The Problem
In order for Haitian students to be marketable in Haiti's labor market, students need to be prepared to respond to the demands of the global economy. With the influx of international NGOs currently working in Haiti, we estimate that increased English proficiency will aid students in the job market. However, English education in Haiti currently needs improvement. Even though students may take years of English, the actual improvement is quite slow.
Our Solution
At first, we wanted to directly help students by running an English instruction seminar for interested students. However, we realized that we could reach more people if we could aid teachers in English instruction and they could reach interested students. Through the teachers, we seek to genuinely provide tools for empowerment to the youth of Haiti.
We will be facilitating a 3.5 day education conference where teachers from different schools will learn strategies to promot efficient, research-based English instruction with heightened proficiency results. The curriculum and lessons will be written and researched by our group members. Prospective topics include (but are not limited to) the following: effective lesson planning, strategies for addressing different learning styles and levels, technology incorporation, and best practices for reading comprehension and development.
We also hope to collaborate with Haiti's teachers as we identify teaching methods that are especially effective in Haiti. In this way, we can not simply impart classroom strategies, but we can gain insight for future work there as well.
