Change Lives with English Education

Summary

The English in Mind Institute is a free, Haitian led English school in Port au Prince, Haiti. The school teaches English as a vocational skill to help students find the long-term employment they need to build a secure future. The school has 150 students and also boasts a teacher training programme and networking facility to help students find work and develop essential job skills.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

In Haiti, 80% of the population does not have a steady, wage earning job. This means that the majority of Haitians scratch out a living based on improvised, insecure employment. As a result, more than half of Haitians live on less than $1.25 a day, leaving most unable to access education for themselves or their children which could help them break the cycle of poverty. Developing job skills is the key to creating new opportunities for a better tomorrow.

How will this project solve this problem?

English is considered a pre-requisite for working in business or even simply in a hotel or high-end restaurant. With English language skills, doors open to jobs and a route out of poverty. The school also provides teacher training for promising teaching and is developing a networking system to help qualified students access jobs.

Potential Long Term Impact

Our English classes focus not only on teaching the students vital English that will increase job opportunities and help them grow in the long term, but on empowering Haitian English teachers. Students often also use their skills to volunteer locally. For example, a group of our students teach English for free in local orphanages.

Project Message

For me English class is very good, and English is very important in my life... and it will change my lifeI think English is a passport Universal. If [I] speak English ... I will get a better job.
- W. Berthy Isma, Elementary Student

Resources