Nino arrived in Melbourne in 2021 but struggled to find work or study opportunities during the lockdown. However, when she found her way to Djerriwarh’s AMEP SLPET course, doors opened for her. Within 6 months of her arrival in Australia Nino had completed the SLPET course and started a traineeship in her desired field. She is also volunteering as an English tutor for another family who have recently arrived to Australia from Iraq.
SLPET stands for Settlement Language Pathways to Employment and Training and is a sub-program of the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). SLPET teaches students about working in Australia and is an offers students a two week placement in a real workplace.
Nino speaks Georgian, Russian, Arabic and Chinese and is improving her English daily. She has experience working as a language specialist in both the government and education sectors, and wanted to put her language skills to good use. Instead of the usual 2 weeks of work experience as a part of the SLPET course, Nino is doing a 6 month traineeship with Settlement Services International(SSI). SSI works with clients form many different backgrounds and Nino will be working with clients from an Arabic speaking background.
‘I’m so grateful and happy I found AMEP at Djerriwarrh. I love volunteering at SSI – I’ve never met so many professional and caring people.’
When the traineeship is completed, Nino hopes to find paid employment in multicultural services. She is also interested in further study such as a Master’s degree in Immigration Law, to further her career in multicultural services.