THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 4 Number 7 | April 2014
NEWS
Language lessons benefit new migrants
MOTHER and son are now appealing for migrant center’s assistance
and local council’s guidance to help address her special immediate
health care needs.
by MARILIE BOMEDIANO
NEWLY arrived migrants can
avail of free English lessons to
help them cope with settling in
Australia.
Filipino-Chinese Lily Tan is
one of many adult migrants who
has signed up to learn speaking English the Aussie way via
the Adult Migrant English Programme (AMEP).
Lily, 55, arrived here in Australia as a dependent by virtue of
her son’s subclass 190 visa occupation category.
Her son, Randy Teng, 32, is a
systems administrator.
The mother and son arrived
in Australia last February.
Lily, who is known as Lil Jin
Wu in mainland China, is now
happily though slowly adjusting
in their new home in Doonside.
“I hope to meet new Pinoy
and multicultural friends here,”
said Ms. Tan.
The AMEP provides up to 510
hours of free English language tuition to eligible migrants from
skilled, family and humanitari-
an visa streams. Migrants can take
English classes for a minimum of
20 hours per week for up to six
months in the government support programme at Macquarie
CommunityCollegeinBlacktown.
But the mother is also coping
with another problem: mobility.
Needing wheelchair access, she
can only move around with the
help of Randy.
“I hope I can walk again and
study at the same time,” she said.
“She needs total knee replacement for both knees so she can
continue studying and be able to
walk and enjoy life here in Australia,” Randy said.
The college where the mother is studying has wheelchair access but mobility for her can still
be a real struggle.
Mother and son are now appealing for migrant center’s as-
sistance and local council’s guidance to help address her special
immediate health care needs.
They are also very keen to join
the Filipino-Australians associations here.
(Any practitioner or medical
organisation willing to assist Ms.
Tan with her knee replacement
needs in any possible way can
contact [email protected]
or 0423 532 575.)
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