(721) FROM TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE TO ENGAGING CITIZENS INTO A SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING PROCESS: ENGLISHWORKS PROGRAM IN RIO DE JANEIRO

摘要

In information societies, turning digitally disengaged citizens into independent learners is a goal thatrequires a detailed strategy. In Rio de Janeiro an initiative has been engaged in achieving this goalsince 2011. It is called EnglishWorks (EW) and it has been designed by the AssociaCao SequoiaFoundation (Sequoia). EW seeks to transform the relationship between socially vulnerable citizensand education, to turn failure into success. It promotes the use of technology to facilitate theacquisition of English as a foreign language and build an autodidactic habit in students. With thecollaboration of national and foreign volunteers, the program uses a blended methodology in which inclassand online educators emphasise spoken English. EW is designed to show immediate positiveresults and quickly help students feel more comfortable when using a second language with touristsand foreign entrepreneurs. At the same time, students develop key Information and CommunicationTechnologies (ICT) expertise and gain the necessary non-ICT skills required to drive a person towardsa self-directed learning process. They improve their confidence, self-motivation, curiosity, action,decision making, and problem solving skills. EW classes were launched with 160 students at twolocations in 2011. By late 2014, it had grown to 8 locations with close to 1,800 students enrolled in a40-week course. Classes are delivered in peripheral areas of the city and the students, aged from 14to 80, usually come from low income families. The course is free. One class location is at the heart ofthe Complexo do Alemao, the biggest shanty-town in Rio de Janeiro. Based on our own research andthree years of operation, Sequoia believes that EW's methodology is achieving its goals and ought tobe encouraged. In this paper we outline our blended learning and teaching methodology.