English Teaching – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2021-05-072021-05-07

Preparing Trainers for Goducate’s Sing Your English program in Malaysia

Learning English can be intimidating, scary, or boring for children, which is why Goducate developed the Sing Your English (SYE) program for use in Indonesia. SYE uses songs, games, and fun activities to teach English. Because of school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this program is being conducted online.

Goducate is now preparing to introduce the SYE program in Malaysia. It is doing so in partnership with The Blue Ribbon Global (TBR), whose principles emphasize the development of character values and harmonious relationships within a diverse community.

A training session was held on Zoom on March 29-31 for participants from two partners of TBR. Forty of the trainees were Burmese refugees from Ruth Education Center, and two were interns from the UCSI Vocational Internship Program (VIP). The trainees were taught the philosophy behind the SYE program, classroom-facilitation skills, and how to conduct SYE online through Zoom. In accordance with Goducate philosophy, the aim is that the trainees will later train others.

The trainers were a team from Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia. The team has received feedback that the training opened the eyes of the participants to how to teach English in a fun and effective way. It would like to identify more potential facilitators and teachers for the program. The hope is that SYE can now be introduced to all refugee centers in Malaysia to teach English and build harmonious relationships there.

(L) Trainees doing worksheet
(R) Trainee doing speaking activity

*Our guest writer is Honeylyn Pereira, a Goducate staff member.

2021-01-152021-01-26

Goducate’s Sing Your English program now delivered to homes in Indonesia

Goducate’s Sing Your English program (SYE) used to be taught in schools in Indonesia, but was temporarily halted when the Minister of Education announced on June 15, 2020 that extracurricular programs, whether delivered online or offline, should not be forced on students, especially during a pandemic.

Convinced that the ability to communicate in English is important, Goducate began to promote SYE online through a webinar for teachers. The webinar was attended by thousands of teachers from all over Indonesia, and as far as Sabang (Aceh) and Papua. The teachers were encouraged to register their own children for the SYE program on Zoom, and also to invite the parents of children attending their SYE Zoom lessons to join the class.

The response was amazing. As of November 2020, there were more than 100 SYE Z-Class students and registration is continuing, though the number of parents joining the classes is far from the target.

The SYE Zoom Classes are held every afternoon. Class levels range from Kindergarten to Junior High School. Parents are delighted that their children are occupied by SYE at home.

There is no charge for the SYE Zoom classes but students are encouraged to buy the SYE books.

*Our guest writer is Sarah Sihombing, SYE Coordinator/Programme Development.

2016-08-122016-08-16

Goducate teachers in Indonesia train how to facilitate Sing Your English Level-Up Program

Every year, Goducate in Indonesia holds a teachers’ training session for our Sing Your English (SYE) and eTalk (EnglishTalk) teachers, to refresh them with teaching methods and classroom management topics, and to empower them with inspirational topics. This year, our training was held from July 11 to 16 in Batam.

The SYE program, offered in Batam. Medan, Bandung, and Pekanbaru, was introduced 3 years ago. SYE Phonics Adventure is for kindergarten students, and SYE levels 1-3 covers basic English. We are about to launch SYE Level-Up, which aims to develop English-speaking skills and self-confidence through stage performances, English-language competitions, and fun workshops. The program covers SYE levels 4,5, and 6, and is packed with competitions in Expressive Reading, Storytelling, Poetry Recitation, Newscasting, Drama, and Musical presentations. Our teachers went through simulated classes of SYE Level-Up to learn how to facilitate the teaching of the lessons.

Our teachers’ training also offers a time of refreshment and fellowship with each other. There were sessions dealing with cases encountered in our actual classes and finding out how to manage these cases. This year our teachers were also taught to be sensitive, to observe and spot special-needs children and how to manage and deal with them properly.

We desire to deliver an excellent program for Indonesian students and we can only do this by regularly training our teachers and facilitators.