Carolyn Stanton - Carolyn's story
Carolyn Stanton
An EAL teacher at Chisholm, Carolyn witnesses and takes pride in transforming the lives of students.
A past Chisholm student herself, Carolyn Stanton was inspired to teach English as an additional language (EAL) because of her passion for languages and literacy. She loves the diversity of cultures that come together in her classroom in the form of international students or migrants for whom English is not their first language.
"When they start the course, all these students are apprehensive but as we move along I can see their confidence build. To put them at ease, I make it a point to talk to them individually about their progress and solve any learning issues they might be encountering. Chisholm also provides a number of services to support these students.
"The classroom environment is generally fun and we do a lot of group activities and vocabulary challenges which promote teamwork as well as learning. I also encourage asking a lot of questions. Most of the time people are afraid to ask a question, thinking it’s not a valid one. But in my class all questions are considered relevant."
Some of the common difficulties her students face are language barriers and financial constraints, as most of them are struggling to find employment.
"At Chisholm, we have a practical placement program for these students to have the opportunity to join the Australian work force. And some of these placements actually turn out to be real ongoing jobs."
Carolyn’s advice to potential students is to take action and start learning and gathering information.
"It’s fantastic to see the transformation in students from the time they start to when they finish their course."