Changing lives one word at a time

Matthew Johnston has been profoundly deaf since birth and has always relied on the use of a hearing aid. A few years ago Matthew discovered Ai-Live – an online captioning platform created by tech innovator Ai-Media – and decided to join a small private company as a technical director. His main role was meeting potential clients and managing a team of consultants. As most consultants were at the client sites, online captioning meant he could keep in touch with them constantly.

Matthew is now working for a financial market trading company, and uses Ai-Live as part of his everyday routine. Matthew says, “Captioning has allowed me to further enhance my career prospects and to work more confidently.”

Stories like Matthew’s have built a picture of what captioning can do for deaf professionals, but until now there hasn’t been any firm evidence to show how big the impact is in the workplace.

That lack of evidence has now been rectified. In December 2014 the University of Melbourne carried out an independent evaluation of the way in which captioning benefits deaf professionals. The results clearly demonstrate the profound impact that captioning has on deaf people’s careers.

A team at the Centre for Program Evaluation at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne carried out a survey of deaf people in employment who use captioning in their workplace. The research was conducted as part of the social impact investment Nesta made into Ai-Media in September 2014.

Deaf professionals responded to a survey asking about the impact captioning had on their job performance and well-being in the workplace. The respondents really agreed that captioning assisted them in their work environment, and agreed that they were more engaged in meetings and had improved their job performance.

Captioning had a positive impact on their stress levels and resulted in colleagues noticing improvements in confidence and attitude. They also said that the captioning technology had an impact on their workplace confidence, by making them feel more included.

This evidence shows that Ai-Media’s ground-breaking captioning technology helps to build deaf professionals’ confidence at work and could help boost their career progression.

Eibhlín Ní Ógáin, Insights Manager in the Nesta Impact Investments team said, “At Nesta we believe that Ai-Media’s technology does not simply give deaf people access to the spoken word but also improves their confidence and opportunities in the workplace. These results provide promising evidence for that belief, and demonstrate the real impact captioning has had on people’s working lives.”

Eileen Hopkins, Executive Director said: “We’ve known for many years just how significant captioning is for the deaf professionals who use it. Because they can pay for Ai-Media’s captioning technology, Ai-Live, through the UK Government’s world-renowned Access to Work programme, it is low cost or even free to them and their employer.  This gives deaf people the ability to access the spoken word, in real-time, alongside their hearing peers and means that many opportunities within the workplace are open to them for the first time.”

The not-for-profit charitable organisation is one of the main community groups helping Syrian refugees settle in Dunedin. In 2016, Dunedin became New Zealand’s sixth resettlement city and is expected to absorb 30% of the country’s refugee quota.

With new groups of refugees arriving every eight weeks, English Language Partners is playing an important role in helping the new arrivals adjust to their new lives.  Its teachers and volunteers work to make their learners feel as ‘’safe and comfortable’’ as possible in their English tuition classes. 

“English is the golden key to successful settlement. We must be proactive, organic, flexible and well-prepared as more refugees make Dunedin their new home,’’ says Dunedin centre manager Paul Naidu. 

He says the often traumatic, unimaginable experiences of many refugees means staff are engaged in teaching and supporting them as sensitively and patiently as possible. 

For some classes, the support includes an on-site playgroup assistant who keeps young children occupied while their parents learn English.

While providing services and language programmes is not without its challenges, it is worth the effort to see the results, Paul says. 

“Seeing learners with little or no English grow in confidence and blossom is absolutely wonderful.’’ 

From Damascus to “lovely Dunedin”

Former refugees from Syria, Wafaa Al Ashram and her 13-year-old son Ahmed arrived in Dunedin from Lebanon in April 2016. They are part of the first group of 49 Syrian refugees to settle in the city.

Wafaa left her hometown of Damascus in 2014, crossing the border into Lebanon with her son, Ahmed. She left behind a son in Syria. One other son had passed away. 

“We suffered a lot and we had lots of bad stuff happen to us but when we arrived here we needed to learn and we needed to change what we had and live a normal life,’’ Wafaa says. 

Growing up learning Arabic, Wafaa left school in Year 6 before she could learn English. She kept learning Arabic and her main hobby is reading. She says the chance to learn English with English Language Partners is like a “dream coming true”. 

Since arriving in Dunedin, she has been getting used to New Zealand life. She is enjoying her lessons and appreciates all the help she and her classmates receive from their teachers. 

She has progressed from knowing only some of the English alphabet, to being able to read and understand “very easy’’ English books. 

She enjoys being in the classes because she feels the people at English Language Partners are supportive, and also finds the teaching style really helpful “to learn and get more information about everything English”. 

Mainly wheelchair-bound, Wafaa describes Ahmed as a “big support” and says her motivation to learn comes from her desire to make a new life in her new country.

She hopes to find employment once her English has improved and she has developed some computer skills. 

Learning centres throughout New Zealand

English Language Partners offers courses in a range of subjects, from beginners English to conversational English and English for work, as well as more specialised subjects like learning the road code. It also offers in-home tutoring for learners who are unable to access group lessons.

The organisation also actively supports and advocates for race relations and cultural heritage. It helps its migrant and refugee communities retain their own national identity, culture and language in a variety of ways including hosting events and open days at its community centres.

“We believe being able to communicate in everyday English and understand how things are done here is essential for good settlement outcomes. Success in this benefits everyone including communities and workplaces,” says English Language Partners CE Nicola Sutton.

This year, English Language Partners will receive over $8M in TEC funding. It is funded to deliver Adult and Community Education, the Migrant Levy, Student Achievement Component levels 1 and 2, and Intensive Literacy and Numeracy and Workplace Literacy programmes.

More information

You can read many inspiring stories about the work English Language Partners is doing on its website.

Front page photo caption: New refugee Wafaa shares a laugh with her son Ahmed.

Do you have a story you would like to share on our website?

If you have a story you would like to share, get in touch with your Investment Manager or send your story proposal to news@tec.govt.nz.

Post sponsored by NewzEngine.com

Source: Tertiary Education Commission

The not-for-profit charitable organisation is one of the main community groups helping Syrian refugees settle in Dunedin. In 2016, Dunedin became New Zealand’s sixth resettlement city and is expected to absorb 30% of the country’s refugee quota.
With new groups of refugees arriving every eight weeks, English Language Partners is playing an important role in helping the new arrivals adjust to their new lives.  Its teachers and volunteers work to make their learners feel as ‘’safe and comfortable’’ as possible in their English tuition classes. 
“English is the golden key to successful settlement. We must be proactive, organic, flexible and well-prepared as more refugees make Dunedin their new home,’’ says Dunedin centre manager Paul Naidu. 
He says the often traumatic, unimaginable experiences of many refugees means staff are engaged in teaching and supporting them as sensitively and patiently as possible. 
For some classes, the support includes an on-site playgroup assistant who keeps young children occupied while their parents learn English.
While providing services and language programmes is not without its challenges, it is worth the effort to see the results, Paul says. 
“Seeing learners with little or no English grow in confidence and blossom is absolutely wonderful.’’ 

Syrian refugee Wafaa Al Ashram and her English Language Partners’ teacher.

From Damascus to “lovely Dunedin”
Former refugees from Syria, Wafaa Al Ashram and her 13-year-old son Ahmed arrived in Dunedin from Lebanon in April 2016. They are part of the first group of 49 Syrian refugees to settle in the city.
Wafaa left her hometown of Damascus in 2014, crossing the border into Lebanon with her son, Ahmed. She left behind a son in Syria. One other son had passed away. 
“We suffered a lot and we had lots of bad stuff happen to us but when we arrived here we needed to learn and we needed to change what we had and live a normal life,’’ Wafaa says. 
Growing up learning Arabic, Wafaa left school in Year 6 before she could learn English. She kept learning Arabic and her main hobby is reading. She says the chance to learn English with English Language Partners is like a “dream coming true”. 
Since arriving in Dunedin, she has been getting used to New Zealand life. She is enjoying her lessons and appreciates all the help she and her classmates receive from their teachers. 
She has progressed from knowing only some of the English alphabet, to being able to read and understand “very easy’’ English books. 
She enjoys being in the classes because she feels the people at English Language Partners are supportive, and also finds the teaching style really helpful “to learn and get more information about everything English”. 
Mainly wheelchair-bound, Wafaa describes Ahmed as a “big support” and says her motivation to learn comes from her desire to make a new life in her new country.
She hopes to find employment once her English has improved and she has developed some computer skills. 
Learning centres throughout New Zealand
English Language Partners offers courses in a range of subjects, from beginners English to conversational English and English for work, as well as more specialised subjects like learning the road code. It also offers in-home tutoring for learners who are unable to access group lessons.
The organisation also actively supports and advocates for race relations and cultural heritage. It helps its migrant and refugee communities retain their own national identity, culture and language in a variety of ways including hosting events and open days at its community centres.
“We believe being able to communicate in everyday English and understand how things are done here is essential for good settlement outcomes. Success in this benefits everyone including communities and workplaces,” says English Language Partners CE Nicola Sutton.
This year, English Language Partners will receive over $8M in TEC funding. It is funded to deliver Adult and Community Education, the Migrant Levy, Student Achievement Component levels 1 and 2, and Intensive Literacy and Numeracy and Workplace Literacy programmes.
More information
You can read many inspiring stories about the work English Language Partners is doing on its website.
Front page photo caption: New refugee Wafaa shares a laugh with her son Ahmed.
Do you have a story you would like to share on our website?
If you have a story you would like to share, get in touch with your Investment Manager or send your story proposal to news@tec.govt.nz.

MIL OSI