the Chief Executive of
ELPNZ. Prior to this she was Deputy CE and
Operations Manager. She was previously
employed in several Auckland ELP centres
(doing resources, finance and funding) and in
Christchurch (doing coordination, tutor
training, literacy class teaching). She was also
a centre committee and ELPNZ board
member and chair. Nicola has a Masters in
Commerce and a diploma in not-for-profit
management.
Megan Thomas Megan has worked with
ELPNZ for the past 18 months on the Future
Focus Project consultations and development
work arising from that. She has worked in
community, corporate and local government
sectors and has held management positions
in general management, finance,
organisation development, human resources,
information technology, business
development, marketing & fundraising,
business re-engineering and service delivery.
Charlie Hayward Charlie Hayward has worked
as an ESOL teacher in New Zealand and
Japan and also in the field of Adult literacy
education. He is currently involved with the
‘night classes project’ being run in Auckland
and the New Zealand Certificate in
English Language (NZCEL) programmes
being set up at Kelston Girls’ College, in
collaboration with Unitec.
Cholena Main
Rose Desmond is currently the ESOL
Programmes Project Coordinator for ELP –
National Office, focusing on the new NZ
Certificate in English Language and
programme moderation. She has a Dip
TESOL and teaching qualifications and a
work background in the volunteer and notfor-profit sector, teaching and providing
employment support for migrants and
refugees in Wellington.
Dorothy Thwaite is ESOL Programmes
Manager for ELPNZ. She manages the
support and development of the ESOL
Jean Batten Ballroom 3
Amelia Earhart
Amy Johnson
workshop is in 3 parts: Current requirements of the
ESOL Literacy Programme (including ELP, TEC and
NZQA 'bottom lines'), some inspirational glimpses
of innovation and good practice from ESOL Literacy
tutors/coordinators; and an opportunity to talk and
share ideas with fellow tutors. We invite you to
bring along your strategies, tips and
recommendations. This workshop will be facilitated
by Dorothy Thwaite.
The bottom line in E4E: The Bottom Line in E4E is a
must for tutors and coordinators involved in the
E4E programme. The workshop is in 3 parts: E4E
Programme requirements (including ELP, TEC and
NZQA 'bottom lines'), some inspirational glimpses
of innovation and good practice from E4E
tutors/coordinators; and an opportunity to talk and
share ideas with fellow tutors. We invite you to
bring along your strategies, tips and
recommendations. This workshop will be facilitated
by Victoria Ussher.
The bottom line in 1:1 tutoring: The Bottom Line in 1
to 1 tutoring is a must for tutors and coordinators
involved in the home tutoring programme. The
workshop is in 3 parts: Home Tutoring programme
requirements (including ELP, TEC and NZQA
'bottom lines'), some inspirational glimpses of
innovation and good practice from 1 to 1 home
tutors/coordinators (including a short session on
moderation); and an opportunity to talk and share
ideas with fellow tutors. We invite you to bring
along your strategies, tips and recommendations.
This workshop will be facilitated by Jo de Lisle.
The bottom line on English Language Groups (ELGs):
The Bottom Line on ELGs is a must for tutors and
coordinators involved in English Language Groups
(ELGs). The workshop is in 3 parts: ELG programme
requirements (including ELP, TEC and NZQA
'bottom lines'), some inspirational glimpses of
innovation and good practice from ELG
tutors/coordinators (including a short session on
moderation); and an opportunity to talk and share
ideas with fellow tutors. We invite you to bring
along your strategies, tips and recommendations.
This workshop will be facilitated by Chris
Walkerdine.
programmes delivered by centres, including
ESOL Literacy. She also manages associated
research and curriculum development.
Victoria Ussher is a member of the
Programmes Team at ELP’s national office.
She supports centres delivering a range of
programmes, including English for
Employees. Victoria also oversees the
volunteer and learner information database.
Emma Stein
Diana Peterson
Jo de Lisle is the manager of ELP Waikato.
She has worked in tertiary ESOL for many
years, in teaching, curriculum development
and assessment and has coordinated and
tutored in many of the ELP programmes. Jo
will be joined by Maddy Harper who will run
a short, interactive session on moderation of
the LPS. Maddy coordinates the ELG Literacy
Focus group, the E4E programme and
provides resource support to home tutors
and teachers at ELP Wellington. She has
been a home tutor for 14 years.
Chris Walkerdine is the English Language
Group coordinator for ELP Hutt. She was a
home tutor for 4 years, taught a literacy class
for 7, and currently teaches an ELG. Chris is
involved in the volunteer tutor training
programme and coordinates the centre’s
resources. Chris will be joined by Maddy
Harper who will run a short, interactive
session on moderation of the LPS. Maddy
coordinates the ELG Literacy Focus group,
the E4E programme and provides resource
support to home tutors and teachers at ELP
Wellington. She has been a home tutor for 14
years.
Workshop 2: Saturday 11.45am – 1.15pm
Jean Batten Ballroom 1
Amelia Earhart
Richard
Pearse
In
Workshop
Presenter
Governance: discussions for the governance and
managers to further the work that arises from the
AGM (cont.)
Nicola Sutton (see earlier notes)
Megan Thomas (see earlier notes)
A taste of LESLLA 2013: in 2013 dorothy Thwaite and
Gillian Leigh attended the LESLLA (Low Educated
Second Language and Literacy Acquisition for
Adults) Symposium in San Francisco. In this
workshop, Gillian will outline some Symposium
highlights including a discussion of learning
support programmes for struggling ESL learners in
Calgary, Alberta and the implementation of an
extensive reading programme for low level ESL
learners in San Francisco. She will also share
activities used by tutors from Eye on Literacy,
Alberta on how to achieve a balanced literacy
approach.
Preparing assessments: Dorothy Thwaite and Rose
Desmond show how the assessment process for the
NZCEL (New Zealand Certificate in English
Language) Programme is clear, manageable – and
can even be creative. They will provide models of
assessment tasks in use at both Level 1 and 2 and
how to create and follow marking schedules. All
the ingredients of assessment will be examined in
the workshop before participants get the chance to
“do it” themselves.
Gillian Leigh is a tutor with English Language
Partners, Christchurch where she currently
teaches two classes in their Literacy
Programme. Her particular interest in this
field concerns the way in which a balanced
approach to teaching ESOL-Literacy can be
implemented and includes oral language
first, adopting a whole-part-whole approach
and bringing the outside in.
Dorothy Thwaite (see earlier notes)
Rose Desmond (see earlier notes)
Jean Batten Ballroom 2
Jean Batten Ballrrom 3
Showing interest and involvement– effective listener
strategies in English: Providing appropriate verbal
and non-verbal feedback in a spoken interaction is
a key method of establishing rapport and showing
interest in a conversation. However, research on
conversational styles shows that the strategies used
by listeners can vary from culture to culture and
listening behaviours that are considered polite in
one culture may not be considered polite in
another. Understanding how a listener indicates
interest and involvement in a conversation is a
necessary and important part of learning a second
language.
In this session participants will have an opportunity
to try out a classroom activity designed to raise
awareness of listener strategies in English.
Team Teaching: an Alternative Approach to E4E: is
based on an action research paper about an
experiment in teaching methods we carried out in
the Hutt last year. After a brief introduction to
action research and team teaching, Sue will
present her paper. Then, Merran and Alison will
discuss further implications, particularly for the
course which they continue to teach together and
we’ll end with discussion on how this research
could be relevant to other schemes.
Workplace Contexts for Learning: Adult learning is
best done in contexts that learners find
‘meaningful’ and where adult learners are treated
as adults. Workplace contexts are familiar and
safe for learners, they can see the relevance of
what they are learning and they can use their prior
knowledge to negotiate meaning on an equal
basis with the teacher – as opposed to the
traditional teacher / learner power imbalance.
Nicky Riddiford is the coordinator and
teacher of a workplace communication
programme for skilled migrants at Victoria
University of Wellington. She has over 30
years experience teaching ESOL, EAP and
teacher training courses. She is a member of
the Language in the Workplace Project
research team at Victoria University.
Sue Barlow is an English teacher with
considerable experience at secondary and
tertiary level, both in England and in New
Zealand. For many years she was a member
of CHIMES a co-operative of music teachers
who specialized in group teaching. Now she
teaches for English Language Partners (Hutt).
MA (Hons), Dip Tching, Dip TSL, LTCL (violin
and recorders) and a very useful Certificate in
Home Tutoring. sue.barlow@xtra.co.nz
Merran Bakker (English Language Partners
Hutt) recently began her career in TESOL,
after completing the MA(TESOL) at Victoria
University and several years as a volunteer,
both home tutoring and assisting in classes.
She has been enjoying applying the insights
gained through her study to the challenge of
helping adult learners continue to progress
in their language
skills. bakker@paradise.net.nz
Alison White is an experienced ESOL and
French teacher and presently teaches English
for Employees courses for English Language
Partners Hutt. She holds an MA(Hons) in
French, Award TESOL (CITEC), Dip Teaching
and Master in Public Health. She also does
research into pesticides and
additives alisonesol@yahoo.co.nz
Charles Hayward (see earlier notes)
Amy Johnson
Ambassador
Encouraging learners to talk: In this workshop we
will reflect on the barriers that discourage learners
from speaking and how they may be overcome. We
will participate in a range of speaking activities and
consider some of the elements that make up a
good speaking activity, seeking to arrive, by the
end of the workshop, with some clear guidelines
that will work in a variety of contexts.
What does it mean to know a word? This workshop
addresses what a language learner needs to know
in order to be able to use a word or expression
effectively. How do we define or recognise an item
of vocabulary? How can we choose what words to
teach and learn? Is there any difference between
understanding and using a word? What are special
difficulties posed by the English pronunciation or
spelling system? What are factors that influence
meaning in language? What is collocation and why
is this important to language learners?
Gillian Skyrme spent ten years as Coordinator
of the ESOL Home Tutor Scheme in
Whangarei, and edited the resource kit for
the first national home tutor training
course, Partners in Learning. She now
teaches Second Language Teaching at
Massey University, but continues her
association with English Language Partners
as a committee member, consultant and
home tutor.
Natalie Greenly (M.App.Ling) is a Programme
and Resource coordinator for ELP Auckland
Central. She has been teaching ESOL for over
20 years in a variety of classes and as a 1-1
volunteer, and currently teaches two
community classes in Auckland. She has
been involved in developing internet and
graphic resources for ELP National, and is a
keen user of technology and resources from
the internet in her classes.
Workshop 3: Saturday 2.10pm – 3.30pm
Jean Batten Ballroom 1
Richard
Pearse
In
Workshop
Presenter
Governance: discussions for the governance and
managers to further the work that arises from the
AGM (cont.)
Nicola Sutton (see earlier notes)
Megan Thomas (see earlier notes)
Introducing your Learner to Maoritanga
Enjoy learning about Maori culture, and help your
learners feel more confident in Aotearoa New
Zealand, understand what their children are
learning at school, and maybe even discover
connections between Maoritanga and their own
culture! We will cover basic Maori pronunciation
and greetings, the haka,
traditional moko (tattooing), the decline and revival
of Maori culture, and a popular waiata (song). Nau
mai haere mai!
Wiremu & Dawn Te Kani Wiremu Te Kani
(Ngati Porou) works at Māori Television, and
enjoys sharing the songs and stories of his
culture with newcomers to Aotearoa New
Zealand. Dawn Te Kani, originally from
Hawai'i, has a great love for Pacific cultures
and traditions. Both Dawn and Wiremu are
active home tutors.
Amy Johnson
Jean Batten Ballroom 3
Amelia Earhart
Ambassador
User-pays English lessons (night classes): English
teaching is our core competency – what value
should we place on what we deliver?
We are a learner-focussed organisation. What does
that mean for learners who approach us whose
special needs fall outside our traditional services?
Why have there been over 200 occasions at the
Takapuna Language Centre where learners have
been happy to pay $60 for an hour long lesson
asking ‘please give me another lesson like last
time’?
Preparing and using your own listening materials:
This workshop will focus on the value of recording
everyday conversation to provide targetted practice
for learners. Attention will be given to the value of
such recordings, simple ways to produce them, and
how they can be used in a learning session to
support the development of listening skills. Those
of you with clever portable recording devices such
as smart phones are asked to bring them with you
to the session.
“I’m a very polite person but I really don’t know how
to use English to fit in”. Helping L2 learners
communicate effectively in the NZ workplace:
Successful participation in workplace interactions is
often seen as a key indicator of how well someone
fits into any workplace. Choosing effective
strategies for social and work talk can be very
challenging for newcomers to New Zealand and
insufficient ability in this area can have a range of
negative consequences.
This workshop will focus on strategies that teachers
can use to help non-native speakers of English
participate in social talk and work talk in the
workplace.
Reforming the Text: Last year Nickie taught kids
excluded from mainstream schools with near zero
literacy. She spent a year re-writing their oral texts
and using them as reading material which in turn
improved their own writing. They passed NCEA
literacy 1 (the first such group to do so in 10 years)
and she is now reworking this simple technique to
improve writing for ESOL learners.
Charles Hayward (see earlier notes)
Gillian Skyrme (see earlier notes)
Nicky Riddiford (see earlier notes)
Nickie Muir A regular columnist for the
Northern Advocate and Herald Online Nickie
Muir has been teaching since the late 80’s as
an exchange student in rural Thailand. She
completed her Cambridge Delta in Buenos
Aires and worked with Unicef last year to
publish the children’s book Baba Didi and the
Godwits Fly.
George Bold Room
Reading for learners with low levels of literacy –
“Making chutney and relish” and other stories: Based
on the language experience approach, Celia will
demonstrate and involve you in the process of
creating materials generated by her learners from
events such as cooking or a trip. The learners
brainstorm, discuss, plan and participate in the
event and afterwards view photos and talk further.
This leads to writing tasks and the creation of a
PowerPoint read along story. You will ‘experience’
examples of the stories and share ideas for
extending learning opportunities.
Celia Hope Celia has been a teacher of ESOL
and literacy to learners of different ages and
levels (including Early Childhood Education)
in New Zealand, Canada and Thailand. She
has been teaching an ESOL literacy class for
women based at a primary school for the
past eight years.
Workshop 4: Saturday 4:00pm – 5.30pm
Workshop
Jean Batten Ballroom
Presenter
Governance: discussions for the governance and
managers to further the work that arises from the
AGM (cont.)
Nicola Sutton (see earlier notes)
Megan Thomas (see earlier notes)
Culturally inclusive volunteering
Vanisa Dhiru has worked in several
communication roles in the sectors of
transport and business development in
government, within various small and large
corporate. Previously she has worked with
ANZ National on their corporate
volunteering programme and in
communications roles in business and
government. She is currently the Chief
Executive of Volunteering New Zealand.
Natalie Greenly (see earlier notes)
Amelia Earhart
Richard
Pearse
In
Resources on the Internet based on one of the
sequence stories: This is a hand-on opportunity to
become familiar with some of the graphic resources
that have been developed for ELP tutors and are
available on the website. We will brainstorm and
share some ideas for using these. We will also have
some time to explore some of other useful ESOL
resources and websites on the internet. Come
prepared with your own suggestions for internet
resources and sites.
Sunday workshops
Workshop 5: Sunday 9:30am – 11.00am
Richard Pearse
In
Workshop
Presenter
Fundraising for our Future: Nicola will begin by
presenting an overview of the national fundraising
strategy and how it fits with the overall
Ruchika Jayatilaka is fundraising and
marketing manager for national office of the
English Language Partners New Zealand.
She is responsible for implementing the
association's fundraising strategies. For the
last 12 years she has worked for a variety of
charities including World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) – New Zealand, Forest and Bird,
Arthritis New Zealand and Women’s Refuge.
Ruchika is a central committee member of
Fundraising Institute of New Zealand (FINZ)
for the past 7 years and has a MBA from
Massey and a BBA from Temple University,
USA.
Nicola Sutton (see earlier notes)
This workshop will be facilitated by Nahed
Ibrahim, Literacy and Numeracy educator in
the ESOL Literacy programme at ELP
Auckland West. Joining her as presenters
are:
1. Elena Burduk, an English Language
Group Tutor at ELP North Shore. Elena
is from Ukraine and speaks Russian.
Elena has used her knowledge of
languages and ESOL experience to
teach English to a group of Russian
speaking learners.
2. Changrong Dong, an English Language
Group Tutor at ELP Central Auckland.
Changrong is from China and speaks
Cantonese and Mandarin. As well as
teaching ESOL for many years
Changrong teaches Mandarin to native
English speakers.
3. Indu Bajwa, a Literacy and Numeracy
Educator at ELP South Auckland. Indu
is from India and speaks Indian and
Punjabi. Indu migrated to NZ in 2003
and has been working with ELP since
2006.
4. Sakhidad Sooran, a Bilingual Assistant
from ELP West Auckland. Sakhidad is
from Afghanistan and speaks Farsi and
Urdu. Sakhidad arrived in NZ in 2000
and has been working as a bilingual
assistant since 2003.
organisational vision and strategy. Then Ruchika
will present an overview of the fundraising work
that has taken place so far and our plans for the
coming year. We are interested in hearing your
thoughts and questions and work shopping some
questions to guide our future work.
Amy Johnson
Learning a New Language: perspectives from 4 of
ELP’s bilingual tutors: A panel of four bi-lingual
tutors from different learner groups talk about
learning styles, education in their homeland and
difficulties in learning English associated to their
language. The panel will focus on learners from
Ukraine, China, India, and Afghanistan. Each of the
tutors is currently involved in an ELP programme.
Jean Batten Ballroom
1
Jean Batten Ballroom 2
Jean Batten Ballroom 3
Professional speaking for migrants: Dr Margriet
Theron offers this 12-weeks course, free to students.
Professional Speaking for Migrants is suitable for
advanced ELP learners who are applying for jobs or
who want to develop public speaking skills. The
workshop will cover: budget, funding, promotion,
teaching resources, syllabus, examination, timetable
and more.
Teaching in a virtual world: Teaching in a Virtual
World is based on the experiences of the national
office Programmes Team as we invited ESOL
learners around the country to join us in Online
English Language Groups, using the online
platform Adobe Connect. The learning curve was
steep, occasionally stressful and loads of fun! If
you're interested in online teaching and think you
might like to give it a go, come and join me.
Treats for tutors This workshop will be presented by
three experienced ELP managers, approximately 25
minutes of each:
Nalini – Idioms in everyday speech
Does the thought of explaining English idioms to a
learner throw you into a tizzy? Idioms are an
important part of everyday speech and often the
grease that keeps conversations flowing and natural
but they can be a challenge for both the tutor and
the learner. This looks at ways of making the
learning easy and enjoyable.
Philippa – This short presentation called ‘Short &
Sweet’ will be focussed on the use of the resource
book titled ‘Five Minute Activities’ by Penny Ur. We
will be exploring the use of short activities designed
not just for fun breaks but with real language
teaching principles in mind. We will be trying some
out for a hands on experience. It is designed for
use by both one to one and group tutors.
Jenny - R’ is for Reading – or should that be ‘f’ is for
fdÞ¥i€±? This is a light-hearted (no stress!!) look at
how you can gain some understanding of what
your beginner learners might experience as they
learn to read English. No previous experience
necessary – just an open mind.
Dr Margriet Theron is the Deputy Chair of
both the Rotorua Multicultural Council and
the Geyser Community Foundation and a
trustee of Speech NZ. She holds CELTA
and degrees in management, economics
and science and is retired after a career in
science policy and forestry education
management.
Victoria Ussher is a member of the
Programmes Team at ELP’s national office.
After 12 years of primary teaching and 10
years at ELP Wellington Victoria relished
the opportunity to do some hands-on
teaching. This opportunity came about
when the programmes team members
joined groups of ‘pioneer’ learners from
around the country experimenting with
Adobe Connect as an online classroom
Nalini Varghese has been the manager of
ELP Southland since 2005. She has an MA
in English and has been a co-presenter at
the 2012 CLESOL Conference on English on
tailored language and settlement support
to migrants dairy workers.
Philippa Cairns is manager of ELP Bay of
Plenty in Tauranga. She has been manager
coming up for 20 years at the centre, has a
Dip TESOL and trains all the volunteer
home tutors, both for initial tutor training
and ongoing PD workshops for the existing
pool of trained tutors. She is particularly
interested in adult education and
developing and fostering tutors in their skill
development within our organisation.
Jenny Huddleston is in her 7th year as
manager of ELP Northland. She has also
presented a seminar for a national Tertiary
Int. Student Support conference. Prior to
joining ELP she was International Student
Liaison officer, North Tec.
Amelia Earhart
Ambassador
Kiwi Slang In this workshop we will show you our
presentations on Kiwi Slang, Kiwi Christmas, and
Kiwi Slang in the Workplace which we have run for
Hutt City Council Settlement Support seminars. We
will take you through our presentations in a fun and
interactive way and leave you with plenty of
materials and ideas to use in the classroom or with
one to one learners. We have received excellent
feedback about these seminars from learners of all
levels and backgrounds.
Adapting a resource: Dorothy Thwaite and Rose
Desmond guide participants through a variety of
ways to tailor resources to suit a particular language
level or need, and how to use and re-use them.
Lots of sample materials in different genres will be
looked at – along with paper, pencils, glue and
highlighters. Participants will have plenty of
opportunity to apply learned skills and personal
creativity.
Christine Cook is the centre manager of
English Language Partners Hutt. She has a
teaching background ranging from primary
school children to international students.
Christine has also worked in the media
industry as an advertising and training
manager and has just completed her MA in
Media studies.
Chris Walkerdine is a coordinator at English
Language Partners hutt. She has been
teaching for 30+ years. She has taught at
the primary, secondary and university level
and is presently teaching adult refugees
and migrants. She has B.Ed and a Dip
TESOL.
Dorothy Thwaite (see earlier notes)
Rose Desmond (see earlier notes)
In
Workshop
Presenter
Richard
Pearse
Board – EAG meeting
Board Chair
Amelia Earhart
Workshop 6: Sunday 11.30am – 1.00pm
Telling a great story: making your communications
work for you: Without a doubt, ELP’s stories are the
most interesting you’ll hear in NZ. Your messages
are an essential tool for recruitment and retention.
Communicating with your audience/s can be a
challenge these days, especially with more
communities online. Learn more!
Focus: centre managers and staff
Grace Bassett Profile and Publications
Coordinator at the national office of English
Language Partners New Zealand. Grace
manages the ELPNZ’s brand and their
website and edits the
Association’s Connecting Cultures
magazine. Grace has a Dip TESOL and a
Dip. Publishing.
Jean Batten Ballroom
How to teach a language: We will discuss these
principles of language teaching
I.
Base your lessons on course goals and
learners’ needs and wants.
II.
Start from where learners are, and help
them move to the next stage.
III.
Manage the class to follow the plan, but
change it if necessary.
IV.
Put the learner at the centre: make sure
their time is well used.
V.
Allow time for development of both
accuracy and fluency.
VI.
Set exercises which require conscious
processing.
VII.
Ensure learners often use language with
tasks you have set.
VIII.
Enable learners to become independent of
you.
Marty Pilott Marty has decades of teaching
and learning languages, and as academic
manager has observed many teachers in
action. From this he has distilled advice for
teachers into a compact book, How to
Teach a Language. This summarises key
skills for language teachers, covering the
various skills, planning, preparation, and
even classroom management. His goal is to
improve the quality and efficiency of ESOL
and community language teaching.
Keynote Speakers
Speaker
Abstract
Nicola Sutton
Nicola Sutton is the Chief Executive of ELPNZ. Prior
to this she was Deputy CE and Operations
Manager. She was previously employed in several
Auckland ELP centres (doing resources, finance and
funding) and in Christchurch (doing coordination,
tutor training, literacy class teaching). She was also
a centre committee and ELPNZ board member and
chair. Nicola has a Masters in Commerce and a
diploma in not-for-profit management.
Birgit Grafarend-Watungwa
Birgit Grafarend-Watungwa (M.A. Cultural
Anthropology/Sociology) has been the Manager of
English Language Partners North Shore for the past
nine years. She has worked in adult education,
intercultural communication and community
development for over 15 years. She has lived,
studied and worked in Germany, Zimbabwe and
New Zealand.
Jo de Lisle
Jo de Lisle is the current manager of ELP Waikato
after a number of years in teaching, programme
development and assessment with adult learners of
English in English Language Partners and other
organisations. She has become more and more
interested in finding ways to enable job seekers
with English as an additional language find and
retain fulfilling work.
Celebrating the past; motivation for the future
Nicola will tell the story of just a few of the
successes achieved by centres and the association
in recent times. We will be encouraged to pause
and celebrate our success and to become excited
about the opportunities that exist to build on the
success for future learners and their communities.
Empowering migrants and refugees: a story of a
successful internship programme: English Language
Partners North Shore developed an internship
programme two years ago to give new
migrants/refugees the opportunity to gain
workplace experience in a New Zealand
organisation. During 2013, seven interns worked in
the office of the North Shore centre in three
different internship roles. In this keynote address,
Birgit will provide an overview about the internship
programme, how it started and expanded during
the past year. Birgit will also share the key learnings
from the internship programme’s first year of
implementation.
Working the Talk: Former Refugees and migrants
can talk their way into employment success, with a
little support
Employment is a key factor in assisting migrants
and former refugees to feel that they have really
“arrived” in New Zealand. This presentation takes a
look at a number of employment focused initiatives
happening through English Language Partners in
the Waikato area and discusses how these
programmes support acculturation and settlement.
Ethnic Advisory Group (EAG)
The Ethnic Advisory Group provides an ethnic
perspective on the refugee and migrant experience
of settling in New Zealand to the Chief Executive.
Their advice is just one mechanism used to help
ELPNZ remain relevant providers of English
language tuition. The members of the group
speaking today include
 Amit Prasad (resident in Auckland, from Fiji)
 Amina Moffasir (Christchurch/Pakistan)
 Chuda Ghimirey (Palmerston North/Bhutan)
 Mohammed Ali Amiri (Wellington/Afghanistan)
 Rhonda Lin (Hutt/China) and
 Maria Cristina Rodriguez (Hamilton/Colombia)
Our lives as a success story: the refugee and migrant
experience: Each member of the ELPNZ Ethnic
Advisory Group member has a success story of their
own as newcomers to New Zealand. They will
briefly share their story and identify the factors that
contributed to their successful settlement so we can
understand what others in their position may
experience or benefit from knowing about.