Education

India aiding English-language teaching in Sri Lanka

India has begun aiding English-language teaching in Sri Lanka in a major way to enable young Sri Lankans get jobs in the corporate sector, especially in the burgeoning services businesses where English-language skills are a key requirement.

The "English as a Life Skill" programme, started by the Sri Lanka government, aims to train at least 50,000 persons between the ages of 18 and 24 in the use of the language with assistance from the High Commission of India and the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) in Hyderabad.

The course will be short-term in order to get quick results. Sri Lanka hopes to be a BPO centre in the near future, and also attract other foreign investments which it has denied itself for half a century, thanks to the short-sighted "no-English" language policy since 1956.

Between April 23 and 25, Colombo was to host an "English Teaching Business Mela" in which the EFLU, the Sri Lanka government, and Indian and Sri Lankan investors would discuss the possibility of joint ventures to teach job-oriented English-language skills.

A key component of the government programme is to "teach the teacher." It is estimated that Sri Lanka has about 21,000 largely untrained English teachers in government-run and private schools.

In addition, there are those who teach in the nation's 1,690 private tutorial colleges. The EFLU will help set up a Centre for English Language Teaching (CELT) in Sri Lanka to train these teachers.

The Government of India will give 30 scholarships to Sri Lankan teachers to travel to the EFLU in Hyderabad for a three-month crash course in English for professional use.

- newindpress.com

A teacher's lessons

One of the most inspiring leaders in the last several years does not run a Fortune 500 company, did not launch a startup in his garage, and has not led an army. He's a school teacher.

But his persuasion skills are so effective they should be adopted by anyone who manages anyone.

Ron Clark taught elementary school in North Carolina. After watching a programme about a New York City school that had a hard time attracting qualified teachers, he decided to head to New York with the goal of teaching in one of its toughest schools. Clark eventually landed a job doing just that - in Harlem.

He asked if he could teach a class of fifth-graders who had been performing at a second-grade level. The school's administrators wanted to give him the gifted class, but Clark insisted on the underperforming students.

In one school year, Clark's fifth-grade class outperformed the gifted class. Clark became Disney's teacher of the year, a best-selling author, an Oprah guest, and the subject of a made-for-TV movie, The Ron Clark Story, starring Matthew Perry.

When I was writing my last book, Fire Them Up! I caught up with Clark to discuss how managers can use his techniques to motivate their teams.

Here are some of the things he said: Raise expectations. Students and employees will improve their game in response to a challenge. When Clark walked in to his Harlem class, he announced what seemed to be an absurd goal: The class would test at grade level by the end of the school year. Once the students learned Clark was serious, they responded and began to act like the successful students he had known they could be.

One month later, after Clark had seen the results, he began to express a vision nobody had dared to dream - they would outperform the gifted class by the end of the year. As a leader, your job is to think one step ahead of the rest of your team and then equip it with the tools and confidence to get there.

Explain why before how

"It's not enough to set a goal," Clark told me. "You need to tell your students why it's important to reach that goal. For my students, it meant a better future. I told them why they needed to know a certain subject, how it would be an advantage to them in their lives."

When it comes to inspiring employees, the "why" is also often more important than the "how." Why should they exceed quarterly sales goals? Why should they improve customer service scores? Show your team how accomplishing these goals will improve their lives as well as the lives of those around them. Encourage celebration and praise. 

In Clark's book, The Essential 55 - his rules for success in the classroom - rule No. 3 is applicable in almost any business setting: If someone in the class wins a game or does something well, we will congratulate that person.

Clark believes that anyone - student or employee - will do a better job when he receives praise. But he went one step further in his class. He encouraged the students to celebrate each other's achievements as if they were a supportive family.

He writes: "If you want a team to be successful, you have to create an atmosphere where everyone on the team is proud of each other. If you set a goal and everyone is working toward that goal as an individual and not as a team, it can be intimidating. But if you feel like you have the support of an entire team then you can set the goal as high as you want because there is no fear associated with it. Every person on that team will want to contribute to achieving that goal because they are doing it together."

Show genuine interest

Clark cultivated a sense of curiosity and respect in his Harlem classroom, requiring students to respond to a question with a question (his rule No. 6).

"You are far more likable and respectful when you are asking about the thoughts and opinions of others," Clark writes. Showing a genuine interest is a consistent theme among inspiring communicators. Motivating is about bringing out the best in people, but people will not listen to your message until they know you care.

Show you care about them personally and you will bring out their best professionally. Be positive and enjoy life.  Clark's can-do spirit is infectious. His words reflect his optimism, and he refuses to let any of his students speak the language of defeat.

Rule No. 50 is simply: Be positive and enjoy life. Clark told me a leader must set the tone, especially with the words he chooses to use. It is up to the leader to set high expectations, to praise people, to believe in them, and to do whatever it takes to help people meet their goals and have fun in the process.

Despite the challenges Clark faced as a teacher, he remained optimistic and steadfast in his belief that his rules would unlock the students' potential. His passion and positive energy allowed him to see opportunity where everyone else saw obstacles.

Clark's rules are intended to draw out the best in students. They can also help bring out the best in any team. And by inspiring your colleagues and employees in the workplace, you become the kind of person people want to be around.

- Carmine Gallo

The writer is a communications coach and author of the book, Fire Them Up! (John Wiley & Sons; October, 2007)

The world of work through Lyceum Job Fair

Virekiyawen-Rekiyawakata 2008 the annual job fair organised by Lyceum International School in collaboration with the Mohan Lal Grero Foundation (MLGF) will be held on May 10 from 8 a.m to 4 p.m at the Lyceum International School premises in Nugegoda.

The Lyceum-MLGF inaugural job fair was successfully held in September 2007 with the participation of more than 50 private sector institutions and approximately 7500 job seekers from all over Sri Lanka.

The fair is organised with a view to introduce academically and technically qualified job seekers of the MLGF Youth School, Vocational Training Centre and Lyceum International School, and job seekers from all over the island are also invited to attend this job Fair.

As a social responsibility activity, the school provides space and furniture for the participating organisations without any cost. At the fair prospective employers will be meeting job seekers with their Curriculum Vitae and Proficiency Certificates.

The job fair organising committee is keen to know the job opportunities available in the private sector in Sri Lanka. The private firms which could offer jobs in the fields of banking, education, information technology, industrial trades, hospitals, security etc. and are requested to contact the organising committee on (011)4873533/0785 844337 or email your offer to mlgf_jobbank@ yahoo.com on or before April 30.

APIIT students show their creative side

It's a universally accepted truth that music has been instrumental in bringing cultures, peoples and religions together - and this was in evidence when the first year business students of APIIT in collaboration with the APIIT Students' Activity Club organised a musical extravaganza with a difference.

Tantalise - a platform to showcase and unleash the hidden talents of youngsters, was staged on April 4. An ensemble of budding artists - on guitars, drums and saxophones - from across Colombo was on stage, serenading both the adults and the youth.

This production was a landmark in itself as it was the first of its kind where bands and artists blended harmoniously to perform music from all eras. The brainchild of Naseeha Amirdeen, the project chairperson of Tantalise, the proceeds of the concert are to be donated to the Thalassemia Ward at the Kurunegala Hospital.

There were over 50 applications for this talent contest, which totalled to over 100 participants who were auditioned on March 15 at the Russian Cultural Centre. This gave a glimpse of the new and up and coming musical talent in the country.

The participants competed under the categories of Singing - Solo, Dancing - Solo and Group, Bands - Oriental and Western, and Instrumental - Acoustic and Non Acoustic.

The Band Category was open to five premier tertiary education institutes, with APIIT and SLIIT entering the finals. The finest of the 100 participants were selected for the finals held on April 4 at the Bishop's College Auditorium.

The two and a half week break before the finals saw the participants putting in hours and hours of practice in corridors, classrooms and leisure rooms amidst lectures and project submissions. Their dedication to perfection was clearly noticeable at the finals where the audience was given an evening to remember!

Dilesh Wellington mesmerised the audience with a brilliant performance on the saxophone which earned him first place in the Instrumental Category with Ronali Perera and Hansa Lokuwaduge coming in second.

With her rather extraordinary dance moves, and certainly the crowd's favourite, Sharani Amanda Bopitiya took first place in the Solo Dancing category with Yuwanthi Erandika Costa and Mohana Sundaram Vikram coming in second and third respectively.

The Solo Singing category was keenly contested with a large number of participants. Music Mega Star Finalist, Deasy Augusta walked away with an iPod as she took first place. There were also noteworthy performances by  Rizwan Rasheed and President of the Student Activity Club, Jehan Adahan who were placed second and third in the category.

The Band Category set the auditorium alight. The pulsating beats and impressive vocals got the audience on their feet, chanting and clapping. Special mention must be made of the band from SLIIT - Mesmerise - that truly lived up to their name and thrilled the audience with a remarkable performance.

They deservingly earned first place in the category. Niroshan Buddhika's band Hanger 18 and Fusion, Hasitha Perera's, band came in second and third with notable performances.

Guest performances were provided by Randir who rocked the audience with his eloquent style of rapping.  Native - yet another group of young artists entertained the audience with their own style of music. Prihan and Azlan, who are not new to the young crowd and are also incidentally students of APIIT, were the other performers.

In keeping with its motto of providing "Quality in higher education," APIIT provides an atmosphere for a dynamic and colourful student life. Recognising the brilliance of the idea and nature of this project, APIIT generously came forward as the main sponsor of this event.

The unleashing of talent for a worthy cause had many organisations joining hands with the project team to make Tantalise a resounding success.

Electronic media sponsorship was provided by Channel One and YES FM. ElaKiri.com, Sri Lanka's largest online forum was the official online sponsor.

Naseeha and her team though they encountered many a challenge along the way had put together a memorable evening of music, dance and entertainment to a full house that turned up despite the unpredictable weather and situation in the country.

Tantalise left the audience clapping their hands..stamping their feet.. shouting out 'Encore'! April 4 was a day that unearthed young talent at its best!

- Muradh Mohideen

Essay competition on the Knowledge Economy

The World Bank has launched an essay competition on Knowledge Economy (KE) for students and faculty members of higher education institutes in Sri Lanka in an effort to raise awareness and understanding of issues related to building a Knowledge Economy.

The competition is being held to seek views on how Sri Lanka can build its Knowledge Economy.

New growth theories have demonstrated that there is a correlation between the intellectual capital of a country and its economic performance. Intellectual capital is highly prized by high performing countries and its organisations to gain a competitive edge in the global market.

Research and development (R&D), knowledge creation and fertilisation, innovation in product design are now universally considered to be the vital determinants of this intellectual capital.

An information rich society or an ICT (Information Communication Technology) enabled one does not automatically become a knowledge economy. The study highlights the key transformations required and provides lessons from other countries that have successfully managed this transition.

The factor that is pushing countries to embrace this knowledge economy is the global market, which is using knowledge in a multitude of efficient and innovative ways.

The essay competition seeks ideas and views on how Sri Lanka can shift to a knowledge economy strengthening and building the intellectual capital of the country.

Undergraduates and graduates from Sri Lankan universities and private higher education institutes in Sri Lanka (ages 20 - 40) are eligible to take part in this competition.

Three prizes of US$ 1000, 500 and 200 will be awarded to the first, second and third places. Deadline for submission is May 20.

Essays in English must be submitted online through the World Bank Sri Lanka website www.worldbank.lk.

Help is at hand for English teachers

Clarity was founded in 1992 to provide English teachers with a range of accessible, easy-to-use, pedagogically excellent ELT software. Since then, the company has developed nine key products covering specific areas of language such as grammar, reading and academic study skills.

Clarity has also worked with leading ELT publishers to help them develop interactive resources to complement their course books. Clarity represents other specialist ELT software publishers in Asia and across the world.

  Clarity is based in the UK and Hong Kong. All core development work is done inhouse, and the company additionally works with freelance authors, editors and, for special projects, programming teams.

  Clarity programmes have been adopted globally by the British Council as well as by ministries of education in many countries such as Malaysia, Canada, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and Slovenia among others. Clarity has numerous installations in India.

  In addition to its own programmes, Clarity has developed interactive resources for Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Macmillan Education, the British Council, and many other high profile ELT providers.

  Clarity focuses on successful implementation of its programmes through technical reliability and teacher training. Teacher training sessions have been conducted in more than 20 countries.

  Clarity works with 30 resellers and distributors across the world, and is especially successful in India, Canada, Spain, the UK and the Middle East.

  Road to IELTS was initially developed by the British Council in Athens over a dperiod of several years. In 2006, the British Council asked Clarity to redevelop dthe software to make it (a) more reliable, (b) more up-to-date in terms of dinterface and (c) web-compatible. Clarity used Author Plus to achieve this and dthe new Road to IELTS was published in December 2006.

The objective is to provide a comprehensive preparation package for all aspects of the IELTS exam (both Academic and General Training).

Road to IELTS has been used for several years in British Council Teaching Centres around the world, where it is one of the most popular resources among students. The new version is currently being rolled out across the network. Much interest has been shown by other institutions preparing students for IELTS.

The programme includes a huge body of high quality teaching material created by a team of 15 teachers over three years.

  Extensive use is made of authentic materials in the reading and writing sections. The library of charts and tables is unique. dThe programme can run as a stand-alone resource, or in conjunction with Clarity's Results Manager which enables teachers to track student activity.

  Road to IELTS runs on networks, the internet and direct from a CD-Rom. This means that it is accessible to any school with reasonably up-to-date computers, whatever the technical setup.

Study Skills Success was first published in 2002 and is available in International English and American English versions.

Study Skills Success helps students to develop their academic study skills. The

International edition also helps with IELTS preparation.

Study Skills Success is used extensively at sixth form level and in universities.

Key users include The British Council worldwide. Study Skills Success has been adopted globally for all British Council Teaching Centres in the network.

Clarity has always focused on helping teachers develop their ICT skills and on enabling them to deploy the programmes published by Clarity and others effectively with their learners.

In addition to covering all the technical aspects of installing and running Clarity programmes on networks and online, the site provides a comprehensive range of teaching resources for teachers.

Tense Buster is Clarity's best selling product. This programme is now in Version 6. It can be delivered on stand-alone computers, networks and online.

Tense Buster tackles key areas of grammar at five levels from Elementary to Advanced. It also addresses vocabulary and learner training.

Tense Buster is being used by at least 10,000 schools around the world.

World's biggest lesson

Over 100 countries worldwide have taken part in what is thought to be the world's biggest lesson. Children and adults, both female and male, played a part.

It all took place on the same day, April 23, at the same time across the world, in countries including the United States of America, Sierra Leone, Denmark, UK, Malawi and Brazil.

The reason for the world's biggest lesson attempt was to help people who took part understand that 72 million children miss out on an education, and to let them know about Global Campaign for Education, who are reminding governments about their promises to get all of the world's children into school by 2015.

One reason why 57% of girls are excluded from having an education is that many parents think that their daughters should not go to school but stay at home and help around the house. The money which is not used for school fees is used to pay for their daughter's marriage.

Half the children who don't go to school are in war zones and some of their schools may have been bombed or knocked down.

The lesson, organised by the Global Campaign for Education, took place to try and beat the Guinness World Record.

Students seeking universities in UK need to be cautious

Bogus university scam uncovered

An international education scam that targets foreign students who come to study in the capital has been exposed by a BBC London investigation.

The bogus Irish International University (IIU), which offers sub-standard and worthless degrees, has been allowed to flourish in the UK - virtually unchecked by the government - for the last seven years.

Although the organisation is unaccredited, hundreds of students have been given educational visas to enter Britain and take its exams at private colleges in London.

The IIU, which has 5,000 students worldwide and thousands of graduates, maintains the illusion of a valid education through its elaborate but highly misleading website.

This illusion is enhanced by the university's continued use of Oxford and Cambridge facilities to stage its award ceremonies.

After each event photographs appear on the IIU website showing happy students receiving awards at the UK's best seats of learning.

The BBC investigation took the team from London to Dublin, Oxford and finally Monte Carlo in search of those behind the IIU.

A BBC journalist and an actor posing as fake academic were invited to the IIU's award ceremony which, surprisingly, was held at the Divinity School, next to the Bodleian Library, in the very heart of Oxford University.

Dublin campus?

The ceremony was due to go ahead at Cambridge, but after BBC London alerted the university authorities the event was cancelled. That did not stop the IIU switching venues to Oxford at the last minute.

In Oxford, the BBC journalist and actor secretly filmed the award ceremony and recorded meetings with university boss and Executive President Professor Hardeep Singh Sandhu, a Malaysian businessman and faculty member Dr. Edwin Varo.

Dr. Varo, told the BBC that the IIU was not bogus and was registered in Ireland and that it had applied to the government and had been given approval to use the word university.

In Dublin, Sean O'Foghlu, Chief Executive of the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, told BBC London: "To use the word university in a title it needs approval from our Department of Education and Science - no such approval has been given by our department."

The university website clearly stated that the university had a campus in Dublin.

The BBC visited the address given by the IIU on its website - there was no campus, just a mailbox.

The website also claimed that the IIU's educational programmes were accredited and quality controlled by the impressive sounding QAC, UK Ltd - the Quality Assurance Commission, based in North London.

During secretly filmed meetings, Professor Sandhu told the undercover team that the QAC was an "independent body" that maintained the quality of education in the UK and elsewhere.

Faculty member, Dr. Varo explained that the QAC staff: "Focus more on your curriculum - on your teaching; focus on your evaluation - they focus on your faculty - who are your faculty - what amount of real teaching takes place."

The QAC website listed an impressive roll-call of staff including the QAC Commissioner General and an Acting Commissioner General.

The BBC reporter visited the QAC and instead of finding a commissioner general found four telephonists fielding calls for countless companies at yet another virtual office.

A further check at Companies House revealed that far from being "independent" the QAC is in fact owned by university boss, Professor Dr. Sandhu.

Bona fide academic, Professor Geoffrey Alderman, gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on the subject of bogus institutions.

He told the BBC: "Some of these colleges will say, 'sure we're accredited,' but when you ask 'by whom?' they name an accrediting institution which in fact they themselves own."

Credentials

University boss Professor Sandhu, who sits on the governing council is a Doctor of Letters, a doctorate awarded by another unaccredited university based in the Caribbean.

His professorship is "honorary," awarded by a European association set up to give out professorships.

On the website he also called himself "Sir H. Sandhu" but his knighthood was not bestowed on him by the Queen.

One person missing from the Oxford award ceremony was the university's Honorary Chancellor, His Excellency Baron Knowth - real name Professor Jeffrey Wooller - a successful chartered accountant from London.

Professor Wooller, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, owns a œ1.2m townhouse in Kensington but spends most of his time living as a tax exile in Monte Carlo.

The BBC actor, again posing as a fake academic, arranged to meet Professor Wooller, at a hotel in Monaco. The BBC secretly filmed this meeting as well.

'Dreamt up'

He told the fake academic that the IIU was not "recognised anywhere."

He admitted to the BBC actor that the website was an illusion: "When you look at the website, it's a figment of someone's imagination. Someone's dreamt up what a university should look like, and that's what's on the website."

Professor Wooller said that students paid a lot of money to attend the award ceremonies, adding: "If you can mention Oxford, Cambridge then the whole world thinks that it must be a good university."

He then said of the university's operation: "The whole thing's dodgy." He even said that the IIU's governing council, of which he and Professor Sandhu are both members, did not exist.

A BBC London reporter then confronted Professor Wooller.

Reporter: You said the whole thing is dodgy.

Mr. Wooller: It is dodgy!

Reporter: Oh so you admit it's dodgy?

Mr. Wooller: Of course it's dodgy.

He also told the reporter that he had been given his professorship by the IIU and that he had bought his "Baron" title.

Professor Wooller refused to quit as honorary chancellor stating that most IIU students were happy and that the 'university' was good value for money.

Professor John Arnold of Loughborough University has seen coursework from an IIU graduate.

He said: "Students are paying for this, what I would regard as worthless and bogus qualifications. I would say buyer beware from the point of view of students.

"You know I really think that they'll probably be getting qualifications which are unlikely to be taken seriously at least in Western Europe."

'Banned'

Following BBC London's investigation the IIU will now no longer be allowed to use Oxford and Cambridge's facilities to stage their award ceremonies.

Oxford University issued a statement stating that they would not be renting its facilities to the Irish International University in the future.

The IIU website survives but since the investigation it has undergone a radical overhaul.

The reference to a Dublin campus has been removed, the QAC is "no longer involved with the Irish International University" and its logo no longer appears on the website.

Professor Sandhu told BBC London that the university will not renew its affiliations with any private colleges in London.

The government is promising that by 2009 all colleges wishing to bring overseas applicants into the country will need to be accredited.

Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell said: "Our universities are rightly regarded as world class and any attempt by bogus institutions or conmen to tarnish this hard won reputation will not be tolerated.

"The UK has some of the toughest regulations in the world governing the award of higher education qualifications. The vast majority of private colleges in London operate lawfully and provide a high-quality service to their students.

"We are working very hard on behalf of students to ensure that all private institutions meet strict quality standards.

"Where we are not satisfied that this is the case with a particular college, we will not hesitate to investigate and if necessary, close it down.

"I would encourage all new students to carefully check the credentials of the college they wish to enrol at and if they have any concerns, contact their local trading standards team."

- Nigel Morris

BBC Investigations

The loopholes in UK higher education

Duncan Hamshere, author of Degrees Of Deception, explains how bogus educators get away with cheating students.

Britain is famous for its world-class colleges and universities. Indeed, a multi-million pound Prime Minister's Initiative is seeking to promote the quality of UK education overseas. But a small minority are subverting this reputation to dupe the unwitting, or to aid immigration.

Many now in the UK higher education community are aware of degree mills, however they are probably not aware of the extent to which fake institutions have permeated the British education system.

UK legislation states that it is illegal to use the title 'university' without the permission of the Privy Council and that it is also illegal to offer a British degree without government approval. These laws, however, leave considerable loopholes for a range of shady schools and colleges.

Loopholes in the law

These schools operate in a number of ways. Most commonly an institution (usually located in modest surroundings) offers a range of courses; typically English language, introduction to computing, basic bookkeeping etc., which are then supplemented by a number of Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral degrees accredited by a bogus international university.ÿ

By virtue of their mere existence, these schools have been able to appear on official UK higher education lists. As a result, overseas students are able to gain student visas on the basis of being enrolled in these institutions.

There has been a move by the government to produce a list of accredited accreditors but this move in turn has left more loopholes that may be exploited.

Inside the student's mind

You may ask yourself why anyone would want to study at these institutions. Obviously many come with the intention of gaining access to the UK through a student visa in order to find employment, others are genuinely fooled by the marketing of these institutions and when they discover the truth it is too late and they have lost up to œ8,000. I have heard several such people explain in tears that they lost their families' life savings on a worthless programme.

The UK must act to protect one of its most valuable assets - its education system.

The actions of these individuals damages the reputation of the whole sector and worst of all exploits the developing world's increasing thirst for international study.

Duncan Hamshere is a former head of UK NARIC services, which advises on higher education services to people throughout the world.