The Tamil Women’s Development Group (TWDG) in Australia asked how they could help. Oral language skills build confidence and that confidence is crucial to teaching English. So TWDG and its international network of Sri Lankan expat volunteers decided to mentor English teachers in Sri Lanka, for 30 mins per week on WhatsApp, to help them build their confidence in spoken English. When we announced this program we were flooded with requests from teachers. It is a very rewarding thing for all concerned. PIMD is very grateful to the TWDG volunteers – the program has been running for several months and word has gone around amongst our schools. More and more teachers are putting their hand up for this free, voluntary service. This story captures exactly what we are trying to achieve: “Hi Donna, I had my mentoring today. When I asked V. if I should change anything I in the session she said the English teacher was sick yesterday so requested V. to teach the class and she would sit at the back and just watch. After the class she had said that V. can continue to teach English as she is as good as her and she would advise the Principal too to the same affect. Then today one of her grade 3 students told her “miss, you sound like the English miss now”. ” Thank you TWDG for your support to Tamil, Sinhala, and Muslim Teachers in the Lotus Program!
