20 June 2012— English in Action has launched a country wide English in Action Fair programme. The fairs started from 4th of June 2012 in Sunamgonj. The series of fairs titled as “Ananday Shiki Engreji- English in Action Mela-”will take place at 70 upazilas around the country within next few months.
The fairs are organized, as a part of the campaign for English in Action project with an aim to create awareness and to encourage the mass people to English language learning through the use of communicative language teaching, games, and use of technology and mobile.
These fairs aim to reach all section of people providing them with a unique and unprecedented opportunity to experience, access and use the English in Action methods and practices. The fairs will promote the message of English Learning through easy and entertaining way, an innovative way of supporting the pedagogical method of English Learning. The fairs are being organized with close collaboration of Uplazila Education Offices. The fairs are inaugurated in different upazilas by UNO, USEO, UEO and local community members.
Open for all, these fairs have information, education and entertainment booths to attract students, teachers, parents, farmers, businessmen, homemakers, boys and girls of all ages giving them the exposure to EIA classrooms, BBC Janala lessons, Learning through games, Audio Visual drama, and Teachers Professional Development materials (printed and audio) for Teachers’ along with many more activities.
Till date, over 60,000 students, teachers, young and adults participated in the fairs so far organized in 20 upazilas under Sylhet, Dhaka, Chittagong, Rangpur, Rajshahi and Khulna districts. The fairs look forward to reach more people around the remaining upazilas with the aim of “inspiring fearless English learning and Ananday shikhi Engreji”.
Oni a student of class 4 from Chatak Sunamgonj, Sylhet shares his experience of the fair as “I love the games and songs played in the classroom, I learnt a new song, an English song “goodbye song” to say goodbye to my friends in English”
Md. Abdul Wadud, Upazila Nirbahi Officer, Jagannathpur, Sylhet says:
English in Action fair is a different initiative in our country, as far as I know, it is the first of it kind fair in our country that we have witnessed. I would like to thank English in Action to give my upazila this kind of opportunity. I like the fair very much.
The Team Leader of English in Action, Mr. Pieter Feenstra says:
The objective of organizing these fairs is to create awareness and take forward the innovative and exciting practices of learning English to the wider community around Bangladesh. I believe English in Action fairs will instigate demand and interest in the students, their parents and the wider community for English learning and aware them of the innovativeness and successfulness of the project inside as well as outside the classrooms.
Gwen Hines, Country Representative, DFID says:
“These English in Action fairs are a great opportunity for anyone interested in learning English to come and explore innovative ways of learning English, and I hope also to have some fun. Being able to speak English well is essential for millions of people across Bangladesh, who wants to lift themselves out of poverty by finding a better job. Having more and better qualified English speakers is also very important for Bangladesh’s economic and social development. UK Aid, provided by the Department for International Development (DFID) is working closely with the Government of Bangladesh through the English in Action initiative, to train 80000 primary and secondary school teachers and approximately 14 million students by 2017 to enable them to speak better English, using the most effective, interactive and innovative methods – from classroom games to lessons you can download on your mobile phone.”
