A residential workshop was held on November 7 and 8, 2009 at Hotel TAPRO-SPA, Beruwela to train the Toastmasters, Rotarians and the Access teachers who will be involved with the formation of the Gavel Clubs in the Rural Voices Unlimited (RVU) Project. The Chief Guest for the Opening Ceremony was Mrs Valerie Fowler, Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy. Many Rotarians including past District Governors and Past Presidents were Present. Among the many Toastmasters, Past District Governor Arunasalam Balraj and Lieutenant Governor Marketing of District 82 M Z Saleem were present.
The Chief Guest, Mrs Fowler in her speech emphasized the importance of equipping young people in Sri Lanka with English Language Communication skills. She mentioned about her own fears she had during her childhood about speaking before an audience and how RVU will help to redress the barriers that exist in Communicating through the English language. She also mentioned about a project the Embassy conducted to teach Cinematography to young children from all communities. While the children of different communities were not short of talent for film making, the only barrier that existed was their inability to communicate through a link language.
She emphasized that the widespread use of the English language in Sri Lanka would definitely be a prerequisite for the country to make progress in the post war era.
Mr. Nissanka Samaratunaga President of the Rotary Club of Colombo West explained the benefits that this programme will bring to the Rural Youth of this Country to enable them to cross many tough bridges they are faced with and succeed in life through the communication and leadership skills this programme will equip them with.
Immediate Past District Governor of Toastmasters District 82, TM Arunasalam Balraj touched on how the fraternity will be involved with this project and the transformation that is expected of the students and the other partners during the 6 month duration of the Project.
There were some very valuable training modules conducted by Veteran Toastmasters that followed the opening ceremony. Some of them are as follows:
1. TM Arunasalam Balraj- Overview of RVU and 'How to do an introduction of a speaker/Welcome Address/Vote of Thanks'
2. TM Niranjan De Silva- 'Effective Communication' and "How to use Visual aids (including PowerPoint)"
3. TM Asgi Noordeen- 'How to conduct effective meetings' and 'Effective use of Vocal Variety'
4. TM Yusuf Jeevunjee- 'How to organize and structure your presentations'
5. TM Ajitha Goonewardene- 'Work with words'
6. TM M Z Saleem- How to conduct 'Effective Speech Evaluations'
The Toastmasters gathered also conducted a short model meeting for the benefit of the Access teachers and the Rotarians for them to get a better understanding about the Toastmasters Program that will be conducted during the formation of the Gavel Clubs.
RVU is a project funded by the US Embassy in Sri Lanka along with the Rotary Club of Colombo West in association with Toastmasters District 82. The objective of the Project is to form 5 Gavel Clubs in 5 outstation cities of Hambantota, Bandarawela, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Anuradhapura to redress and overcome the lack of English Knowledge of students in those areas.
The U.S. Embassy is currently conducting a programme in outstation areas called the "Access English Programme" which is a micro-scholarship course for youth to learn English for 2 years. However, there is a need for the rural youth also to apply these skills, to learn and improve their English communication, public speaking and leadership skills, which will empower them with the knowledge and confidence to communicate in English without inhibition.
The Students of the Access English program will be initially enrolled for the formation of the Gavel Clubs in the 5 cities in this pilot project. Upon successful completion of this pilot project, it will be extended to other areas where the access program is being currently conducted. As the U.S Government is also conducting the Access English Program in 66 other Countries, if this project is successful in Sri Lanka, this model may be used in other Countries as well.
The Gavel club meetings will be held every week for six months, on Saturdays, in each of these five locations, and a team of Toastmasters consisting of the educational module presenter and two or more evaluators will attend meetings every fortnight. The project objective is to ensure that the gavel clubs formed with the guidance of the Toastmasters are sustained after the six months mentoring period.
The Inaugural Gavel Club meetings of the RVU will be conducted simultaneously in Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Bandarawela, Hambantota and Trincomalee on the 28th of November 2009 commencing at 9am.
More information about RVU can be obtained by contacting the Project-Chairman Arunasalam Balraj (Balraj@sltnet.lk) or Project-Coordinator Rayhan Wanniappa (rayhan@sltnet.lk) |
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