Five Volunteers Prepare to Teach in Suai, East Timor

July 1st, 2009 patjessen Posted in English Language Project, Friends of Suai News, Volunteers to teach in Suai 3 Comments »

Five Australian teachers of English language are volunteering to go to Suai, East Timor to

provide intensive four week training to English teachers in September 2009.

The City of Port Phillip sponsored community group Friends of Suai, have organised an

orientation over the next eight weeks to prepare the teachers for working in a developing

country with sessions on history, culture lifestyle and language.

Friends of Suai received a request from English teachers in Suai for the training and the

program has been endorsed by national government to provide an appropriate curriculum

suitable for the teachers. The Community Centre in Suai, supported by the City of Port Phillip

will host the teachers during their stay.

“The City of Port Phillip is committed to a ten year partnership to help rebuild Suai, which

suffered some of the worst excesses after the pro-independence vote in 1999,” said Mayor

Frank O’Connor. “Life is still difficult in the new nation but together we are making things

happen,” he said.

Friends of Suai Committee member Desleigh Kent and Jenny Green, a retired teacher will

share the role of team leaders on the upcoming trip. They have both visited Suai and are

looking forward to this new challenge and adventure.

We have a wonderful group of teachers with a wealth of experience in teaching in China,

Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma all with insight and development experience,” said Desleigh.

We are particularly pleased to represent Port Phillip at the 10 year commemoration of the

Suai massacre in September this year. It will be a significant time to be in Suai and an

important act of friendship,” he said.

The teachers will pay their own fares and expenses to go to East Timor and Friends of Suai

will provide accommodation transport and teaching resources whilst they are in country.

Most people speak at least three languages in East Timor with Tetun being the language

generally understood across the country. Both English and Portuguese are compulsory

languages in secondary schools and English is the international language that many Timorese

are keen to learn.

The teachers will start their orientation training on Friday 26 June at the St Kilda Town Hall.




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English teachers to go to Suai 2009

June 29th, 2009 jen Posted in Education, English Language Project, English Teachers going to Suai, Friends of Suai News, Press Releases 1 Comment »

Five English Language teachers for Suai 2009

Five English Language teachers for Suai 2009

It is with much pleasure and excitement that the Friends of Suai announce the team of Volunteers who will conduct the pilot Intensive English Language Program in Suai, Timor Leste in September 2009.

Congratulations to our team members: Jenny Green, Jennifer Jaensch Desleigh Kent, Helen Nankervis and Barbara Selvay. The friends of Suai would like to thank all those who indicated their interest in joining the team this year. The standard of applications was impressive as was the willingness of people to fund their own participation.
Other ways of helping: English Language text books and dictionaries

There is a need for appropriate teaching resources or class sets to be sent to Suai teachers. Can you help? Talk to Pat if you think you can help in some way.

Hosting a homestay for Timor English language students at Taylors College. Starting September 2009 for 20 weeks or part thereof, there are 7 students from various organisations in Timor. The have a rent allowance for homestay.

If you would like to remain on the occasional email group for Friends of Suai? Let Pat know: pjessen@portphillip.vic.gov.au .

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Booksale to Fund Suai Library –

May 22nd, 2008 jen Posted in Booksale to fund new library 2008, Friends of Suai News, Library Project Comments Off on Booksale to Fund Suai Library –

Pat Posing for Suai :)

BOOK SALE TO FUND A SCHOOL LIBRARY IN SUAI

2-6pm Wed. May 28th – St Kilda Library

Pat Jessen, Co-ordinator of the friends of Suai has been working hard on many fronts. She and Desleigh of the Friends of Suai Committee are travelling to Suai at the same time as me and that always means a massive amount of organising and consultation. This time it’s more work because Pat’s February trip was cancelled when the news arrived in Darwin while she was there, that Horta had been shot. Pat was advised by our friends to postpone her trip until security stabilised.

Publicity is just one of the millions of things Pat does in her time off for Suai. The good news for Suai is the Friends of Suai have agreed to raise $60,000 for a library for the school in Suai . Most of the kids still don’t get near a book and the teachers are desperate so – YayH! So get along and save the world by buying re-cycled books and help the kids of East Timor at the same time by directing the money to books for them. This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest single project funded by FOS and it reflects over seven years of work establishing a good working relationship with a team of colleagues in Suai who prioritise their community’s needs. This has come a long way since the first initiative the Truckloads of East Timor Campaign when energy from the Pt Phillip Community was in surplus without a considered means of distribution. (Doco to be posted before the end of the year.) Now the energy needs to be re-ignited because the means of consultation and distribution are in place.

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