In2Vision

When I first migrated to New Zealand in 1984 as a refugee, I barely spoke a word of English. I could remember my frustration of having to guess what the teachers were saying. They had a special class set-up for us (non-English speaking refugees) separated from the native speakers. Mrs Wynn Glynn (ESL teacher) and Jenny Smith spent a great deal of their time and effort trying to teach me from scratch. I was 12 years old, learning the English alphabet. I failed 'standard' English and managed to get decent marks in other subjects even though I never really fully understood the material... (to be continued)