How a Pandemic brought together an Indian Teacher with a Congolese Student in Cyprus
Project Phoenix is excited to announce the launch of our latest project, Professional English Language Training and Mentoring in Cyprus, supported by the European Students Union through the Together Moving Forward program. This project is a continuation of our survival English Classes conceptualized during the first lockdown connecting asylum seekers with ELT professionals in India in collaboration with Caritas Cyprus.
In a bid to equip students in Cyprus under our care with a better chance at integrating with their new community, Project Phoenix has taken the initiative to provide beneficiaries with professional English classes. Below is a testimony of how well the program has progressed so far. We spoke to the Project Lead, beneficiaries of the project, the funder and teachers.
Fanchon Lefevre, the program coordinator at Together Moving Forward who are funding the project says “A member of the TMF selection committee who highly supported the project commented that language is the most important weapon needed in order to integrate and this is true. Access to basic services, building friendships and connections with the host country etc. comes through languages. Project Phoenix is very innovative in a way that the team is not only proposing tailor made language classes for people who recently arrived in Cyprus, but proposed an online English class with professional teachers in a period of time where opportunities to learn new things and connect with new people are sadly rare due to the COVID-19 pandemic but are very much needed. For the students to use smartphones to attend the classes is brilliant and will help them develop new skills and hopefully long lasting connections with the Project Phoenix team and their teachers”
Pierre Christian is one of the participants: “At the end of the program I expect social and professional skills that will allow me to get better job opportunities. I believe this program will give me the ability to help other people who have not had the opportunity I had to take part in the program to learn Basic English. Our fellow refugees like the Congolese are struggling with English and I hope to help them. If you have good English skills your chances of getting developmental opportunities are higher. I think this program is very serious, this is only my third week but I can already present myself better. The teachers in the program are very diligent and make sure that the students are on time and attend every class. They also give us lots of homework and it is upon us to finish everything before we begin the next lesson. I think it is good for the teachers to be strict with us or else we won’t learn. My teacher sent me 4 books for vocabulary and grammar. I have to read everyday which has incredibly improved my grammar. I’m very happy about the program because before I began I would only hang out with people who speak French, I’m confident that after lockdown I’ll be able to make more friends from various backgrounds now that I know I’ll be able to speak to them. Thanks to the program I now have the confidence to speak, I’m not ashamed to speak English.”
One of the teachers, Havovi Kolsawalla, hopes that the participants they are coaching improve their efficiency and have better opportunities at their jobs. “It is important that they do their homework and speak to other people in English. This is a worthwhile program to help participants get on their feet. The teachers have to be stern and the participants have to work hard. They are going in the right direction. Before the lessons were quite ad-hoc, but now we have a syllabus for teaching. All the lessons depend on the participant’s proficiency that will help them when they get employment. The program is heading in the right direction by setting some sort of penalty for students who aren’t serious which will help them learn better. I wish and hope that they had at least more time for lessons, at least 2or 3 times a week. This would make it easier for them to learn.”
Bhavna Gupta, another teacher within the program comments: “I hope the program helps the students carry on with their daily routine. I’m pleasantly surprised with their comprehension skills. They are self motivated and we give them homework so they can practice during their free time and become more eloquent. The program is great because it is a combination of not just English classes but also mentoring for example we are training them on how to write proper CVs. Knowing their backgrounds has also helped me know how to help them with classes. I’m happy to be part of the program and help the participants settle into the countries they are in.”
Holly McCamant, Training and Development Lead Project Phoenix, says, “For me, it’s striking just how high the demand for the courses are. There were a total of sixty-five applicants who filled out the form. This does not include the people who emailed me but didn’t manage to fill out the form, or the endless comments on Caritas’ Facebook post about it — not everyone who wanted to participate read the part about the instructions to email me. For now, the demand far outstrips the supply. I’m really hoping we can get more funding, so we can reach more people.”
She adds that, “Now, we are a month into our three month program, and so far there are no significant issues, which is really exciting. In our first English class program, Survival English, attendance was a major issue. So far, attendance has not been a major issue. This is likely due to several factors, most importantly the students receive SIM cards with data, so Internet connection isn’t an issue. We also really looked for applicants who would be able to handle the commitment and show up on time, as the application process ensured they could schedule an online meeting and show up on time. The mentoring sessions are also important, as I’m checking in with them twice a month, and they know they have someone on their side. It also doesn’t hurt that Cyprus is under lockdown, and the students literally have nowhere better to be.”
According to Holly, the classes appear to be going really well, from what she’s heard in the mentoring sessions. There’s lots of improvement in the English of some students. She says, All of the students are happy with their teachers and their fellow classmates, if they have one. She adds that, within the project we are also working on creating their CVs during the mentoring sessions, which is going well. She concludes.
Tiziana Heck, the Projects Lead at Project Phoenix, says, “I’m very thankful to have been part of Project Phoenix’s online English classes program for refugees and migrants from inception and thus being able to see its growth. Seeing the pilot project, in support with Caritas Cyprus develop into the current professional online English and mentoring program brings me joy. Seeing so many teachers eager to volunteer their hours to teach and also learn from their students has been wonderful to see. I value the opportunity to coordinate a project which spans from various continents, where I can connect student from Cyprus in touch with teachers from Indiaworking closely with my fellow project coordinator Holly who is in the US and is leading the project and the mentoring sessions has been very rewarding, despite some of our very interesting communication hours due to the time difference between the Netherlands and Minnesota. As a student myself, I’m grateful to be in touch with so many other students living in Cyprus who seek to improve their English despite the current situation which remains challenging. The asylum seekers who have come to Cyprus have a lot of potential to do good things here. Many of them had good jobs in their former countries and were trying to improve the situation there. It is a loss for their former countries and we are trying to improve the situation there. It’s a loss for the countries they left, but a gain for Cyprus. If they choose a different approach than the current one.”
If you would like to know more about this project or about Project Phoenix, please get in touch:
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https://www.project-phoenix.eu
contact@project-phoenix.eu
