Basic English Trainer - Wadi Khaled

The majority of Syrian refugee youths in Lebanon face barriers to accessing employment and are offered few skills-building opportunities as an alternative. These youths need a safe learning space that will equip them with tools to tackle these challenges and eventually earn a safe income, thereby helping them to rebuild their self-confidence.

In Lebanon, English or French with Arabic are taught from early years in school and education is compulsory from the age of 6 to age 14, corresponding to the basic education cycle. In addition, and as a result of the Syrian crisis, the Accelerated Learning Program for Syrian children, incorporates Arabic, Math, Sciences and English (the second shift). Although foreign language instruction is another major barrier to the educational inclusion of Syrian refugees, it is also a barrier for Syrians accessing decent employment within Lebanon, as Lebanese enterprises’ competitiveness suffers from “gaps in terms of the ability to perform in a team, foreign language skills, professional communication skills, and problem solving skills," a World Bank 2012 reports concludes.

The training here described focuses on the learning of Basic English language.

English is the most commonly used language among foreign language speakers. Throughout the world, when people with different languages come together they commonly use English to communicate.Knowing English will render the person bilingual and increases his/her employability chances, particularly in Lebanon.

The need for a Basic English Training was equally requested by several jobseekers of the IRC’s livelihoods centre, and especially by employers who see it as a requirement in the market and not as an option.Based on the above, this training is proposed for youth Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees living in the Akkar – Wadi Khaled region.

2.Learning Objectives and Delivery Methodology

The Basic English training targets mainly absolute beginners in English who are considered as learners who have had no or very little English instruction.

By the end of the 84 training hours, trainees should be able to

• Understand basic everyday expressions and short, simple texts
• Engage in simple oral and written communication in order to provide and obtain Information
• Construct very basic and simple sentences
• Demonstrate limited control of essential grammatical structures

The 15 participants will be organized in one training group equally divided between Lebanese and Syrian females

3.Indicative Contents of the Training

The topics covered throughout the Training should include 3 main parts:

Make and respond to basic statements related to personal information:

• Ask questions in order to find out about a limited range of personal information and classroom routines
• Use a limited range of basic words, phrases and sentences related to classroom objects, activities and routines
• Respond to basic questions on classroom and daily routines • Use words and phrases to describe people and objects
• Contribute suitable words and phrases to pair, group and whole class exchanges
• Take turns when speaking with others in a limited range of short, basic exchanges

Express basic likes and dislikes:

• Make basic statements which provide personal information on a limited range of general topics
• Ask questions to find out about an increasing range of personal information
• Describe basic present and past actions on a limited range of general and curricular topics
• Use basic vocabulary for a limited range of general and curricular topics
• Give short, basic descriptions of people and objects
• Contribute a growing range of suitable words, phrases and sentences during short pair, group and whole-class exchanges
• Take turns when speaking with others in a growing range of short, basic exchanges • Relate very short, basic stories and events on a limited range of general and curricular topics.

Provide basic information about themselves and others at discourse level on a range of general topics:

• Ask questions to find out general information on a range of general and curricular topics
• Give an opinion at discourse level on an increasing range of general and curricular topics
• Respond, with limited flexibility, at both sentence and discourse level to unexpected comments on a range of general and curricular topics
• Organize talk at discourse level using appropriate connectors on a range of general and curricular topics
• Communicate meaning clearly at sentence and discourse level during pair, group and whole-class exchanges
• Keep interaction going in longer exchanges on a range of general and curricular topics
• Relate some extended stories and events on a limited range of general and curricular topics. 

4.Period and location of training delivery

The training should be delivered to 15 youth female trainees over a period of 12 consecutive weeks from 9 December 2018 to 8 March 2019 and over a period of 84 hours.

The training should be delivered within the Livelihoods Center in Wadi Khaled – Awadi.

5.Target audience and profile (age, literacy level)

The target group will consist of 15 trainees, Syrian and Lebanese youth females, who shall all be registered at the livelihoods center.

• The training will be delivered to mixed groups (Syrian and Lebanese and other nationalities), in an attempt to promote social cohesion among the two communities.
• Beneficiaries’ selection will be carried out by the livelihoods centre’s staff. The Contractor should meet the participants before the training and verify the suitability of the selected candidate trainees.

The criteria for selection will include:

• Youth women within the age range of 15 to 30
• Low literate or literate
• Either Lebanese, Syrian or other nationalities
• Interest and commitment to attend the whole training with an active participation
• Already registered at the Livelihoods Centre 

6.Pre- and post-training test requirements

The contractor will be entrusted with developing pre- and post-test questionnaires through which the level of knowledge and skills of the beneficiaries vis-à-vis the English level will be rated. The pre-test and post-tests are the same questionnaire delivered before the training starts and after the last session. The contractor will be expected to collect the data, to analyze the results of the pre and post-test questionnaires and to document them in a “Technical Training Report” to be submitted one week after the last training session to IRC.

7.Arrangements Expected from Contractor

The contractor is expected to ensure the following:

• Attend the entire contract period:
• The Training would run over 2 days of the week, with 3,5 hours per day, in the morning or after noon
• The trainer would finalize the Training across a period of 12 weeks for a total of 84 hours.
• Provide the trainees with handouts of the training material for distribution
• Certification of graduation, based on attendance and learning (measured against pre and post-tests)

In addition to the above, the trainer is expected to take the below into consideration:

• The beneficiaries’ drop-out is to be taken into account. For this reason, the Contractor must make sure that trainees meet the basic requirements to meaningfully engage in the training.
• Training hours must be decided in consultation with interested beneficiaries to maximize attendance and avoid drop outs; based on previous experience, IRC anticipates that selected candidates will be available to attend the training during the morning and afternoon.

8.Expected Deliverables

-One Basic English curriculum of the duration of 84 hours for the period of 12 weeks

-A facilitator’s guide, including:

§The training calendar with session titles;

§The Facilitator’s Guide organized by training sessions describing:

§Session topic

§Learning objectives,

§Duration of the session,

§List of key contents and talking points,

§Sequence of steps to deliver the session,

§Required materials

§The pre and post-training test questionnaires, to verify competences and learning

- Attendance sheets of each training day

- Delivery of the 24 training sessions of at least 3,5 hours each, over 12 weeks. In total, the Contractor will deliver 84 training hours over a period of 12 weeks.

- A training report including the results of pre- and post-tests of each trainee with a baseline and an end-line score, and recommendations on areas for improvement. The template for the training report is in Annex 1.

Annex 1: Table of Contents of the Training Report

Table of Contents

1. General Training Overview.. .

2. Training Objectives. .

2.1 Learning Objectives Statement.

2.2 Achieved Results. .

3. Workshop Delivery.

3.1 Overview of the workshop Agenda and Activities Day By Day.

3.2 Training Materials. .

3.3 Delivery Methodology. …………...

4. Participants’ Feedback. .

4.1 Summary of Informal Daily Evaluations.

4.2 Summary of the Final Evaluation Results (using questionnaire).

5. Lessons Learnt and Remarks.

5.1 Remarks. .

5.2 Recommendations for Future Trainings. .

6. Participants and Learning Achievements. .

Annexes. .

I. Pre- and Post- Training Test (Questionnaire).

II. Agenda of the Training .

III. Session plan..

IV. Participants’ Evaluation of the Training .

V. Findings of Participants’ Evaluation.. .