By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
THE phrase “learning a new tongue” couldn’t be more apt for staff at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre office in Dandenong.
In a reversal of roles, ASRC client and asylum seeker ‘Asal’ (whose identity can’t be revealed) holds centre-stage as the teacher in the training room.
Scrawling elegant Farsi lettering on the whiteboard, she prompts staff and volunteers how to speak a language totally alien to her students by sound and sight.
Training co-ordinator Linda Perugini enjoys the challenge of these weekly classes, as she tries to master her mimickry of the Farsi alphabet.
“Visually it’s completely different to the English alphabet,” Ms Perugini said.
“At first I think we were all ready to give up, but our teacher is doing an amazing job of breaking everything down and making it feel achievable.”
Asal – who isn’t a trained teacher – has also found it difficult to lead the class and translate her language into English.
Advice from teacher friends in Iran has helped.
“For me I get a good satisfaction,” she said.
Out of the dual struggle has come a “lovely sense of equality”, said Ms Perugini.
“We have now both had a turn at being the student and the teacher.
“I hope that Asal is gaining confidence through teaching the class, and realising her potential.”
Staff hope their new-found Farsi skills will help them communicate with some of their clients.
Another of the fledgling students is ASRC social enterprise development manager Ash Nugent.
Although he stumbles through pronouncing “lots of ‘kh’, ‘gh’ and rolled ‘r’s”, he has a new appreciation for how much his clients have to absorb when they learn English.
“The clients see the staff practising their pronunciation of words and it gives them a good laugh,” he said.
“It really helps them to see us in a different light, and I mean that in a very positive sense.”
