August 20, 1998 - World of English: New Peace Corps Volunteers Are Ready To Teach English

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Poland: Peace Corps Poland : The Peace Corps in Poland: August 20, 1998 - World of English: New Peace Corps Volunteers Are Ready To Teach English

By Admin1 (admin) on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 6:17 pm: Edit Post

New Peace Corps Volunteers Are Ready To Teach English



New Peace Corps Volunteers Are Ready To Teach English

New Peace Corps Volunteers
Are Ready To Teach English

In Radom on August 20, 1998, Mr. Daniel Fried, the United States Ambassador to Poland, greeted 89 new Peace Corps Volunteers by saying, "I'm especially proud to be here.." The Ambassador reminded the volunteers that President John F. Kennedy founded the U.S. Peace Corps in 1961. He reflected on Poland's recent history, stating that "...Poland was the first country in 1989 to step into unknown freedom out of communism. Today, that sounds like history and at that time I assure you it was very much a high risk game."

The Ambassador reminded the volunteers that "..We're helping this transformation. We're helping to prepare Poland to build the 21st century. We're helping to move the society, the country forward, move the region forward into a future which is truly better..." Mr. Fried's speech was often interrupted by applause from the new volunteers.

US Ambassador, Daniel Fried, greets the new Peace Corps Volunteers

Currently, the Peace Corps provides volunteers to over 90 countries worldwide to work in a variety of fields. The three goals which define the Peace Corps mission are:
- To help people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women;
- To help promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of the peoples served;
- To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of the American people.

In most cases Peace Corps volunteers serve a period of two years. In Poland, a new group of approximately 85 volunteers are trained each summer. It has been formally proposed that the Peace Corps will train a final group of volunteers in Summer 1999, with graduation to take place in June 2001.

The English teaching program began on September 30, 1990 with the arrival of 30 volunteers to teach in secondary schools and 23 volunteers to teach in teacher training colleges. As of September 1, 1998, 471 volunteer English teachers had completed their service in Poland - 329 secondary teachers, 130 teacher trainers and 12 English for Special Purposes (ESP) teachers.

The Small Business Program began in November 1990 with the arrival of 28 volunteers. As of September 1, 1998, 113 small business advisor volunteers had completed their service in Poland - 51 municipal advisors, 22 business trainers and 40 privatization volunteers. The program was closed in 1997.

The Environmental Program started with the arrival of 11 volunteers in November 1991. As of September 1, 1998, 65 environmental volunteers had completed their service. Since September 1, 1998, 121 English teaching volunteers and 43 environmental education volunteers have served in the three programs.

The goal of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at teacher training level is to train students in teacher training colleges to become linguistically and technically competent teachers of English.

Peace Corps Poland's entry into English teaching was greatly facilitated by a generous grant of $1,200,000 from Mr. Edward J. Piszek's Liberty Bell Foundation. The Polish Government has provided the English teaching volunteers with an unprecedented amount of support in the form of housing and other cash or in-kind contributions.

Volunteers in the environmental program provide grass-roots assistance to Polish non-governmental agencies, local government, municipalities, city landscape and national parks departments. In general terms, assistance covers the broad areas of environmental public awareness, organizational management, human resource development and institutional strengthening.

The World Of English wishes all the new volunteers continued success and the fulfilment of their wonderful commitment to help Poland by teaching English and solving environmental problems.
Good Luck!



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Story Source: World of English

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Poland

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