 | |  | |  | |  |
Introduction
The importance of learning English cannot be overstated in an increasingly interconnected world which is becoming a
globalized village. Learning of children to communicate in English is important to enter professional world and
succeed in life by participating in socioeconomic activities at national and international levels. Working knowledge of
English language can create many avenues in local and international markets.
Considering the importance of this aspect the Sri Lanka Indian Community Council approached the Ministry of
Industries and Education – Tamil of Central Province and shown its interest to support a selected group of students
from the secondary schools in Central Province to develop and enhance the public English speaking skills and
leadership qualities at micro level. In order to ensure the success of the programme, the participative schools and the
student participants were selected to a manageable size of 8 and 40 respectively.
Programme Objective
The objective of the crash programme of Development of Public English speaking skills and Leadership qualities is as
follows:
Programme Coverage
Altogether eight secondary schools were identified and included in the programme as participative schools in Hatton
and Nuwara Eliya Education zones of Nuwara Eliya District. Table 1 illustrates the coverage by schools in the
programme.
Table 1: Programme Coverage by schools, students and teachers
The importance of learning English cannot be overstated in an increasingly interconnected world which is becoming a
globalized village. Learning of children to communicate in English is important to enter professional world and
succeed in life by participating in socioeconomic activities at national and international levels. Working knowledge of
English language can create many avenues in local and international markets.
Considering the importance of this aspect the Sri Lanka Indian Community Council approached the Ministry of
Industries and Education – Tamil of Central Province and shown its interest to support a selected group of students
from the secondary schools in Central Province to develop and enhance the public English speaking skills and
leadership qualities at micro level. In order to ensure the success of the programme, the participative schools and the
student participants were selected to a manageable size of 8 and 40 respectively.
Programme Objective
The objective of the crash programme of Development of Public English speaking skills and Leadership qualities is as
follows:
- to develop and enhance English Communication skills and Leadership qualities among the identified secondary
level students from the selected schools in Nuwara Eliya District.
Programme Coverage
Altogether eight secondary schools were identified and included in the programme as participative schools in Hatton
and Nuwara Eliya Education zones of Nuwara Eliya District. Table 1 illustrates the coverage by schools in the
programme.
Table 1: Programme Coverage by schools, students and teachers
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Programme Partners
This programme was a joint venture of Sri Lanka Indian Community Council, Rotary Club of Colombo East and
Ministry of Industries and Education-Tamil, Central Province. The members of Colombo Toastmasters Club conducted
the sessions of the programme for fifteen consecutive Saturdays starting from 18 June, 2011.
Implementation strategy
In an acquaint workshop conducted for principals of the aforesaid schools in May 2010, a comprehensive
implementation mechanism was devised with specified timeline (See Programme Implementation Grid). Principals of
participative schools agreed to select the students from their secondary classes with gender balanced and assign a
suitable English Teacher to accompany the students for the sessions of the programme and to facilitate them in
activities of the programme during week days at schools. This is essential to strengthen the connectivity of the
sessions which are scheduled to be conducted in consecutive Saturdays within the timeline. Furthermore, this would
enable the students for preparedness and achieve success in the programme.
This programme was a joint venture of Sri Lanka Indian Community Council, Rotary Club of Colombo East and
Ministry of Industries and Education-Tamil, Central Province. The members of Colombo Toastmasters Club conducted
the sessions of the programme for fifteen consecutive Saturdays starting from 18 June, 2011.
Implementation strategy
In an acquaint workshop conducted for principals of the aforesaid schools in May 2010, a comprehensive
implementation mechanism was devised with specified timeline (See Programme Implementation Grid). Principals of
participative schools agreed to select the students from their secondary classes with gender balanced and assign a
suitable English Teacher to accompany the students for the sessions of the programme and to facilitate them in
activities of the programme during week days at schools. This is essential to strengthen the connectivity of the
sessions which are scheduled to be conducted in consecutive Saturdays within the timeline. Furthermore, this would
enable the students for preparedness and achieve success in the programme.
Programme Implementation Grid
Session 1 18.6.2011 Session 5 16.7.2011 Session 9 13.8.2011
Session 2 25.6.2011 Session 6 23.7.2011 Session 10 20.8.2011
Session 3 02.7.2011 Session 7 30.7.2011 Session 11 27.8.2011
Session 4 09.7.2011 Session 8 06.8.2011 Session 12 30.8.2011
Session 1 18.6.2011 Session 5 16.7.2011 Session 9 13.8.2011
Session 2 25.6.2011 Session 6 23.7.2011 Session 10 20.8.2011
Session 3 02.7.2011 Session 7 30.7.2011 Session 11 27.8.2011
Session 4 09.7.2011 Session 8 06.8.2011 Session 12 30.8.2011
Failing to participate in the acquaint workshop of Sri Pada College, Hatton and late submission of participants’ list of
St. Gabriel’s Balika Maha Vidyalaya, Hatton resulted to increase the participants from the rest of the schools to
maintain the number of participants as 40. The readjusted names from these 6 schools accounted to 45 and the
names were accepted to encourage the participation of young students.
The programme was successfully launched on 18 June 2011 at Hatton with the full participation of participative
schools, Education Officers of Central Province, Key members of SLICC and the Elect President, Key members of
Rotary Colombo East and Key members of the Toastmasters Club, Colombo under the guidance of Toastmaster Mr.
A. Balraj. After the inauguration session of the programme, participants were sub divided into two groups as one for
the teachers and the other for students. Toastmasters were encaged with these two groups to assess English
communicative abilities of the participants through discussions, individual and group activities. Although the level of
English communicative abilities varied among the participants, a higher degree of eagerness to improve English
communicative skills among the participants has once again been reinforced by the right choice of the programme at
right time.
Monitoring & Evaluation
Regularity in attendance and the effective participation in the sessions are two components which determine the
attainment of every student in relation to desired outcome of the programme. Originally it was decided by both the
funding and implementation agencies to conduct 12 sessions of the programme for students and teachers those who
accompany students. However, the mid-term review of the programme led to extend the programme by two more
sessions in order to ensure the quality of the programme.
In the case of attendance of the participants, the percentage of average attendance stands as 71.6% and lies
between a minimum of 6.7 and to a maximum of 100 percent. Standard Deviation of the distribution is 27.93. The
average attendance is below than that of 80 percent of expected level in attendance.
Learning outcomes
The expected learning outcomes of the Public Speaking in English and Leadership Programme would be:
In accordance with the assessment of the performance of students during the courses of the sessions carried out by
the toastmasters has revealed a tremendous improvement in 12 students. Another 6 students are being able to
progress through their lower level of performance. This assessment also reveals that the performances of the male
students are much lower than that of female students. This trend is evident in various other recent studies carried out
by the Information Centre for Education-Tamil and Culture of Ministry of Education-Tamil, Central Province. These
studies were focused on a time series analysis of performance of students by gender in public examinations such as
Grade 5 Scholarship Examination, GCE (OL) and GCE (AL) Examinations.
Findings and Recommendations
The programme has created awareness among the participative school students, teachers as well among the
authorities of the Education Ministry and Departmental officers that there is a need to address the demand for public
speaking in English and youth leadership at Provincial and National levels. The interest shown by the members of the
SLICC, members of Rotary Colombo East, members of the Toastmasters Club, authorities of the Provincial Ministry of
Industries and Education – Tamil in Central Province and officers of Hatton Education Zone illustrates that the
programme has created a two-fold demand as follows:
and
The main constraints of the programme were the irregularity in attendance and the low level of competency in English
linguistic skills of the participants. Despite this the toastmasters who facilitated the programme as Resources Persons
have achieved notable results. However much more have to be done in terms of sustainability.
Sri Lanka Indian Community Council, Rotary Colombo East and Colombo Toastmasters are expected to extend their
services at district level throughout the Central Province and make a valuable contribution to address the problems in
public speaking in English of so many young people.
The process to form a Toastmasters group is to be initiated at local level in Hatton area to sustain the achievement of
fifteen weeks of tireless efforts of Colombo Toastmasters Club, Sri Lanka Indian Community Council, Rotary Club of
Colombo East and the Ministry of Industries and Education-Tamil of Central Province. Above all, the commitment and
involvement of the toastmasters who have traveled a long way from Colombo to conduct the sessions smoothly in a
planned manner in spite of their busy schedules have created a momentum for a change among the primary
stakeholders of the progarmme. This enables environment is to be sustained at local level as far as possible.
St. Gabriel’s Balika Maha Vidyalaya, Hatton resulted to increase the participants from the rest of the schools to
maintain the number of participants as 40. The readjusted names from these 6 schools accounted to 45 and the
names were accepted to encourage the participation of young students.
The programme was successfully launched on 18 June 2011 at Hatton with the full participation of participative
schools, Education Officers of Central Province, Key members of SLICC and the Elect President, Key members of
Rotary Colombo East and Key members of the Toastmasters Club, Colombo under the guidance of Toastmaster Mr.
A. Balraj. After the inauguration session of the programme, participants were sub divided into two groups as one for
the teachers and the other for students. Toastmasters were encaged with these two groups to assess English
communicative abilities of the participants through discussions, individual and group activities. Although the level of
English communicative abilities varied among the participants, a higher degree of eagerness to improve English
communicative skills among the participants has once again been reinforced by the right choice of the programme at
right time.
Monitoring & Evaluation
Regularity in attendance and the effective participation in the sessions are two components which determine the
attainment of every student in relation to desired outcome of the programme. Originally it was decided by both the
funding and implementation agencies to conduct 12 sessions of the programme for students and teachers those who
accompany students. However, the mid-term review of the programme led to extend the programme by two more
sessions in order to ensure the quality of the programme.
In the case of attendance of the participants, the percentage of average attendance stands as 71.6% and lies
between a minimum of 6.7 and to a maximum of 100 percent. Standard Deviation of the distribution is 27.93. The
average attendance is below than that of 80 percent of expected level in attendance.
Learning outcomes
The expected learning outcomes of the Public Speaking in English and Leadership Programme would be:
- Increased self-confidence
- Increased English speaking and evaluating skills
- Increased meeting management skills
- Increased skills to co-operate, solve problems and work in teams
- Increased leadership skills
In accordance with the assessment of the performance of students during the courses of the sessions carried out by
the toastmasters has revealed a tremendous improvement in 12 students. Another 6 students are being able to
progress through their lower level of performance. This assessment also reveals that the performances of the male
students are much lower than that of female students. This trend is evident in various other recent studies carried out
by the Information Centre for Education-Tamil and Culture of Ministry of Education-Tamil, Central Province. These
studies were focused on a time series analysis of performance of students by gender in public examinations such as
Grade 5 Scholarship Examination, GCE (OL) and GCE (AL) Examinations.
Findings and Recommendations
The programme has created awareness among the participative school students, teachers as well among the
authorities of the Education Ministry and Departmental officers that there is a need to address the demand for public
speaking in English and youth leadership at Provincial and National levels. The interest shown by the members of the
SLICC, members of Rotary Colombo East, members of the Toastmasters Club, authorities of the Provincial Ministry of
Industries and Education – Tamil in Central Province and officers of Hatton Education Zone illustrates that the
programme has created a two-fold demand as follows:
- The propagation of social skills among young people who are in the school and out-of-school so
that they can act effectively as models to others in the communities;
and
- The spread of English communicative skills to enable young people to address public meeting well
in English.
The main constraints of the programme were the irregularity in attendance and the low level of competency in English
linguistic skills of the participants. Despite this the toastmasters who facilitated the programme as Resources Persons
have achieved notable results. However much more have to be done in terms of sustainability.
Sri Lanka Indian Community Council, Rotary Colombo East and Colombo Toastmasters are expected to extend their
services at district level throughout the Central Province and make a valuable contribution to address the problems in
public speaking in English of so many young people.
The process to form a Toastmasters group is to be initiated at local level in Hatton area to sustain the achievement of
fifteen weeks of tireless efforts of Colombo Toastmasters Club, Sri Lanka Indian Community Council, Rotary Club of
Colombo East and the Ministry of Industries and Education-Tamil of Central Province. Above all, the commitment and
involvement of the toastmasters who have traveled a long way from Colombo to conduct the sessions smoothly in a
planned manner in spite of their busy schedules have created a momentum for a change among the primary
stakeholders of the progarmme. This enables environment is to be sustained at local level as far as possible.
Heartiest thanks to the following people and organizations on successful completion of the Public Speaking and Youth Leadership Programme: Sri Lanka Indian Community Council: for their valuable contributions: Mr. L. Vijayanathan Mr. S. Karunakaran Mr. Sellakumar Kandasamy Dr. M. Ramasubbu Rotary Club of Colombo East: Mr. A.P. Jeyaraj and the club members for their financial assistance and worthy support. Colombo Toastmasters Club: for their timely assistance and contributions towards the programme. Toastmasters International Director: Mr. A. Balraj for his guidance and counseling along with all the Toastmasters. Ministry of Industries and Education - Tamil Hon. Minister Anushiya Sivarajah Secretary to the Ministry Mr. K. P. Karunadasa Private Secretary to the Hon. Minister Mr. C. Navaratne Asst. Secretary to the Ministry Ms. A. R. Sathyendra Addl. Provincial Director of Education Mr. P. S. Sathees Centre Coordinator of Sida Centre for Education Development Mr. K. Chithravel |
| Public Speaking in English and Youth Leadership Programme |