FILIPINO staff nurses at the University Hospital of North Tees have successfully got to grips with the Teesside accent by attending a colloquial English course.
The 24 nurses had struggled to make themselves understood when talking to patients on the ward, despite the fact there is English-medium university education in the Philippines.
They also found the Teesside accent and many expressions and sayings a complete mystery.
To help the nurses, Stockton's Adult Education ESOL (English for speakers of other languages), tutors stepped in with a 12-week programme designed to expose them to the everyday language spoken by local patients.
The course culminated in a City & Guilds Pitman Spoken ESOL exam, which puts the nurses' English on a par with successful GCSE students.
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