Abstract:

In information societies, turning digitally disengaged citizens into independent learners is a mission that requires a detailed strategy. In the city of Rio de Janeiro, where quality education is far from being universalised, a concrete initiative has been engaging in this fight since 2006. It is called EnglishWorks (EW) and it has been minutely designed by Associação Sequoia Foundation (Sequoia). EW seeks to transform the relation between socially vulnerable citizens and education, from failure to success. Thus, it promotes the learning of English as a foreign language via the use of technology with the purpose of building an autodidactic habit in students. With the collaboration of national and foreign volunteers, the program combines a blended methodology in which in-class and online educators emphasise on spoken and written English. EW program is designed to show immediate positive results, and hence, instantly help students feel more comfortable when using a second language with tourists and foreign entrepreneurs. At the same time, students practice key Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) expertise and gain the necessary non-ICT skills required to drive a person towards a self-directed learning process, such as, confidence, self-motivation and curiosity. EW programmes were launched with 160 students at two locations. By late 2014, they had grown to 8 locations with close to 1,800 students engaged to a 40-week course. They are delivered in peripheral areas of the city and the students, often in the age rage 14 to 80, usually come from low income families and do not face any fees when enrolling to the course. For instance, one location is at the heart of the Complexo do Alemão, the biggest shanty-town compound in Rio de Janeiro, now partially pacified. After three years of operation, and based on our own research, Sequoia believes that the EW’s methodology is indeed a successful one and ought to be encouraged. In this paper we portray our blended learning and teaching methodology.

Keywords:

Information and Communication Technologies, self-directed learning, English as a foreign language, blended learning methodology.