A woman awarded by Tauranga City Council for 20 years of work in teaching migrants the English language says her experience in training tutors shows Tauranga is not a racist town.

Philippa Cairns was nominated for the award by many of the thousands of people whose lives have been changed through her work.

Philippa Cairns speaks to Tauranga City Council.

An estimated more than 4000 migrants and about 500 mostly volunteer tutors have been affected by Philippa's work.

'I never have difficulty getting volunteers to work with migrant learners,” says Philippa.

'I think it is a sign of a very healthy community, I think racism is not an issue in Tauranga.”

The tutors she trains go into peoples' homes taking English lessons every week for 18 months to two years. The tutors become part of the bridge between the migrants and the rest of New Zealand society, enabling the migrants to stand with feet in both worlds, says Philippa.

'We need their work ethic, their education ethic and new ways of thinking they bring to us.”

Philippa became involved in Adult Reading and Learning Association as a volunteer tutor soon after arriving in the Bay of Plenty in 1996.

ARLA was originally intended for English speakers, but an in influx of Taiwanese calling on the ARLA offices seeking help with literacy brought a change.

Philippa brought English language tuition for migrants into the organisation. It was then the only joint service in New Zealand and is still one of the few offering a service to both English and non-English speakers.

Philippa had to take on a manager for literacy in 2008, while she concentrated on looking after the language provision. The service was rebranded as English Language Partners NZ in 2009.

For students, facility with English can mean the difference between getting a job, making friends and becoming part of the community, or being socially isolated and unemployable, says City Mayor Stuart Crosby.

'Many former migrant students credit you [Philippa] and ELPNZ with making their settlement experience in our region much more positive and manageable than it otherwise might have been.”

A certificate and flowers were presented by Stuart at the Community Development Committee meeting today.