AFTER two young Kenyan’s tragically drowned at Glenelg Beach in Adelaide in January 2016, AUSTSWIM instigated their swimming and water safety for CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) Communities initiative to be operated thru the AUSTSWIM South Australia Business centre..
The project was designed to encourage and train members of multicultural communities to become teachers of Swimming and Water Safety, who could subsequently teach CALD children who may respond better to those of their own background.
So far, the program has been an overwhelming success, according to Annette Chatterton of AUSTSWIM South Australia.
“We applied for the grant in the middle of last year through the South Australian Office of Recreation and Sport, so that people from CALD communities could attend and train to become swimming teachers, subsidized for their course.
“We have run one full course with 12 candidates, and a few have attended our other mainstream TSW courses.
“Six of them are now fully accredited. They have all been very successful and are now seeking employment so that they can be role models and ambassadors, teaching children and adults from their own cultures,” Chatterton said.
AUSTSWIM presenter Carolyn Veldhuyzen (teacher in charge at iSwim) and West Beach Surf Lifesaver Peter Taylor, have garnered media recognition as key members helping lead the charge to educate CALD communities.
In fact, the West Beach Surf Lifesaving club has welcomed graduates of the program, who are now watching over beachgoers as accredited AUSTSWIM instructors.
Arash Rezaei, a 21-year-old Iranian, is just one example of how quickly the course is creating valuable teachers.
“Arash came to Australia from Iran in 2015, he was a swimmer over there and his goal was to help everyone enjoy the beach and learn to swim.
“He’s now fully qualified through our CALD program and is working at iSwim,” Chatterton said.
Not content to rest on their laurels, AUSTSWIM are planning to run future courses to involve more eager potential teachers, and already have students from the Congo, Afghanistan and Russia doing work experience at Immanuel College.
“We are aiming to get a group through MYSA (Multicultural Youth South Australia), we went to their Christmas picnic and spoke with their supervisor, there were around 15 people very excited to gain their qualifications too.
“We want to get run this course with MYSA, as well as another, by the end of the financial year,” Chatterton said.
Along with training teachers, the course aims to help break down the unfamiliarity with water and cultural barrier that many of these ethnicities currently have.
“Carolyn is very good, as our presenter for multicultural groups, she understands that some are afraid of the water themselves.
“She works hard to get their confidence and skills up before even beginning with teaching.
“We are trying to be proactive, if I was a young Muslim girl, I might not feel comfortable with a young male teacher.
“However, if they had a covered Muslim woman as their teacher, they might feel much more comfortable and enjoy learning swimming and water safety.” Chatterton said.