English language opens doors for top student

Hom Panther lies on her bed, workbook on her lap. She has memorised her spelling list and is happy.

She's a paraplegic, her legs paralysed and her right arm weakened in a car crash four years ago, but that hasn't stopped her desire to learn.

For the second year in a row, her perseverance has been noted by the North Shore branch of English Language Partners, a not-for-profit organisation with 23 groups around the country.

"We recognise the achievements learners make throughout the year and the hard work they put in to learning English.

'We had five learners at this year's end-of-year party who were presented with certificates for their achievements this year, including Hom," says manager Birgit Grafarend-Watungwa.

"For her to keep pushing past her pain and disability and say: 'I want to learn English', we all feel inspired."

Mrs Panther, who came from Thailand 16 years ago, is the first back-to-back recipient of the organisation's recognition.

"I thought: 'What is it for? They already gave me an award last year'," she laughs.

Tutor Heather Richards says Mrs Panther deserves the award again.

"'Two-and-a-half-years ago her motor skills, as far as her hands were concerned, were pretty limited when it came to writing. Now she writes a whole page of sentences. She just never gives up."

Her world began to change a few months after her accident when her caregiver gave her a canvas and painting materials to help strengthen her hand.

"I didn't know how to paint before," she says. "I try, you know? It's very hard for me to do the painting. It takes two hours. I'm so tired after painting."

She has done 20 paintings and held an exhibition for the Spinal Unit last year. Two pieces hang on her wall: one, a classic Thai landscape; the other typically Kiwi with pohutukawa. Both are detailed, beautiful.

Then Mrs Panther learned to write with her left hand, and now she can use her right hand, too. "It is a bit jerky but it's all right," she says.

Her aim is to widen her vocabulary and read "big" words. "Like the doctor words and hard words. Simple words I can read. It's hard for me to read the long words together," she says.

For Mrs Panther, reading and writing English are ways to assert her independence.

"I want to do better. I want to do things for myself. I don't want people read my mail for me."

She encourages migrants to follow her example.

"When I first came here, I only knew 'yes' and 'no'. I would sometimes shake my head. I didn't want to go anywhere. I couldn't talk. I was too shy to go and ask," she says.

Like many migrants, Mrs Panther says she and her family came to New Zealand for a better life. She quickly realised she needed to improve her English.

"When you can't speak the language, you don't know what to do. If you can, you can be confident to go anywhere," she says.

And while her fate changed with the car accident, her resolve to keep learning definitely stepped up a gear.

HOW TO HELP

For many refugees and migrants, weekly English lessons are the only regular contact with their community.

``Many of our learners risk isolation. Sometimes their home tutor is the only person they speak English to during the

week, or sometimes the only person they speak to outside their immediate family during the week,'' says Mrs Grafarend- Watungwa.

The challenge, she says, is to help them build up the confidence to go out and meet people.

But the group needs more volunteer tutors. ``People think they need teaching experience to volunteer but they don't. We provide training courses and the next one will start in February. We always need more people.''

Interested? See: www.englishlanguage.org.nz