Central Otago Reap and the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Welcoming Communities programme have joined forces to fund the course.
It has been designed to assist more people from other countries who have moved to or are working in the Queenstown Lakes district, including the Wānaka-Upper Clutha ward.
Wānaka teacher Jo Hewson-Williams is the only ESOL teacher in the Upper Clutha community at present and is looking forward to teaching the classes.
She also teaches ESOL at Mount Aspiring College (Mac), alongside her duties as arts co-ordinator.
"I will start with conversation classes and then perhaps do some International English Language Testing (IELT), which is needed for visas, before thinking of moving into workplaces as well," Mrs Hewson-Williams said.
Mrs Hewson-Williams studied linguistics and languages at Otago University between 2002-2006 before gaining her Cambridge Celta Certificate.
She then spent many years teaching in international language schools before taking up an ESOL role at Mac’s language centre about nine years ago.
However, many of Mac’s international students repatriated during the Covid pandemic, forcing the language centre to close.
At that time, the centre had just begun classes for adults, but these also ended.
Since Covid restrictions lifted, immigrants have continued to settle in Wānaka and enrol their children at Mac, with the Ministry of Education funding ESOL for students to a certain level of proficiency.
This year, 40 English Language Learners (ELL) started at Mac taking the total number of ELLs to 100, over 10% growth.
Mrs Hewson-Williams is thrilled Central Otago Reap has come on board to re-establish ESOL for Wānaka adults in the community.
She knows many people in Wānaka speak Nepali, Singalese, Spanish, Tagalog and Portuguese as their first languages and are keen for help.
"I had people on work or residency visas coming up to me all the time in the supermarket asking me, can you run something," she said.
MORE INFO: ESOL classes (90 minutes, free) for adults will be taught at the Upper Clutha Community Hub in McDougall St every Wednesday evening from July 31, for eight weeks.
