A multicultural team from Greenwood College, composed of students some of whom have been learning English for only three years have won the prestigious WA Schools Debating Competition in the novice division.
One of these students is Asmaa Hameed who came to Australia from Iraq three years ago. She only knew a few words in English when she arrived and began studying after she enrolled at Greenwood College’s Intensive Language Centre.
Asmaa said she started debating to build her self-confidence as well as her English skills.
“Once I started doing debating I turned from a shy person to a really confident person,” she said.
The Centre’s head teacher, Ela Amor-Robertson commented how the student’s success demonstrated their commitment and love of learning.
The team competed against 160 other schools for the prestigious title some of whom were well known for their debating prowess.
The success of the team demonstrates that with adequate support, multicultural children are able to thrive in schools. In light of this, Cultural Perspectives is proud to be attending Settlement Services International’s Mosaic Gala for 2017. The Mosaic Gala is an event to raise money to fund refugee scholarships. These refugee scholarships were created in order to minimize the financial barriers experienced by refugees as they participate in the NSW education system.
More information about the event can be found here:
https://www.mosaicgala.ssi.org.au/