Church cafe, where everyone speaks the same language
The room at St James Presbyterian Church, is buzzing when I walk in. Seated at half a dozen tables in groups of four or five, people are deep in conversation over cups of tea and cake.
And that’s the whole point, says Rhonda Jefferson, one of the organisers behind Cafe Chat.
An initiative of the St James Presbyterian Church community, Cafe Chat is a fortnightly meet-up for non-English speakers to practice conversational English in an informal setting.
“It is not about teaching anything, it is just about coming and having a cuppa like you would in a cafe,” explains Rhonda.
“We are all volunteers, it doesn't cost anything… just come-in, sign at the door, we all wear a nametag and then come and sit down at the table, a waiter will come and ask what you want to have — coffee, tea, milkshakes, hot chocolate — and we encourage people to bring their families and their children if they can.
“We want to welcome people and let them know we can help them in any way we can — sometimes people need help filling out forms and things like that — English isn't an easy language!”
Started in just the past few months, Cafe Chat is held every second Monday, with a morning session from 10am–12pm, and an evening session from 7–9pm.
There are no formalities or planned activities, and you can come and go as you please, says Vicki George, another of the volunteer organisers. It is simply somewhere to practice spoken English.
“Even though a lot of these people here today are learning English through the TAFE, it is more formal English — the focus is on reading and writing. Whereas this gives them a chance to practise what they are learning in a conversational form with native English speakers in a natural setting,” says Vicki.
“We always have question prompts on tables for if the conversation lags, but it doesn't really lag, as you can see here today,” she adds, gesturing to the tables of people chatting away behind her.
Attendance has been growing slowly but steadily over the past weeks, mostly through word of mouth, and it has seen a real community start to form, says Rhonda, telling how some of the regular attendees now meet up socially.
“It is all about building relationships with people and it has been quite successful in that way…and it is amazing how much we've all learnt having them all come,” she says.
“That's the point of it all; for people to come and feel relaxed and have a chat.”
Cafe Chat is held twice a month on Mondays, 10am–12pm and 7–9pm, at the St James Presbyterian Church, Matthews Ave. For more information contact Vicki on 0401 292 335 or Margaret on 0428 835 866.