IN a stylish suite in an office building in the middle of Sydney, the computers are busy, and eyes and headphone-covered ears are concentrating on the finer points of English pronunciation and sentence structure in the language laboratories.
In another room, nine students are chatting with a film crew from Taiwan which is making a video, and from the students' lounge comes the sound of laughter as another group of students shares a joke with their teacher about the food to be prepared for a party to celebrate Lunar New Year.
This is a TAFE English-Language Centre, and is an example of the professional and fun way that Australia's Technical and Further Education sector has approached the challenge of teaching overseas students how to speak and write English.
The teachers are a motivated team, each with postgraduate qualifications in English teaching.
The students are dedicated to work hard to learn English as quickly as they can - while making new friends, and enjoying the exciting experience of staying in a new place.
The course combines class work with computer-enhanced learning and instruction using language laboratories.