Community English Programme

The need for these projects (overview)

There are many parents on both tea estates and in the poor farming communities that want desperately to give their children the best start in life. For many, that means their children having a good command of the English language as it paves the way to better paid work away from generational, back-breaking manual labour. The remoteness of tea estates and farm land, not being able to afford the bus fare to travel to towns that have the appropriate facilities (often these towns are 2 hours away) and the lack of qualified English teachers in these areas, means that it is difficult for the children to learn good quality spoken and written English.

As part of our one year Professional Development Training Programme, the Tea Leaf Trust is training these students to deliver a basic English programme to primary aged children living on their own Tea Estates. This project is based on our pilot Nuwara Eliya Outreach Project. You can read more about it in our past project section.

How does the Maskeliya Community English Programme work?

First term

Wednesdays of the first term are used to teach our students how to teach. The curriculum for this basic teaching programme has been approved by the Education Ministry of Sri Lanka and delivered by the teachers of Tea Leaf Vision Centre for Professional Development. As part of their training exam, our students have to 'teach' one of the lesson plans to the Programme Director of the Tea Leaf Trust (Mr Tim Pare) and the Community English Programme Coordinator Mrs Beulah Davidson. At the end of the first term, students are divided into groups of twos and threes, ensuring those less confident in teaching are coupled with/put into a group with those comfortable who are speaking in front of a class. 

Second term and third term

Students are given a lesson plan each week, and on the Wednesday are expected to have read through it, so that they know what they are teaching, and ask the teaching staff about any problems that they have with the lesson plan. They are also expected to bring any resources (such as toys, pictures of the alphabet etc) that are needed for the lesson plan. They then practise their lesson plans in the morning with their teachers and classmates, to gain confidence.

In the afternoon, the students go back to their villages to teach a two hour basic English curriculum programme. Our intern students (students who graduated in 2010 who are studying our advanced diploma) also go back with the students to monitor these classes. 

Community involvement

Local schools on tea estates and surrounding areas provide classrooms for the classes to go ahead.

Target groups:

• Children of primary school age who live in the poorest villages and Tea Estates surrounding Maskeliya
• Children whose families are unable to afford English lessons but are committed to their children's education
• All ethnic/religious groups, boys and girls

Who is responsible for concept and running of the Maskeliya Community English Programme?

The programme concept was developed by the Programme Director of the Tea Leaf Vision Centre for Professional Development, Tim Pare. It is run by Beulah Devadson, Senior Outreach Project Co-ordinator and Indika Yapa, Outreach Project Co-ordinator.

How many children are currently receiving basic English lessons?

At present 706 children (as of May 2011) have been registered in 7 government schools located on tea estates across Maskeliya

Is the programme free?

The programme is free, but each child must buy the course book (Rs 150/- approximately 80p) that accompanies the programme.

If you would like more information about the Maskeliya Community English Programme, please email us as info@tealeaftrust.com