myEnglish course successfully trains 800 students
National, 27 May, 2016: The British Council, UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities completes one year of their unique blended learning myEnglish course. Since its pilot launch in Pune, 800 students have been trained till now and the course has been extended to two new centers in Mumbai and Bangalore.
The main aim of the programme is to provide students with a unique and one of its kind innovative blended course to develop English competency, as well as confidence in English, to enhance career prospects. The course creates a virtual learning environment that brings together the advantages of both digital learning and face to face classroom engagement. It is the only fully integrated taught blended English course on offer in India.
Allan Gemmel, Director, British Council India said, “The one year of myEnglish has been an amazing experience for us as well as the students. With 800 students completing the course and two new centers the year has proved successful. As a next step we plan on taking the course to two more cities and also hope that the number of students would triple this year.”
Student, “myEnglish has helped me in boosting my confidence as it has helped enhance my employment potential and English speaking skills. The best part about the course was personalized feedback from trainers which helped me learn better. The course comprised of real life skills which made it very interesting and engaging.”
myEnglish support the skill development need of our country. As per research conducted by the National Skills Development Agency indicates skills gaps both in functional, vocational and workplace skills as well as soft skills, with English featuring as an essential skill to complement core domain skills in over half of the 21 focus sectors such as IT and ITES, media, hospitality, beauty and wellness, retail, financial services and healthcare. British Council aims to enhance the employment potential and lifestyle aspirations of young people by providing access to quality English language learning opportunities within social, education, employability and workplace related contexts through this platform. The primary focus is to extend reach and access through use of digital channels and blended approaches.
The course is made for the 21st Century and it comprises real life skills for real like situations like work, travel, meeting new people etc. It helps students build their fluency, accuracy and confidence in English and receive practice and personalised feedback from their teacher in a variety of contexts. Students also learn really useful skills such as online learning, time management, netiquette, presentation skills, interview skills and group discussions.
In addition, British Council has created a vibrant student community with myEnglish with the introduction of alumni newsletter ‘myEnglish on the go’ on Christmas through which they continue to engage with the alumni and new students on the social media platforms, in particular, the Facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/EnglishInIndia. Digitally English webinar series was also launched in January 2016 and offered six webinars as part of series one; more than 2,000 people across India signed up to the webinars! With popular student demand the series #WebinarWednesdays will be brought back to learners across India from May 2016.
Notes to Editor:
The British Council has a world-leading reputation for providing high-quality English language learning opportunities worldwide, raising the global profile of UK expertise in English language teaching. The British Council through its state-of-the-art English language centre Chennai has taught English language courses to over 35000 learners since 2009. Students attribute the success of the program to the interactive ‘learning through doing’ approach employed in class thereby unlocking their school book learning to discover new confidence in their ability to communicate in English. The English language centre is part of the British Council’s strategy to improve access to high quality English language education thus helping India enhance its competitiveness in the global economy. The British Council has been teaching English for more than 75 years and has helped more than 100 million people in 100 different countries improve their English skills and build their confidence. We deliver English lessons in 82 teaching centres and partner premises in nearly 50 countries, reinforcing the UK’s position as the home of the English language.
About the British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide.
We are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter. We work in more than 100 countries and our 7,000 staff — including 2,000 teachers — work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year by teaching English, sharing the arts and delivering education and society programmes. The British Council was established in India in 1948. The British Council is recognised across India for its network of 9 libraries and cultural centres. We offer a range of specialised projects in arts, education, exams, English language and society to audiences across India and more than 100,000 members. We also provide access to English language training and learning for both students and teachers, offer UK qualifications in India and enable opportunities to study in the UK.
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