Australia’s English Problem: How to renew our once celebrated Adult Migrant English Program
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This narrative explores the current landscape of English language learning among migrants and refugees in Australia and, in particular, examines the state of Australia’s Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP).
Australia has a long and proud record of teaching English to migrants and refugees. It was the first – and, for many years, only – country to provide newcomers with fully funded Englishlanguage teaching. The Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP), established soon after World War II and after the first post-war migrants learnt English on the first boats to Australia, has been the flagship amongst a range of government services that try to ensure that migrants and refugees quickly find their feet, and their voice, in their new land.
