Global pathway provider Navitas has teamed up with AMES, a provider of training and employment support to refugees, to deliver virtual English language lessons for migrants and refugees across Australia.
Director of the project, Iain Rothwell, said the scheme offered Australia’s first fully interactive virtual English classroom, and would replicate face-to-face lessons for those unable to attend classes in person.
“We can have students and a teacher, who could all be located in far flung places, able to see and speak to each other for the first time”
“For new Australians living in rural and remote areas or those who are unable to attend face-to-face classes, the virtual classroom will allow the development of language skills to enable participation in and contribution to their local communities,” he said.
Launched earlier this month, the programme is being piloted by several groups of students in Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory who are being taught by AMES and Navitas teachers based in Melbourne and Sydney. Organisers say the trial will eventually extend to 200 students and run for two years.
Students are able to work together as a whole class, or in small groups, in virtual breakout rooms on interactive speaking, listening, reading and writing activities. The project is being backed by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, and makes use of Australia’s new high speed National Broadband Network.
“We can have students and a teacher, who could all be located in far flung places, able to see and speak to each other for the first time,” AMES distance learning manager, Caitlin Halliwell, said. “Students are able to read social cues and facial expressions – an important part of conversational language skills – which is a first for online learning,”
