News – Page 2 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2017-05-052017-05-24

Goducate workers from Philippines and Indonesia attend leadership training in Singapore

11 Goducate workers from the Philippines and 3 from Indonesia attended an intensive 5-day training course (April 25-30) in leadership at the Goducate headquarters in Singapore. They were joined by 7 Singaporean Goducate volunteers.

The trainer, Jerome Joseph, an experienced human resources consultant and coach, made the course very stimulating by spicing it up with many activities and exercises. Among the numerous topics that trainees learnt about were the characteristics of a good leader, how to understand their relationship with themselves and others, how to address tasks according to their urgency and/or importance, the difference between influence and persuasion in communicating with others, and the levels and principles of listening.

The Goducate workers not only lead teams in various projects. They also train others. For instance, the Philippines is made up of many small villages, and Goducate conducts leadership training for the village heads.

Goducate’s motto is helping others to help themselves. To help ourselves be self-sufficient in funding our work, Goducate also conducts, for a fee, leadership training to business corporations. The training our workers received in Singapore should enhance the type of training they can offer to others.

2016-09-022016-09-05

Goducate in Indonesia celebrates its 5th anniversary

Goducate in Indonesia held a Summit on July 29-31 on Samosir Island to celebrate its 5th anniversary. Samosir is an island (almost the size of Singapore) in Lake Toba (South-east Asia’s largest lake), Sumatra, Indonesia. Almost 60 of the team (Indonesians, Filipinos, and Singaporeans) attended the Summit. Since the team is based in four different cities (Batam, Bandung, Pekanbaru, Medan), this was an opportunity for them to get to know each other and to bond together as a Goducate family.

We spent the first half of our Summit looking back at what we had done in the past 5 years. We were amazed and thankful at how our Sing Your English (SYE) program has become a favourite of thousands of Indonesian students. Our SYE students have overcome their fear speaking of English and are now enjoy conversing in it.

We were thankful that our E-Talk (English-Talk) program has been well received by many adults and has helped them progress in their jobs.

We also heard reports of how our agricultural programs have helped rural communities.

The second half of our Summit was spent dreaming and planning for the future. SYE is planning to double its enrolment for the coming year. To do so, many more Indonesian facilitators will need to be recruited and trained. SYE aims to be the top English ECA (extra-curricula activity) in Indonesian schools in the near future.

We left the Summit refreshed, united, and excited that we can do more to help Asians help themselves.

2015-05-082015-05-12

Happy Happy English students appreciate friendship with Goducate volunteers

One aim of Goducate’s Happy Happy English program in Singapore is to teach foreign workers functional English. An equally important aim is to offer some friendship to these workers, who have had to leave family and friends to work long hours here and to live in huge dormitories that are generally located in extremely remote parts of Singapore. Thus, apart from classroom work, the Goducate volunteers in the Happy Happy English program also organise outings for the students.

On April 26 Tamil Murasu, Singapore’s Tamil newspaper, carried a feature on Goducate. When the reporters heard that an outing was being organized for students on May Day, they turned up to cover the event, which was a morning at one of the parks for some games and a picnic lunch.

Comments from two of the students were included the report published on May 2. R Silambarasan, who has been working in Singapore for 8 months said, “Singaporeans are kind-hearted to organise this game event. Even though we miss many English classes, they continue to encourage and motivate us. They sacrifice their time for us and we really appreciate them. Even though we have left home, we feel the volunteers are there for us”.

Another comment came from Franklin Bosco, who was being retrenched and sent back to India that night because the company he was working for had been taken over by another. He said, “For the past 3 years, I have worked in Singapore and am leaving today for my homeland. I am very happy and I can never forget this event. This is the best May Day I have spent in Singapore. The volunteers have made us feel strong and brave. Even after I have left Singapore, I will continue to keep in touch with them through Facebook”.