Raising Awareness of Hepatitis through AMEP Workshops

During the last week of February and the first week of March, LiverWELL was on the road delivering hepatitis B sessions to AMEP (Adult Migrant English Program) classes at Holmesglen. Several classes were involved and engaged in workshops that assisted students in practicing their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in English. Students listened and read the stories from the Living Well with Hepatitis B readers and completed activities in the student workbook. To support learning, students engaged in flashcard activities and conversation prompt cards to discuss the content more in-depth and got students thinking outside the box.

LiverWELL also collaborated with BreastScreen Victoria and Multicultural Health and Support Service to run presentations with intermediate level to advanced level students to test their listening and comprehension skills with broader health topics. Topics included hepatitis B, HIV and breast screening, with take home messages emphasizing the importance of testing, treatment, addressing myths and stigma, cancer and regular monitoring, and taking care of one’s health. A resource table full of information relating to the information was made available in English and in multiple languages. At the end of the sessions, students completed a quiz and 3 lucky winners were randomly selected at each session and took away a bag full of merchandise!

Approximately 500 students and teachers were reached, and over 600 resources were distributed in the workshop and the presentations. Positive feedback was given by teachers and students, highlighting that the information was widely accessible to English learners and that these activities were effective in improving English proficiency and health literacy.  If you work in the AMEP program and are interested, please contact alain@liverwell.org.au or maddie@liverwell.org.au for further information, resources, or to book yourself a workshop/presentation.  LiverWELL would like to thank Holmesglen for their ongoing support of this activity.  LiverWELL would also like to acknowledge the support and collaboration of BreastScreen Victoria and Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health/Multicultural Health and Support Service.