Update from the St Giles Educational Trust’s activities in 2017

The St Giles Educational Trust (SGET) is a registered charity that works in partnership with international charities, national and regional government bodies and education institutions in other countries, on projects which focus on the training of English language teachers in different parts of the world. These projects enable St Giles teachers and teacher trainers to share their experience with overseas teachers at primary and secondary schools and colleges.

Diane Mullen, Director of the SGET, has given us an insight into the amazing work undertaken by the Trust in 2017.

Last year, the Trust worked on projects in six countries:

Bangladesh
The Trust first began working with local teachers in Sylhet, Bangladesh in 2013. Last year, the same group of teachers completed the ICELT Module II. Some of these students are now working locally as teacher trainers with support from the Trust.

Jordan
The SGET collaborated again with the British Council on its ‘Language for Resilience’ initiative by assisting with the evaluation of the BC’s teacher education programme for the ‘Makani’ centres in Jordan. These centres work with children and young people who are not in formal education.

Cuba
The Trust also worked with the British Council in Cuba by running a workshop- based course for 20 university students who are about to graduate as teachers.

Peru
22 teachers employed by Fe y Alegria in Peru participated in a training course which was delivered by the Trust in early 2017. We are pleased to say that this was very well-received and a follow-up course to include observation of the teachers in their schools will take place in summer 2018.

Colombia
The SGET marked the start of a new strategic teacher training project in Colombia by agreeing to assess the English language skills of teachers and a pilot group of students at Universidad del Pacifico in the city of Buenaventura. As one of the country’s major ports and a hub for the cocaine trade, this city is subject to high levels of social disadvantage. The Trust is also working with Universidad de La Sabana, one of the country’s top higher education institutions, on both modules of the ICELT course. This assignment commenced in January 2018.

Russia
The SGET’s ICELT work in Russia continued with the delivery of ICELT courses for school teachers in Rostov-on-Don and Stavropol.