Education

English as an essential tool to acquire lucrative foreign jobs
Learn English with Prabodini @ IIHS

"IIHS is a healthcare training institute with a commitment to lifetime education. We believe in providing the education and guidance that will enable you to make a success of your chosen career. Our aim is to help you make a difference in the real world. We are home to a variety of academic staff who are all qualified healthcare professionals and experts in their fields, enabling us to offer the best in healthcare education. Each curriculum adopted is developed and patented by IIHS and approved by the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka.

Our state-of-the-art healthcare training facility houses lecture theatres, seminar rooms, simulation labs, a well equipped library, reading areas, IT labs with broadband internet facilities and recreation areas, creating a campus atmosphere which contributes to a relaxed learning environment. At the centre of the campus stands a 100 year old heritage building which functions as the College House. Every measure is taken to provide a comfortable, dignified and an ethical environment for students. We strive to create caring, confident professionals whilst building the image of Sri Lanka as providers of Skilled Caring Health Professionals."

Currently, the highest percentage of foreign currency is drawn to Sri Lanka by housemaids who work in Middle East. Although they are supposed to receive reasonable salaries it is very unfortunate that most of them are underpaid and exploited. There have been some instances where people have committed suicide under unbearable situations. It is a pity that most of the Sri Lankan men send their wives, mothers and sisters abroad in the hope of living off their money, instead of seeking employment abroad themselves.

The current international job market has enormous opportunities for Sri Lankan skilled personnel. This is a golden chance to earn high salaries according to their skills. Blue collar job opportunities are available for skilled plumbers, electricians, masons, welders, carpenters, and many other technical personnel in developed countries at very high salaries. Australia, Canada and New Zealand offer permanent residence or migration schemes to the above mentioned skilled personnel. Unfortunately though, most of the skilled technicians are poor in their command of the English language although they are excellent in their respective skills and this cripples their ability to fit into the foreign working environment. This problem has been prevalent over several decades.

English is a very interesting language to learn and teach but unfortunately the Sri Lankan method of teaching the English language at schools is not competent or proficient. We must be grateful to the president and the government officials who thoroughly scrutinized and made an effort to understand the problem recently. As a result of this, the year 2009 has been declared as the year for "English and IT". This will aid in the dawn of a new era for the way the English language is passed down to the students and efficient teaching approaches.

I would like to share my observations regarding the above. I have been teaching English for over one year at the National Vocational Training Institute, Narahenpita, which comes under the Ministry of Vocational and Technical Training. This position has allowed me to clearly see the problems faced by the students. Students who come to obtain technical training have different intentions. Most of the students want to obtain technical training in order to seek employment in relation to the course they follow. Some students want to improve their sub skills prior to finding employment or A/Levels and some of them just want to pass their time getting involved in something without having a proper plan or a target. These students come from different social backgrounds and a majority of the students are from less privileged families.

I have observed from the very first day that most of these students have a persistent phobia about learning the English language and they are under the impression that this is a very difficult language to learn. Some say that they had been learning English language for well over 13 years but they have not learnt much. In fact they are unable to understand even simple English. I believe what they say because I know that they have experienced the ineffective and unproductive way of teaching English at schools.
I have learnt an important lesson during my career.

That is teaching spoken English attracts students. It is important that the appropriate vocabulary and terminology must be provided to them prior to the lesson. Then they can grasp the lesson and follow it with ease. When they can manage to talk with the given vocabulary they learn to use it properly, whereas if we promote them to speak in the class thinking all the students are of the same standard, without the vocabulary and lexis, most of them quit the class imagining that it is very difficult to follow.

Some students hesitate to participate in interactive sessions because they don't like others to know about their inability to converse in English language correctly and they are worried about the grammar. So care must be taken in order to satisfy such learners and keep them in the classes. I believe that spoken English is the way of attracting students to the lessons and they must be guided towards other language skills such as reading, writing and listening as well. Spoken English alone will not help them to break down the barrier that these skilled persons have to face.

IELTS or International English Language Testing System is the exam that is recognized and required by most of the developed countries as a basic qualifier for a job offer or to apply for permanent residency. The main reason for this is to maintain equality at the work place and in social circles. If we are poor in the language we are unable to communicate with others and will not be able to fit into society. So if a person wishes to migrate to a developed country or if he is willing to work in such a country English is the passport that will take him to his destination.

I believe that this would improve the income of these personnel resulting in the economy of the country also benefiting ultimately. Additionally this will also help their families to improve social status. So the backward people in society can climb up the social ladder with the foreign influence. Though it is not mentioned here it is an accepted and well known fact that in Sri Lanka English speaking people are respected since the language is limited to a part of the society.

Our youth are very skilled in their subject area but poor in English due to the prolonged fear and failure in English language learning. The demand exists and we have our energetic youth here with all the required qualifications but without the mandatory knowledge of English. So what we have to do now is to fill this little gap. We must eliminate their fear for English and must guide them towards IELTS. It is critically analyzed and can be suggested to the vocational and technical training sector to guide the students towards these demand driven trades with English, especially focusing on IELTS oriented classes.

I really believe that if we develop and introduce new programmes targeting IELTS we can very easily overcome the existing barrier with confidence. Why do we allow our youth to waste their skills because of a language which can be easily learnt? Why don't we develop our country using our skills and skilled youth rather than depending on poor housemaids who should be here as mothers looking after their families? It is not too late to make this decision. I hope this message acts as an eye-opener to all on how urgent the need for English is today.

Prabodini Jayasinghe,
Msc., Bsc., Dip. (HRM),
British Council Teaching Certificate

 
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