October 29, 2021 - 797 views
A Coleg Llandrillo student who was a secondary school teacher in Tunisia before deciding to relocate with her children to the UK to join her husband, is back on the educational ladder after getting a job as a teaching assistant.
Olfa Ep Garraoui, who now lives in Rhos-on-Sea, moved to Wales on a permanent basis in 2013 and could not speak any English at all.
In 2017, she enrolled on a series of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) at two Coleg Llandrillo community locations in Colwyn Bay (Town Hall and Greenfield Road), as well as the college’s Rhos-on-Sea campus, in order to gain a command of the English language.
She even took her one-year-old boy into class, feeding him as she took notes!
After progressing on to the teaching assistant courses - completing Levels 1, 2 and 3 - she has now secured a job as a teaching assistant at Ysgol Glanwyddan in Penrhyn Bay.
Even though she contracted Covid-19 the same month she was due to finish her Level 3 qualification last summer, Olfa still completed.
Olfa, who has two young boys, eventually decided to join her husband - who had been working in the UK for 20 years - permanently eight years ago. Even though she now has an excellent command of the English language, it is her third language: her first being Arabic, and second, French.
After completing her Level 1 and Level 2 teaching assistant qualifications, she secured work placements at Ysgol Craig-y-Don. The head teacher at her new school in Penrhyn Bay remembered Olfa, as she used to be deputy head at Ysgol Craig-y-Don.
Olfa’s tutor Susie Noden commented: “I was her first teacher in the ESOL department. Firstly, in a community class setting, before managing to persuade her to attend classes in the college.
“She thrived, and then went on to take the teaching assistant courses at Levels 1, 2 and finally 3 with Andrew Ogle. She is an inspirational student with drive , commitment and passion, and we all wish her well in the next chapter of her life.”
Olfa’s wanted to address her quote to her tutors Andrew and Susie: “Thank you for listening, for your guidance and your inspiration. Thank you for your encouragement and for being there. But most importantly, thank you for being a part of my journey.”
Asked what is next on her learning journey, Olfa said: “I now want to learn how to speak Welsh.”
