Monday, September 22, 2008

More than words

CT in action at W Nursery

Future IT professionals

On Tuesdays and Thursdays when they are not having English classes, the teens would go for their vocational interest attachments. 2 gals help out at W Nursery, a small outfit catering to the expat community run by Mrs P and Mrs D, of Australian and Irish nationalities. Both S & CT have a keen interest in children and they enjoy interacting with the many expat kids. The exposure to the different ways English are spoken is also very beneficial for them, though they did feedback that the thick Irish accent was a bit of a challenge.

The 2 other gals, DN & ET are keen to pursue careers in Accounting and they go on Tuesdays to Mrs JL who is a Financial Controller of an MNC. On Thursdays, they go to the East Coast to learn from Mrs MC and Mrs JY who are experienced in managing organisation finances. Hopefully, they will be able to keep a set of books and help out with some admin at COSI Orphanage when they return.

The rest of the four boys spend their vocational days learning IT at a major hospital under the auspices of a Purdue Engineer, Ms Fitz. They had to get used to wearing "office attire" really quick and with some help from their host parents, they actually look quite the part. Basics like Power Point, Excel and Word are introduced to them, including communicating with the necessary evil - email (for better or for worse). VN who is keen on medical studies, had a clinical attachment, and he certainly looked very professional!

Feedback from the trainers are very positive and this is encouraging. It is also in these "on-the-job" settings that the Teens see, hear and experience English in action and that can only be a good thing as learning is definitely more than just memorizing new words.

No comments: