The Academy encompasses a range of programs, including five levels of English instruction and advanced courses. Classes are also tailored to the needs of Professionals, English Teachers and Young Learners. These programs benefit the Cetana’s Tech Center where students strengthen their comprehension through interactive computer programs. Students who participate in the English instruction offered in levels 1 through 5 have regular times during the week when have use the Tech Center.
Cetana English Proficiency Center (CEPC) –
For more than a decade we have been providing English language instruction, from Level 1 through Level 5. Classes are for students who have graduated from high school to prepare them for position in business or for studies at English-speaking universities. Our English language classes are strongly focused on developing speaking and listening skills within a critical thinking methodology. This means students are constantly interacting with their teachers and fellow students. Cetana keeps tuition at modest levels so that students from families with limited financial resources can participate.
Career Advancement Programs
These courses are directed to building a skills base for students who want to participate in the global opportunities provided with the opening of Myanmar to the West. Courses also prepare students who seek to study abroad. Classes are held in the afternoon, evening and on weekends.
Based on our experience in introducing courses that have tangible benefits in the marketplace or academia, Cetana has expanded its course offering to include several profession-related courses within the rubric of Business English. The courses are based on an English-speaking curriculum that is tailored to specific needs.
Business English courses have been given for employees at an UN agency, a bank and at the offices of a NGO. Courses for working professionals aim to help students become more adept in writing memos, letters, reports and other business documents. The course has been adapted to specialized career needs, for instance for students employed as tour guides or other tourist-related businesses, such as airlines, hotels and travel agencies. This course has 48 hours of instruction over a 2-month period.
Teacher Training
English teachers in Myanmar are handicapped by the poor quality of English instruction in government schools and the country’s decades-long isolation from the world community. Many of these teachers only rarely hear spoken English. In the classroom, focus is on the written word, with students dutifully duplicately in their workbooks the sentences written on the blackboard by their teachers. In short English teachers need to become fluent so they can add spoken English to their skill set.
Cetana’s well-regarded Teacher Training courses are designed to boost teachers’ fluency and their skills in teaching English. The full course has four individual segments that focus on enhancing a teacher’s skill in presenting Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. The 180-hour course spans 12 weeks. English teachers from both public and private schools have attended this course of study.
A modified form of this program is being carried out at the Sanda Rama Monastic School in Yangon and for teachers in the government school system in Kanpelet, in Chin State.
Young Learners
Kids in the second and seventh grades (ages eight to thirteen) now have their first chances to speak and write English. Classes are held for three hours on Saturday mornings and more often during school vacations. As young students gain in proficiency, Cetana hopes to add more advanced levels of English to keep pace with their progress. The goal is to have students fluent in English by the time they graduate from high school. All our programs incorporate an age-appropriate critical thinking component.
Classes are directed to students who come from families with limited financial resources. Tuition is paid by the class term but breaks down to about $1 per session.
Professionals in the field frequently stress that the earlier a child begins to learn a second language the easier it is to learn and that fluency will be achieved more rapidly. With this new program Cetana now has classes for young learners in three of its learning centers, in Kanpelet and Dawei and overflowing classes in Kyaing Tong.