Rafiqul's method of teaching English
A teacher in Kurigram's Rajarhat upazila has been teaching spoken English to people from all walks of life at his own initiative using own method for the last five years.
In an attempt to spread his work, forty-eight-year-old Rafiqul Islam, son of late Abdul Hamid of Mushrat Nahenda village in Rajarhat upazila, has established a small institution named 'Alternative English Language Initiative (AELI)' at Kashem Bazar in the upazila.
Alongside the main centre at Kashem Bazar, Rafiqul, an assistant teacher (English) at Deutirhat High School in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, runs his activities with 50 trainers, trained by him, and through three sub-centres, one at Kurigram town and the two others at Rajarhat upazila headquarters.
Prior to his joining as a schoolteacher, Rafiqul learnt basic English from three local English teachers--Phoni Bhusan Roy, Monir Uddin and Yousuf Ali.
Later, after joining his school job in 1993, he took training on English language teaching at different institutions, including British Council, in 2014.
He has also been serving as a Master Trainer of Pace Programme (English) under a project run by NGO Brac since 2008.
Besides, Rafiqul was a Master Trainer (English) of FM Method Programme in 2006 and a teachers' facilitator under EIA (English in Action) Programme of British Council in 2010.
AELI teaches its learners through six modules on short technique and 12 fixed classes for each module with each class of two hours duration.
Rafiqul's institution has already taught over one hundred students and professionals.
AELI authority receives Tk 800 as fees from students who come from urban areas, and Tk 600 from students of rural areas.
The institution also conducts classes on Friday free of cost.
Talking to this correspondent, Rafiqul said, “I found that almost all the students and job seekers in the district are weak in English. As a result they cannot reach their expected destinations.”
“I first started teaching English with a few students at my house and later with the increasing interest of learners, formed AELI,” Rafiqul said.
“Our main goal is to make the students confident and create thirst for learning English language and remove their phobia of English by teaching the language with fun. We mainly emphasise on use of English in daily life and make the participants more creative, avoiding memorisation,” he said.
He and his brother have donated 10 decimals of land for the language academy and constructed a tin-shed house with five rooms, Rafiqul said, adding that he wants to establish AELI as a bigger institution in future.
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