Refugee Tutoring Queensland (VoRTCS) | Community organisation

Refugee Tutoring Queensland (VoRTCS)

Phone: +61 7 3010 1069

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Community organisation

25.01.2022 Hi tutors, Facilitated by the Brisbane Malayalee Association and Brisbane City Council, the Multicultural Taste of the World Festival 2020 aims to bring the community together in promoting social harmony and celebrating cultural diversity. The idea of "unity in diversity" is the foundation of the Festival where culture is celebrated. There will be music, dance, art, food, the sharing of global knowledge and the chance to meet people from all over the world!... Please share this event with your team and tutoring families

24.01.2022 Free friendly multicultural telephone service I Speak Your Language! More than 1 in 10 Queenslanders speak a language other than English at home and over 1 million people in Queensland were born overseas. Multicultural Communities Council Gold Coast has been funded by Multicultural Affairs Queensland to offer a free multicultural telephone service for anyone in Queensland. With many people still feeling isolated or unsure since COVID 19, perhaps a friendly call in their own... language would help? This free services has over 70 trained volunteers who speak the following languages: Russian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, English, German, Korean, Arabic, French, Tagalog, Bulgarian, Bengali, Tamil, Slovenian, Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Gujarati, Punjabi, Farsi, Hindi, Dari, Ukrainian, Bangla, Macedonian, Portuguese, Hungarian, Romanian, Samoan, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hakka, Hokkein, Malay Chin Hakha, Chin Mizo For weekly social chats in a particular language call 1800 95 40 40 to join the free I Speak Your Language program and they will let you know once the calls begin. If they dont have a volunteer with the language needed, they can find one! I Speak Your Language is a free state-wide telephone support program supported by the Queensland Government and available to anyone in Queensland. For more information visit https://www.mccgc.com.au/mccgc-ser/i-speak-your-language/or email [email protected].

23.01.2022 Important COVID19 Notice to Tutors We hope you are all staying safe and healthy with the developments surrounding COVID19. Please refer to the letter which was emailed to you today detailing the measures that Vinnies QLDs VoRTCS program has in place in prioritising the wellbeing and safety of our volunteers and tutoring families.... In line with government advice regarding social distancing, VoRTCS will be shutting down all services and tutoring sessions until further notice, effective immediately. Please read the letter emailed to you very carefully and contact Program Coordinator, Sandy Hang, at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns. VoRTCS is here to support you and our tutoring families, especially in these challenging and uncertain times. If you would like to know more, please email [email protected], visit our website www.refugeetutoring.org or our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoRTCS/. As this is a constantly evolving situation, we will be monitoring the situation closely surrounding COVID19 and we will be advising you of any changes with regards to VoRTCS operations in the future. Vinnies would like to express our appreciation for your ongoing support and we wish you all the utmost health and safety during this time. From Sandy & the VoRTCS Committee

23.01.2022 Dear tutors, We have some great news! In line with government restrictions easing, VoRTCS will be recommencing face-to-face home tutoring sessions for our current teams and families from Monday, 29th June 2020. Please refer to the important communication emailed to you today from the VoRTCS Program Coordinator. It is vital that you read and follow the necessary steps listed in this communication, in order to recommence face-to-face tutoring sessions safely and to ensure that ...your team and tutoring family has access to the resources and support available. Vinnies QLDs VoRTCS Program would like to thank our amazing volunteers for the valuable remote support you continued to provide to your tutoring families, whilst navigating the changes and challenges experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past few months, it has been incredibly heart-warming to witness our VoRTCS tutors showing resilience, flexibility and creativity in adapting to these changes in supporting your tutoring families via remote mediums & technology! We sincerely thank you for your patience, understanding and commitment whilst the program has been operating in a reduced capacity and we would now like to welcome you back wholeheartedly in resuming (where possible) the valuable face-to-face tutoring support you provide to families from a refugee background across Brisbane. If you did not receive the communication email today or need anything clarified, please email the VoRTCS Program Coordinator, Sandy Hang, at [email protected]. We sincerely appreciate your continued support and were excited to start face-to-face tutoring sessions for our VoRTCS families again!

21.01.2022 Vinnies shares a vision of an Australia in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, languages, philosophies and cultures penetrate the marrow o...f our institutions, our organisations, our communities and the lives of all Australians. We believe that together we can support change further and work to shape a more just and compassionate society. #BlackLivesMatter

21.01.2022 Check out the multilingual information put together by Queensland Health for COVID19! (re-post)

20.01.2022 Dear tutors, Please share the exciting news about the further easing of restrictions with your refugee families! In the meanwhile, VoRTCS and St Vincent de Paul Society of Queensland will assess whether tutoring in person is safe to be resumed soon in a modified capacity. ... Please stay tuned & stay safe!

20.01.2022 Dear all, Please share this important information. Visa Status is NOT a barrier to coronavirus (COVID-19) testing.... To support Queenslands response to COVID-19, people who do not have adequate insurance coverage and are not eligible for Medicare will not be charged out of pocket expenses if they present to any Queensland Health facility for assessment in relation to COVID-19 infection. More information is available from Queensland Health below: https://www.qld.gov.au//stay-inf/testing-and-fever-clinics

19.01.2022 Its absolutely heartbreaking and devastating to see Australias great loss of life, land, and wildlife. For QLD bushfire victims, recent fires mark the beginning of a long, hard road to recovery. Donate to Vinnies today and help us support QLD families rebuild their lives Make your donation here: http://bit.ly/DonateVinniesBushfireAppeal.... #AlwaysThere #FireFloodDrought See more

17.01.2022 Its okay to ask for help - were here for you now more than ever before. Call 1800 846 643 Live Chat or Fill in our Helpform... Reach out now https://bit.ly/COVID-19EmergencyRelief

16.01.2022 Vinnies QLDs VoRTCS program has the most wonderful volunteers! We are so proud of you and how youve embraced remote tutoring over the last few months to remain in touch with your tutoring family and team and provide valuable support. We have another positive story about a teams experience with remote tutoring to share with you all: "As a team (Elizabeth, Peter and Chris), we discussed the climbing coronavirus toll in early March 2020. We decided before any lockdown was ann...Continue reading

15.01.2022 Swamped by resolutions for the New Year? Sick of that kale juice diet and its only week 1? Between new gym memberships, social media detoxes, tracking sleep schedules, and that list a mile long of all the things you just havent got around to yet, its easy to feel overwhelmed at this time of year. Our Vinnies QLDs VoRTCS refugee tutoring program is one simple way to make a real, meaningful difference in lives of some of Brisbanes most vulnerable families. Take a look at our website for more information, and come along to our next Information and Training Session on February 8! This is one resolution youll want to keep (and we promise theres no kale involved!) Image: https://images.app.goo.gl/nKiEMxHpqezbBHY39

14.01.2022 Vinnies QLDs VoRTCS program is very honoured and excited to be included on the panel at the upcoming United Nations Association of Australia QLD - World Refugee Day Webinar! Our very own Acting President, Wei Shih, will be speaking on behalf of Vinnies QLDs VoRTCS program about our community contributions to families from a refugee background. Free tickets for this event are in the link below, tune in if you get the chance!

14.01.2022 Remember to share the good news with your refugee family, and let them know the new activities we are soon allowed to do after the partial easing of restrictions!! Also, let us celebrate Queensland having 0 new confirmed case of COVID19 yesterday, as well as 0 on Tuesday! Hopefully we can all go and see our refugee families in person soon.

13.01.2022 Dear tutors, The annual World Refugee Day Concert proudly presented by Multicultural Australia and Brisbane City Council, features renowned performers, celebrating the stories, resilience and contributions of refugees who now call Queensland home. This year, this moving and uplifting concert will be streaming LIVE on Multicultural Australias Facebook page at 12pm, Thursday 18 June.... Make sure you tune in to the festivities and share this free virtual event with your tutoring families and loved ones #WRD2020 #YearofWelcome

12.01.2022 A very warm welcome and congratulations to the recent group of volunteers who completed training over the weekend and are now on their way to becoming Vinnies QLDs VoRTCS tutors! We are so excited for you to start your VoRTCS journey and meet your tutoring family

12.01.2022 Over the weekend the Vinnies QLDs VoRTCS team were very excited to partner up with Australian Red Cross to learn about emergency preparedness. In light of the ongoing bushfires and recent Southeast Queensland flash flooding, this is more important than ever! A big thank you to the Red Cross team for generously sharing your resources with our VoRTCS volunteers who attended the workshop on how to build emergency resilience with refugees. It was an extremely informative and engaging morning!

11.01.2022 As the week draws to a close, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our tutors - happy National Volunteer Week!As the week draws to a close, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our tutors - happy National Volunteer Week!

11.01.2022 Multicultural Australia presents REIMAGINE 2020, a virtual celebration of our welcoming Queensland and the rich cultural contributions of our migrant and refugee communities.... REIMAGINE 2020 brings you the best of Queensland's iconic LUMINOUS Lantern Parade and MOSAIC Multicultural Festival that attract over 30,000 people each year. Connect online from the 1-14 of November for a 2-week festival of virtual events showcasing world music and dance, cultural cooking demonstrations, storytelling, poetry and performance, and family and youth activities. REIMAGINE your neighbourhood with a virtual LUMINOUS Lantern Parade and share your photos of welcome and celebration. Welcome to REIMAGINE! Connect, create and celebrate our rich cultural diversity!

10.01.2022 Dear Tutors, Our most sincere apologies for the lack of communication in the last few weeks. Due to the VoRTCS Coordinator Sandy being temporarily unavailable, communications has been slow. Any email sent to [email protected] will continue to be monitored, however, response times may be delayed. ... The St Vincent de Paul Society of Queensland and its VoRTCS Committee team hope each and everyone of you have stayed safe during this extraordinary time we found ourselves in. Without a doubt, the last few weeks have been incredibly difficult for most people, as we grapple with dramatic changes to our lives in ways absolutely unimaginable a mere few months ago. As we have announced 4 weeks ago, VoRTCS is no longer conducting in-home tutoring until further notice. We trust that you have all been closely observing social distancing rules to keep yourselves, the refugee family, and the larger society safe. Our hope is that tutoring will resume soon, especially in light of the recent news that Australia has been successful in flattening the curve of infection rates. However, it is definitely not a time to be complacent. In case social distancing rules remain in place for a few more months, we need to think of new ways to move forward. Understandably our refugee families need us now more than ever. Several challenges, such as access to timely information on health, and awareness of law and regulation changes, were already quite difficult for many families. It would be of great help if our tutors can continue the good work we have always done, to carry on with tutoring and empower the families to overcome this challenging time we are all facing. If your team and your refugee family have access to a computer or video phone, VoRTCS encourages tutors to reach out to your family and make arrangements to continue supporting them via an online platform. You may wish to explore some of the several mediums, including but not limited to Facetime, Skype, Zoom, WeChat, Line, or WhatsApp. The two-tutor rule will obviously be relaxed. It is NOT a requirement that for each online session there needs to be two or more tutors present. This may also enable you to tutor in a very different time compared to your past weekly sessions. In the upcoming weeks, we will stay in touch. We will work on providing you helpful information on conducting online classes, accessing multilingual public information, and check in on teams to see how the transition to tutoring online is going. We would like to remind you once again that your priority should absolutely be your own health and wellbeing. Please do not feel obliged to continue tutoring if your life situation has changed to the point that you are no longer able to commit. Please take care and stay safe. A dark time such as now sometimes brings out the best in humanity. Let us be that light.

10.01.2022 Dear tutors, Vinnies QLDs Education Services team have an exciting opportunity which may be suitable for some of your tutoring family members! Education Services are excited to share that they have recently received funding to run a small Business Admin traineeship program at Vinnies State Office (funded under Skilling Qlders for Work). ... The traineeships (4 positions) are 24 week PAID opportunity for those who are unemployed and over 15, with the right to study and work in Australia. This is an opportunity for many types of clients we all assist, including young people (not at school), parents getting back to work, culturally and linguistically diverse, and asylum seekers. Please see the flyer attached for more information and for sharing with your tutoring families. The second page of the flyer has an EOI form for interested clients to fill in and return to : [email protected] by 25 February 2020.

10.01.2022 Dear VoRTCS tutors, Following from our last post, we would like to share some tutoring resources with you. Of the upmost importance with tutoring at this stage is to ensure your refugee family is familiar with the governments directions and recommendations when it comes to social distancing and practicing good hygiene. Please make it the priority of your next tutoring session to discuss this with your refugee family, if you have not done so already. ... You may find the following website very helpful. Queensland Health has published a lot of information fact sheets in various community languages, including most languages that VoRTCS families speak. In the unlikely event that your refugee familys native language is not covered by Queensland Health, please do your best to explain to them in simple English, as you have always done with other topics and challenges that arose out of the usual course of VoRTCS tutoring. However, please also keep in mind what we have always emphasised - that you are only a volunteer tutor. Whatever help you can offer is appreciated, but please dont feel that the familys health and well-being are entirely your responsibility! In the upcoming weeks, we will continue to reply to your email queries (although a bit slowly), and provide further tips, ideas, and resources for you all to conduct virtual tutoring sessions. Stay safe, and happy tutoring! VoRTCS Committee, St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland

09.01.2022 The devastation of the ongoing bushfire has particularly highlighted how vital it is to be disaster-ready. Australia is at once a beautiful and dangerous country, famed for its droughts and flooding rains. For the newly arrived refugees, the challenge of facing natural disasters in a foreign land is a particularly daunting one. Vinnies QLDs VoRTCS program is grateful for the support of Australian Red Cross in partnering with us. In February we will hold our first Emergenc...y Preparedness Training workshop, so that our tutors are equipped with the skills to build emergency resilience with their refugee families. For the tutors interested in joining the session, please check your email inbox for the registration link! Sign up quickly before the spots go!

09.01.2022 A common concern we often hear from our tutors is that they feel the family is not progressing. This was sometimes due to lack of engagement from family members or persistent struggles with language learning. Learning a language and adapting to life in a new country is certainly a challenge. If you are finding it difficult to notice progress from tutoring, consider trying the following: Discuss goals and progress as a team with your tutor buddies - you may have separatel...y noticed progress. Discuss goals and progress with you family. What have they learnt in the last couple of months? What would they like to learn in the next few months? This is covered in detail with the Next Step training available on the Vinnies website (link below). As part of your catch up session with the family regarding goals, gently ask whether they are still finding tutoring useful and would like to stay involved. Remember that we are working towards graduation of families for the vast majority of families this occurs around the 2 year mark. Use the 6 monthly survey from VoRTCS to discuss milestones with the family Try to find out what learning style suits different family members do they seem to learn better from reading and writing, speaking, listening or looking at pictures? Try to use a mixture of learning activities. Remember tutoring sessions are not just about language and having perfect grammar or vocabulary. Tutoring has a large social element too. Have family members become more confident in socialising, learnt some Aussie slang from you, tried new foods, learnt to fill in forms, taken the bus, etc? All of these have a big impact on their lives. Check out the wide variety of learning resources available in the VoRTCS library once social distancing measures have been eased. There is a lot of helpful material! Find this post helpful? Have a look at our post yesterday on how to talk to your refugee family about health and employment: https://www.facebook.com/VoRTCS/posts/2929051330503929?notif_id=1588682613319403¬if_t=page_post_reaction

09.01.2022 Hi tutors! Looking for some timely resources for your tutoring sessions to start the year? Why not try these: Safety at the Pool is a great resource in the Water Safety series. It contains a beginner level reader and a student workbook which combine grammar and vocabulary with important safety messages. ... We have some lovely basic readers and information books about our unique wildlife beautifully illustrated with the photos of Steve Parish, great for shared reading. The readers are suitable for beginning readers and shared reading with Early English learners from early primary to adult. Includes wombats, kangaroos, Tasmanian devil, frogs, koalas. Another title by Steve Parish is Rare and Endangered Wildlife Beautiful full-colour photos on every page illustrate the discussion of endangered wildlife and why it is important to take action. Suitable for readers at developing English functional level and/or shared reading and discussion We also have a kit Cousins: Koala and Wombat containing Reader, Workbook with Photocopiable stimulus pictures and exercises, as well as a CD containing recording of reading texts and a Koala and Wombat song. The reader contains 3 levels of text easy, medium and hard. Please contact us if you are interested in any of these resources to arrange a time to come in and borrow. You can also reserve items through our online catalogue. http://vortcs.svdp.cmeweb.libcode.com.au/ Have a great weekend, From Rosemary (VoRTCS Libarian)

08.01.2022 Dear tutors, With the worries of COVID19 looming, it is more important than ever to talk to your refugee family about health. We know that many tutor teams have reported that they struggle to assist their refugee family when it comes to health, both physical and mental. Health issues may even prevent family members from working or studying, and hinder them from reaching their full potential. With this in mind, we have compiled the below list to assist: ~MENTAL HEALTH~...Continue reading

08.01.2022 VoRTCS would like to express our immense gratitude to our tutors whove continued supporting their tutoring families remotely over the past few months. Particularly, during these uncertain and challenging times, your tutoring family needs this support and virtual connection more than ever! One of our amazing tutors, Kellie, has kindly shared a remote tutoring technique that she has successfully trialled with her tutoring family: "I called Aida* and she put her phone on spea...ker so she could hear me and still access her texts. We then texted each other back and forth, while talking. It acts as a focus for practicing reading out loud, spelling, talking about general things, and learning grammar. We both find it really fun, and I think its helping her English comprehension a lot. I started it as a teaching aid a few weeks ago when we could do it side by side, and its proving really useful now!" We are so proud of all our tutors resourcefulness in incorporating technology as best as possible to continue tutoring sessions remotely during this time. If any teams have any other helpful tips with remote tutoring or would like to share their experiences, please email Sandy at [email protected] Family members name has been changed for privacy purposes. Image source: https://ictframe.com/effective-online-learning-management-/

07.01.2022 Have you heard about Vinnies QLD's Clemente program? Please see the attached flyer for more information and share this with your tutoring family members who may be interested and can benefit from this wonderful program!

07.01.2022 Do you know someone who is going hungry or experiencing food insecurity? Thousands of everyday Queenslanders, for the first time, are worried about putting food... on the table. Vinnies is here helping ordinary Queenslanders in extraordinary times. Chat with us. Vinnies is here to help with food and other everyday essentials. Live Chat today! http://bit.ly/LiveChatWithVinnies See more

07.01.2022 Dear tutors, This may be of interest to any of your VoRTCS tutoring family members who are in need of additional training and employment support. St Vincent de Paul Society QLD is launching the 2020 Vinnies Laboratory Skills Program, with training commencing on 27 August 2020. Please see the flyer for more details.... Through this program, they would get an accredited Certificate II in Sampling and Measurement (Laboratory basic skills). They will also get support services to help them succeed in completing the training and finding employment. General eligibility is as follows: Unemployment or underemployment (working only a few hours per week) Ineligible for Australian Government employment services or assistance or have accessed these services for more than six months and remain unemployed Have significant barriers to access education and employment Have rights to work and study in Australia No longer enrolled in school or training No previous participation in training in the Skilling Queenslanders for Work program People seeking asylum may be able to qualify if their temporary protection visas give them rights to work and study. Please share this information with your tutoring families and if there is any interest, pllease contact Perla Padilla at 0428 566 803 or [email protected].

06.01.2022 Dear tutors, Last week the VoRTCS committee has made the difficult decision that we will continue to tutor only online, until further notice. While with the new easing of restrictions, families are allowed up to five guests, we simply do not have the capacity yet to ensure the health and safety of all our volunteers and refugee families. ... Many families live in small houses in which practicing social distancing would be difficult. Many of our mature-aged volunteers may be immunocompromised. Additionally, our VoRTCS Program Coordinator is currently working under reduced capacity (two days per week). We hope you understand, and continue to keep up the great work. Please refrain from physically visiting your refugee family for the time being. Stay safe, stay happy.

06.01.2022 Dear tutors, The Welcome Dinner Project will be hosting the first virtual Welcome Dinner next Thursday 13 August! If you have any tutoring family members who may be keen to join this virtual dinner, please ask them to register at the link below. There are a small number of spots available and this virtual event is free and all are welcome - The Welcome Dinner Project QLD would like to reach to as many newly arrived guests (including refugees, asylum seekers, international students, migrants) and established Australians as possible.

06.01.2022 Hi tutors, Please find attached flyers for 2 training programs out at Salisbury (and online), delivered by Life Church under Skilling Queenslander's for work. Both these programs are for people who have found themselves at a disadvantage and those who may experience barriers to learning or employment or have limited access to employment services and support. ... The online programs are of NO COST to eligible participants. Please pass this information on to any member of your VoRTCS tutoring family, that could benefit from these programs. To register interest, or for more information - please visit: https://lifecommunities.com.au/ or contact (07) 3719 3177.

03.01.2022 Dear tutors, Did you know that Australian Red Cross has lots of resources to assist you, your loved ones, and your tutoring families in being disaster and emergency ready? For example, the RediPlan has been designed to provide an easy-to-follow set of actions to help plan for emergencies, It is an easy English version of the Red Cross RediPlan containing helpful hints and clever strategies on how to prepare for disasters and make an emergency plan. Simple sentence constructi...on and easy to follow layout make it a good resource to use with your tutoring families to explain the need for preparedness in emergencies. Australian Red Cross has also kindly donated some hard copy versions of this resource which is now available in our VoRTCS library for you to borrow! Thank you Australian Red Cross in helping our Vinnies QLD VoRTCS tutors, our loved ones and our tutoring families in being equipped and prepared in the event of an emergency or disaster Please access this link for more information and access to digital copies of resources: https://www.redcross.org.au//eme/resources-about-disasters

01.01.2022 More updates

01.01.2022 Great news! Our Vinnies QLDs Clemente program continues in Semester 2 commencing on 30th July 2020. At this stage, the program will be delivered in blended format of some face to face and online for those still isolating. Program eligibility requirements:... - over 18 years of age - willing to learn - can commit to a 12-week program - can read and discuss a newspaper article - can write sentences and paragraphs If you have any questions regarding the program, please email: [email protected] Please also see the flyer for more details.

01.01.2022 Hi tutors, Transitioning from school can sometimes be challenging and COVID-19 has presented some additional challenges and uncertainty for young people including migrant and refugee youth. The National Careers Institute (NCI) has recently launched the School Leavers Information Kit and the School Leavers Information Service to support young people leaving school in 2020.... The attached School Leavers Information Kit (the Kit) provides a range of resources to help young people understand their education, training and employment pathways. In October 2020, the NCI sent school leavers across the country an information card and brochure, inviting them to view/download the Kit. A free, dedicated School Leavers Information Service is available to help young people navigate the Kit, use tools on the Your Career website, and where necessary, provide referrals to relevant government programs or support services. Access to a free personalised career guidance session with a qualified career practitioner for up to 45 minutes, is also available through the Service. Please share this information with your tutoring families that have any children leaving school this year. For more Information on these initiatives, visit: https://www.yourcareer.gov.au/school-leavers-support/.

01.01.2022 What a year 2020 has been! Due to the worldwide pandemic, we've all been presented with a lot of change, and we've had to be flexible in learning and adapting to different ways of doing things. Throughout this period of change and uncertainty, one thing has remained constant - and that's been the amazing support that our Vinnies QLD's VoRTCS tutor teams have continued to provide to their tutoring families. Whether that be welfare check-ins via phone call or text messages and...Continue reading