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MORE than one hundred Indian men and women have received a major boost in confidence with their English language speaking skills through a special two-month training programme conducted by the Indian Ladies Association.
The adult pupils come from diverse backgrounds and are at different educational levels. They work during the day in a variety of jobs such as salesmen, office boys, office assistants, accounts clerks, delivery boys, skilled labour, security guards and domestic workers and aim to improve their language skills to enhance their career prospects.
Volunteer teacher Rekha Uttam, 50, said: "It is not just about increasing their level of spoken English but also their level of confidence. At the end what they gain is the belief that it is OK to speak even if the sentence or grammar may be wrong.
"Many hold master's degrees but they have had little opportunities to use English as they were educated in Malayalam or in some other language.
"Other participants may have never been on a training programme in their entire lives. Just being involved in an activity or programme away from their routine lives gives them the necessary impetus. It also gives them a sense of community, a sense of belonging and the knowledge that there are people who care."
'Speak Easy' classes were started by the association members in 2004 to fill a gap among members of the Indian community who faced difficulties in conducting regular tasks in English. These could range from filling immigration forms at the airport or simply talking to their employers or colleagues.
Students are accepted if they can write in English and can understand instructions in English. A small fee of BD5 is charged per student to ensure commitment from their side.
Two, two-hour classes are conducted every week in the evenings over a period of two months. The training culminates with students conducting an entire evening's programme complete with entertainment, dinner and a reader's theatre in English in front of their friends, bosses, relatives and well-wishers. They also receive a completion certificate from the Indian ambassador.
Using role playing and situations, participants learn the use of verbs and tenses and understand what to say in different situations. Rekha said that the students are encouraged to read English newspapers and watch English news programmes on television.
She added: "We enact social etiquettes like greeting each other, saying please and thank you, taking telephone calls, filling up immigration forms, socially accepted behaviour in restaurants, taking an appointment with a doctor, ordering a menu over telephone and even walking up to a stranger and asking for directions.
"At the beginning of the class, we break the ice by discussing the weekly issues in English. All of them have strong opinions on most matters, be it the Indian election coverage or a local news story. They may not be accurate in their speech but it encourages them to say a few more sentences than usual.
'We don't go into heavy grammar. We teach them to place a conversation in a time frame. We also buy a dictionary for every one of them and teach them how to use it. It is a way forward as they can now look up an unknown word and try to understand it on their own."
The classes also include a session with Dr Babu Ramchandran, from the American Mission Hospital who outlines smoking, health and hygiene issues. Although organisers face a five to 10 per cent dropout every year on account of situations at work or personal problems, over the years the programme has gained immense popularity. This year ILA received over 150 applications and have been flooded by requests for more sessions and advanced classes.
Sessions were conducted by Rekha who is in sales and marketing at the Bahrain International Travel, Britto Rodrigo, 60, English teacher at the Indian School, Swasti Mehta, head teacher at the Al Mahd Day Boarding School, and T S Srinivas, IT manager at Bapco.
Nalini Vipin, 44, a former teacher in Damman, Shamima Noraini, 45, designer and choreographer and Rosaline Roy, 38, executive committee member of the Indian School helped in the coordination of the entire programme.
Rekha said: "The idea is to provide a service to the community that gives us a great sense of satisfaction. We must remember that even if these participants didn't come to these English classes they are all earning and are all leading decent lives and taking care of their families back home. The course adds value to their lives and we should not confuse this service with charity."
