The National Training Service (SENA) has developed a program to raise the standards of English education in Colombia by recruiting foreign volunteers to teach SENA graduates,” El Tiempo reported Tuesday.
The 105 volunteers signed up so far are professionals and recent graduates between the ages of 22 and 28 from various English-speaking countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
General Director of the SENA Gina Parody told the Colombian newspaper that “these teachers will ensure that SENA students go up a notch in their English going from A1 to B1.”
“A1 to B1” refers to a guideline used to describe the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, meaning the students will advance from “beginner” to “intermediate.”
The program will divide the volunteers into three groups and place them in the Coffee, Bogota and Atlantic Coast regions of Colombia. There they will provide training for SENA students pursuing programs in Financial Services, Process Outsourcing Business, Hospitality and Tourism, Information Technology and Communications and Welding.
According Parody, “these volunteers are committed to delivering two hours of English in schools which, in the end, add up to 40 hours of work, distributed in the preparation and conduct of classes and in accompanying instructors.”
The program will reportedly benefit more than 5,000 students and instructors.
Sources
Voluntarios extranjeros reforzarán inglés en el Sena (El Tiempo)
