Connecting bilingual seniors with student language learners

SBS Italian

Students attend a class at Alexandria Park Community School in Sydney on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. (AAP Image/Paul Miller) NO ARCHIVING — Students attend a class at Alexandria Park Community School in Sydney on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 Source: AAP Image/Paul Miller

One in three older Australians were born overseas – the majority of whom originally from a non-English speaking country. Meanwhile, the number of school leavers graduating with a second language is declining.

Follow and Subscribe

Apple Podcasts YouTube Spotify Download (15.99MB)

Download the SBS Audio appAvailable on iOS and Android

Published 15 October 2018 11:44am

Updated 15 August 2022 5:12pm

By Magica Fossati, Francesca Rizzoli, Amy Chien-Yu Wang

Source: SBS

Share this with family and friends

One in three older Australians were born overseas – the majority of whom originally from a non-English speaking country. Meanwhile, the number of school leavers graduating with a second language is declining.

A Monash University project has found a creative solution to encourage LOTE (Language Other Than English) learning by pairing up older migrants with high school students learning a second language.

The SBS National Languages Competition 2018 starts on Monday 15 October. And for the first time, the competition is open to all Australians of all ages who are learning a language, including those learning English!

SBS Radio's ambition is to encourage and celebrate a love of learning languages in Australia “Learning languages opens a world of possibilities”.

Find out more on the website www.sbs.com.au/nlc18