Others – Page 15 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2014-10-312014-11-17

Happy Happy English students in two dormitories celebrate end of term

October saw Happy Happy English students in two foreign-worker dormitories in Singapore celebrate their end of term. For the dormitory in Tuas, at the western tip of Singapore, it was the second end-of-term celebration. Here, Goducate’s Happy Happy English program had started in January. The program had started at the other dormitory, in Jurong, in the middle of the year. The program has recently started at a third dormitory.

This program is intended to teach foreign workers functional English, as well as to extend to them a hand of friendship. A 12-term is broken into two 6 week sessions, with a 4-week break in between. During this break friendship is maintained with the students through various events.

At both dormitories students had fun with the ice-breaker games, singing, eating (food kindly provided by the dormitory management), and, for some, receiving their certificates of attendance. The larger space available at the Tuas dormitory enabled the event to start with a volleyball match against a team from Goducate’s Connectayo program (which caters for Filipino workers through sports), and for the students to put on a dance/mime item.

Some students went on stage to tell of their experience with the Happy Happy English program. For instance, one said, “I like Happy Happy English because it’s different. They not only teach English, they teach me how to live”. Another said, “Happy Happy English is very good. I like the Chinese men, the Bangla men and the Indian men all coming together and study. It’s very good”. Yet another said, “All of you must come to Happy Happy English. I like it very much. The teachers are good. Everything is good. You must come”.

2014-04-222014-06-09

Goducate starts Happy Happy English in second dorm in Singapore

In January, Goducate started a programme called Happy Happy English for foreign workers living in a huge dormitory Tuas, in the far west of Singapore (see Jan 24 and May 7 blogs). Goducate has now started a similar programme in another dormitory in Jurong East, in the western part of Singapore.

The Happy Happy English programme consists of a few weeks of “edutainment”, which takes the form of an entertaining video about certain aspects of Singapore, combined with a stage show, games, and the learning of some English phrases. Before the 12-week course starts, there is a session for placement tests for those who want to join the classes. The lessons are very interactive, with facilitators on hand to lead in small-group activities and chats.

The residents in the second dorm have generally been in Singapore longer than those in the first dorm, and the level of English is on the whole higher among those who have registered for classes. The lesson plan for the 2 higher-level classes will consist of watching a video first before the students break up into groups to discuss the video.

The aim of a Happy Happy English is to give the foreign workers confidence in speaking functional English and to make them feel welcome in Singapore.

Residents at the "edutainment" session — Residents at the “edutainment” session

More fun and games during the edutainment session

While some undergo placement session, others take part in small-group chats

2014-04-042014-04-08

Goducate teachers impress the Vietnamese

Last September Goducate sent 4 of its English teachers to Danang, Vietnam, to strengthen the faculty of our Vietnamese partners, iCan Language Center.

The Vietnamese government is keen to make Vietnam an English-speaking nation by 2020 and has set aside large sums of money to achieve this goal. The biggest bottle-neck in achieving this goal is the lack of teachers of English. The Vietnamese authorities were focusing on recruiting English teachers from western countries. However, many western teachers find the working conditions and salaries in Vietnam to be sub-par. So when I met with the authorities to suggest to them the possibility of sending Goducate-trained Filipino teachers, I was met with much skepticism. Eventually I offered to send a small team of our Filipino English
teachers for a trial period.

Since then our team of 4 Filipinas have been impressing the Vietnamese with their command of the English language, their lively teaching style, and more importantly their love and care for their students. Top-end hotels that were reluctant to accept our teachers to help their staff learn English were “converted” almost immediately after seeing our teachers in action. The personnel manager of one such hotel said, “I didn’t realize that Filipinos can be such good English teachers. Please don’t send us any more Western teachers!”

Recently, one of our teachers, Merianne, was awarded a “Top Employee” award in a 5-star hotel at which room rates start at USD $500/night. I spoke to the personnel manager and she said, “Merianne is excellent. We all love her”. I sat in at one of Merianne’s classes and watched her lively and engaging teaching session and felt so proud of her.

On another occasion I was having coffee with some of our teachers at a road-side cafe near iCan Language Center when a student joined us. I watched this Vietnamese student sharing her “deepest secrets” with our teacher and realized that our teachers had built very close teacher-student relationships. Our teacher was no more just a teacher but a close friend and advisor.

We anticipate more requests for Goducate teachers in Vietnam in the near future. Goducate hopes to help Vietnamese help themselves by teaching them English.