00:01K-N-double-E. It's a bit tricky, isn't it?
00:06These Afghan women in outer suburban Melbourne meet every week to learn English.
00:11But for many, these community sessions are not their first attempt at the language.
00:17Nusrat Haidari has already completed 510 hours of English language classes
00:23through the Federal Government's Free Adult Migrant English Program.
00:27But she graduated that course unable to go shopping or even answer the phone in English.
00:36My English was very low and it was that low that when someone called me for appointments or anything
00:41I wasn't able to answer. And it would just make me upset and I would cry.
00:46Some people have attended AMEP classes for a year or a few months
00:52and when they come to us they don't have a very high level of English.
00:57They can barely say their name or write their name.
01:00The AMEP provides free tuition to around 53,000 migrants and refugees nationally
01:07through 13 providers, mostly TAFEs.
01:10The program has cost more than $2 billion to deliver over the past eight years.
01:16But advocates say the focus on formal assessments isn't working for people who aren't literate
01:22in their first language.
01:24People will come out of the courses able to do what the tests have tested them for
01:30and that may or may not mean that they are actually reasonably fluent in English.
01:36A spokesperson for Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Arleigh told the ABC
01:40the AMEP plays a significant role in Australia's social cohesion
01:45with surveys showing a high level of student satisfaction.
01:50Advocates say we could be doing more.
01:53This is the gateway skill. You know, we just need to do better, I think.
01:58Better help to navigate a new life.
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