In our own words: Stories by Australia’s international students

What do a ‘bad-tempered Chinese girl’, a ‘Charity of Oz’ volunteer and a ‘woman who doesn’t do housework very often’ have in common? They are all studying as international students at an Australian university. In this slim but powerful book are three of their stories written in the idiosyncratic and compelling English of Learners of English as an Additional Language (LEAL) or ‘language immigrants’. The stories reflect on encounters with the Australian community and culture and are a product of a Central Queensland University funded project supporting the creative writing interests and skills of LEAL. In recognition of the uniquely complex and interesting language characteristics of the millions of bilingual and multilingual English speakers in the world, the text of these stories has not been edited to Standard English. Each story retains the authentic voice and fresh perspective of these travelling scholars, and the editors hope that these unique narratives demonstrate that promoting and supporting creative writing opportunities for LEAL has broad value for students, as well as their teachers and institutions.