[chlg]

Dear all... We finally got our plane tickets and we are flying to Auckland on the first week of December... We are going to be by Christmas on NZ!!! Well, everything is pretty exciting and new and is an adventure for my kids, but my wife is kind of wooryed because she doesn't speak english very well... She understand most of it if you talked to hear in a low pace, but she has a lot of problems to communicate with others...
I want to find out is there could be any community centre in the areas nearby Howick that gives free english lessons. She has a work visa for 30 months and ideally she would be able to work as soon as she is confident enough to speak in english...
I make fun of hers saying that if she doesn't speak english she won't be eating because she needs to do the groceries and all the shopping around, but I need to make her feel comfortable with herself to realy settle in NZ...
If you have any idea, please let me know....
Thanks...

 

[Kimbella]

Dear all... We finally got our plane tickets and we are flying to Auckland on the first week of December... We are going to be by Christmas on NZ!!! Well, everything is pretty exciting and new and is an adventure for my kids, but my wife is kind of wooryed because she doesn't speak english very well... She understand most of it if you talked to hear in a low pace, but she has a lot of problems to communicate with others...
I want to find out is there could be any community centre in the areas nearby Howick that gives free english lessons. She has a work visa for 30 months and ideally she would be able to work as soon as she is confident enough to speak in english...
I make fun of hers saying that if she doesn't speak english she won't be eating because she needs to do the groceries and all the shopping around, but I need to make her feel comfortable with herself to realy settle in NZ...
If you have any idea, please let me know....
Thanks...

First off, congratulations! How exciting for you, and best of luck!

To address the concerns your wife has. I would say, they are not displaced--it IS going to probably be harder for her here because of not being fluent with the language. It is something she'll definitely want to start working on if she wants to be happy here... kiwis can be tricky to communicate with even when you already speak the same language... they tend to be more of a nod and a "yup" kinda folks, and do a lot of, "yah, well, you know..." Even on the best of days I still only understand half of what is said to me because they don't always use actual words, they just sort of *infer* stuff with shrugs, sighs, and "hhmmm's." I suggest she get crackin' now on a language program like Rosetta Stone, or something that will get her some basic receptive AND expressive language skills--those will be a foundation for her future learning.

I don't know what will be available where you are moving to, but you can try contacting the INZ settlement services and they should be able to give you some information on what is locally available to you (should be the operative word). Settlement services contact information is on the INZ website, and there are blurbs in the segment about help with language, etc.

Hope this helps a little!

 

[topcat83]

Well done!
And when we first moved over, my husband used to give free English (or ESOL) lessons in Howick through an organization run by the local 'All Saints' church.
So it may be worth contacting them and seeing if they still arrange them...