Stories From Learners

Dung

‘I want to learn English so I can get a job and speak to people in the shops.’

Dung was born in a small village in South Vietnam. When he was a young man in his early twenties, his life changed quite radically:

‘Vietnam war – takeover of Communism – no school – no work – no money.’

Many Vietnamese left after the Communist government took over at the end of the Vietnam War, but Dung and his family stayed on. Then in 1988 his family was sponsored to move to Montmorency in France.

Dung had learnt some French as a student so he was able to get work packing goods for a company until it suddenly closed. In 1998, he married and moved to Australia.

‘Very happy because I live in Australia. I love Australia. Very good.’

When he first arrived, Dung worked as a delivery person for a local butcher but had to move back to France for family reasons. When he returned to Australia, he knew that if he wanted to find work he had to improve his English.

‘I want to learn English so I can get a job and speak to people in the shops.’

The Learn Local that Dung now attends is close to where he lives and his tutor Jo is eager to help him.

‘Now I can speak better. I like it here because I learn English and have a good teacher. Teacher Jo is easy to understand.’