National educators strengthen private sector English education
Monday, 12 August 2013 00:59
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The English education sector in Sri Lanka is being enriched by a platform set up by a group of Sri Lankans with strong professional and academic credentials. The team has gotten together to empower children, youth and adults with communication skills in English, through programs carrying globally recognised benchmarks.
This is a timely initiative mooted by national university academics, senior teachers and corporate trainers who have set up the Rainbow Institute of Communication and English (www.rainbow.lk), affiliated to City and Guilds International, UK.
The institute is headed by Manique Mendis, a leading communication specialist, with more than 25 years of senior management experience in local and international organisations, and Sandra Fernando, a literary personality with experience in teaching in international schools in Sri Lanka and overseas, providing leadership for quality assurance benchmarking and academic development. The well known academic Dr. Mahim Mendis, a British Chevening Scholar with postgraduate research degrees from UK, USA and Singapore is the chief educational adviser of the institute.
“The Rainbow Institute of Communication and English is filling a vacuum for high quality teaching at an affordable price in a context where private sector education has become a highly commercialised commodity,” stated Dr. Mahim Mendis. He elaborated that a large number of Sri Lankans are greatly constrained in maximising their potential, both locally and internationally, due to lack of skills and confidence in English.
The aim of the institute is to provide top quality English and communication training with international benchmarks from City and Guilds, UK at an affordable rate to Sri Lankans.
The Rainbow Institute is offering English courses to a wide range of groups such as young learners, college students, English teachers, school leavers, housewives, job seekers, managers, executives, shop and office workers, clergy and politicians.
The Young Learners courses for children between the ages of six to 13 years of age are offered in two categories. The first focuses on spoken English, whilst the second focuses on reading, writing and listening skills.
The Diploma comes in six levels. It is a combination of two City and Guilds courses – the spoken course and the general course focusing on reading, writing and listening skills.
The Access Certificate of English Language Teaching is a six month course which includes a foundation in the theory of English language teaching and teaching practice in real classrooms. It offers a prestigious City and Guilds qualification to current teachers of English, those who want to become English teachers and teachers of other subjects who want to shift to English.
The Business English Courses are offered at three levels, for clerical, executive and managerial level staff. These courses are offered at the institute’s premises in Haig Road, Bambalapitiya and also conducted for groups of employees in their own organisational premises.
The course for politicians is an innovative program designed to equip Sri Lankan politicians to win public confidence by bringing out their inherent strengths with a strong intellectual and moral foundation, whilst improving their skills in English.
The institute will provide free-of-charge a range of extra-curricular activities such as a public speaking club, reference library, career guidance clinics, guest lectures, debates, competitions and mock exams. These activities are geared to develop the personalities of students and improve their communication skills in an English learning environment.
Rainbow Institute of Communication and English is a project of the consultancy and training company Rainbow Resources Lanka Ltd.
