Training Center – Page 16 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2013-04-092013-04-10

Goducate Training Center welcomes first corporate guests from abroad

Goducate’s tagline is “Helping needy Asians help themselves”. Since Goducate expects the people we help to help themselves, it ought to practise what it preaches. Hence the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo was designed such that it could be made as self-sustaining as possible. To feed the staff and trainees rice, vegetables, and fruit are planted, and egg-laying hens are reared. On top of that, the center has several recreational facilities, to encourage visits by paying guests. It is one of the places that people in the province—mostly families, schools, companies, and individuals—enjoying going to, either on day trips or for short stays, for relaxation, recreation, and retreats.

At the end of last month, Goducate Training Center welcomed its first corporate guests from abroad. MHC Asia, Singapore, one of Goducate’s strong supporters, chose the center as the place to bring its employees to for an incentive trip. The group of 20 spent 2 nights at the center, staying either in the holiday villas or in the center’s “Sky City”..

The guests had fun harvesting vegetables and collecting eggs. They savored Filipino dishes as well as the mangoes and coconuts. They enjoyed boating, whizzing down the zipline, rock-wall climbing, fishing, and horseback riding. They delighted in hotdogs and marshmallows over a campfire with new Filipino friends. And they loved watching the stars under the cool night sky.

One of the highlights of the trip was the visit to the communities Goducate is helping. They were able to mingle with the locals and learn some of their culture. They were touched by what they saw and were moved to want to help these people in the future.

One thing lacking at the Goducate Training Center is good access to wifi. But this was actually a plus point for corporate types who spend most of their time glued to computers or smartphone. What a relief it was to be able to really get away from work.

2013-04-052013-04-06

Goducate Training Center holds English camp for students in neighboring villages

Since February the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo has partnered with neighboring primary and secondary schools to hold remedial classes for those children who need help to cope with their schoolwork. Every week, each GTC trainee coaches 5-7 pupils in mathematics and English. At the end of the 5-week program, the teachers found that most of the pupils had improved noticeably in these subjects.

To aid these students further, 2 weeks ago the Goducate Training Center held a 3-day camp to help the children improve their oral English. The camp was also an avenue for GTC trainees to learn to teach English in creative ways. Learning was made fun through songs and activities. With a camp theme of Jungle Fun, the 70 campers, aged 9-13, were divided into four animal groups. Teamwork was encouraged through competitions, and throughout the camp good values such as friendliness, politeness, creativity, and a willingness to participate were reinforced. Tokens were given out for efforts made to speak English, and these tokens could be swopped for goods from the jungle store.

One of the highlights of this camp was the skills class. Students could choose to attend a session on electricity, container gardening, pastry making, craft, crochet, playing the recorder, hairstyling, first-aid, and acting. Everyone enjoyed the last night when they presented what they had learnt during the skills class. This summer will be fun for them, because follow-up activity through games and English and skills classes will start in the first week of April. Since most of the children come from poor families, some of the skills learnt might even turn out to be a means of livelihood for them.

As GTC trainees handled these kids, they learnt to be loving and patient to them. They were not just teachers who gave commands but leaders and friends. One comment of mother from the community was that, “My child really liked the camp because her teacher really loved her”.

2012-12-212012-12-20

Goducate Training Center develops its campus atmosphere

Goducate Training Center in Iloilo, Philippines, trains community development workers for Asia. So far many of our trainees have been housed in “temporary” accommodation and have attended lectures in rooms in the Multi-Purpose Hall.

Recently we completed the Ladies’ Dormitory, which can accommodate about 70 lady trainees. The residential rooms are built around a nice lounge, where the ladies can gather for informal meetings and activities. The ground floor of the Ladies’ Dormitory houses trainers’ offices, a teacher’s guest room, a visitor’s guest suite, and a dining hall.

The men’s dormitory is situated next to the ladies’ dorm and can accommodate about 40 men.

photo (2) — Area outside dormitories for small-group and informal teaching

The area in front of the dormitories, which used to be a mahogany “forest”, has been converted to a large “outdoor classroom.” Tables and chairs have been constructed on concrete bases under the shady mahogany trees for small-group meetings and for informal teaching. We hope that this campus atmosphere will enhance the learning experience of our trainees.

Since our trainees come from many different parts of the Philippines and Asia, and from many different backgrounds and experiences, they can learn much from each other before being sent out to different parts of the Philippines and Asia to serve in many diverse communities.

So far our graduates have been sent to work in needy communities in Philippines, Cambodia, China, and Indonesia, and from the reports that we have received they are doing well as community development workers helping needy Asians help themselves.

Our next batch of trainees will be trained as TESOL (teaching English as a second language) teachers from Jan to June 2013. We hope to train about 50 such teachers to be sent to Goducate Language Centers in different parts of Asia.