Alumni Highlight – E&C Project

Enjoy Languages

Dina María Castro Sotomayor – Barranquilla, Colombia

ENJOY LANGUAGES began in 2019 and continues to be implemented by Dina María Castro Sotomayor who joined Partners through PartnersCampus Uniatlántico in Barranquilla, Colombia. Based on the need to establish a bilingual context (Spanish-English) in the daily environment, the first phase of the ENJOY LANGUAGES program was designed to continue the initial or basic process of learning English as a foreign language. The program engages tools such as games, role plays and music that allow the reinforcement of vocabulary, reading, grammar, listening, speaking, writing, use of linguistic and communicative components according to personal information, routines, description of places and people, description of situations that are taking place at the moment of speaking in the English language, contextualizing the learner in environments that propose a real use of the English language and improve their bilingual training, it is projected in the future not only to encourage the process of teaching and learning English as a second language but also other foreign languages.

The main objective of the project is to carry out a basic English language teaching-learning process for vulnerable elementary and sixth grade students through playful workshops supported by didactic material and the adaptation of an English and music room.

Illustration 1: Start of project and workshops of the Enjoy Languages project at the Help Me Live Foundation 2018.

1. How did you approach the implementation of the project and what were some of the key steps?

The project execution was carried out in stages as follows:

Stage 1: Initially, a diagnosis was made of the target population through interviews, direct observation and the signing of parental permissions and commitments.
Stage 2: Consists of the preparation of workshops and didactic and recreational activities together with the members of the team and instructions are given to the volunteers.
Stage 3: It is the implementation of the Enjoy Languages project, carrying out the teaching and learning process of English teaching with didactic and playful workshops through arts and music, in addition to the adaptation of a language room, especially English and music.
Stage 4: Evaluation of the teaching and learning process of the Enjoy Languages project.

2. Can you tell us what difficulties you encountered during the implementation phase and how you solved them?

One of the main difficulties to start any project and this one is no exception is time and resources, time because you need the availability of the people involved before, during and after the implementation of the project, you also need financial resources because money is essential for an effective execution and human resources because without them it would not be possible to achieve the proposed objectives. In addition, it is also important to be consistent and creative with the project implementation strategies to keep the population interested and another challenge is that they can attend until the end and that is a good way to make them persevere.

For the implementation of the Enjoy Languages project during 2019 in the Fundación Ayúdame a vivir population in the Barranquillita neighborhood these were the main difficulties encountered:
- At the beginning of the project, the population’s acceptance was higher than the budgeted population, which at the beginning delayed the process and had to change to an active methodology.
- The time of the project was extended for different reasons such as holidays, rains and difficult access due to problems of neighborhood violence.
- Transportation was difficult because it is a vulnerable and difficult to access sector and because of time constraints.
- Some Venezuelan children who moved out of the city withdrew from the project.
- As well as conflicts due to age differences between 4th and 5th graders, who organized activities so that everyone could coexist peacefully in class.
- One of the biggest obstacles was that the children did not have study habits and were difficult because of their low level of English, but their commitment increased, which made it possible to carry out all the activities.

For the implementation of the Enjoy Languages project in 2024 in the IED Santamaria in the Santamaria neighborhood, these were the main difficulties encountered:
- It was projected to implement the Enjoy languages project in the IED Santamaria on Saturdays, therefore the difficulties encountered were the lack of financial and human resources for the implementation, in addition to the availability of time, for that reason, Although significant progress was achieved in the knowledge of the language through the teaching of English with songs, the ideal was that it would be carried out with all the physical, human and financial resources necessary for this purpose.

3. What were some of the most significant achievements or successes of the project?

The main achievements of the Enjoy Languages project during 2019 in the Fundación Ayúdame a vivir population in the Barranquillita neighborhood these were:
- At the beginning of the project, a survey was conducted to determine the knowledge that each child had, in which the children had a low level of English, in each topic explained there was a sheet of activities in which each child developed the topics raised.
- The children also practiced orally and practiced the different topics in English, which resulted in significant progress.
- They acquired more responsibility because most of them preferred to go to classes on Saturdays and not stay at home, because many of them live far away from the foundation, so they were constant during the whole process.
- Some students applied to high school and passed the English exam.
- An English room with the necessary tools to continue learning English at the Help Me Live Foundation was left adequate.

The main achievements of the Enjoy Languages project during 2019 at IED Santamaria in the Santamaria neighborhood were:
- The communicative competencies essential for learning a new language were developed because most of the students were able to participate in the topics addressed.
- The use of songs as a methodology for learning a new language was successful, easy and very didactic, most of the students were able to reproduce the songs of the topics addressed.
- Despite the difficulties encountered and the few resources available, significant progress was made in learning the language.

4. How has the project impacted the community since its implementation, and have there been any unexpected results?

In the community help me to live in 2018 when the project was implemented it had a significant impact on the students and the community, as their interest in learning English grew and they were constant, in addition to improving their level with respect to the diagnosis initially made, they managed to enter most of them to high school in another school, for their part within the foundation they were left with adequate space for language teaching and the tools to teachers to continue with the implementation of the same with new students.

5. Is the project still underway and, if so, how have you maintained its momentum?

During the first semester of 2024 the project was implemented autonomously and in a format adapted to be applied independently in the teaching-learning process of English at IED Santamaria. The methodology of the Enjoy Languages Project also had a great impact on the student community, since it facilitated the learning of the topics addressed.

Illustration 2: The English classroom for the Enjoy Languages project at the Help Me Live foundation 2018.

6. How have the members of the community participated in the project, and how has their participation contributed to its success?

The community is indispensable in the development of any project, in this case the parents are the ones who authorize their children to attend and favor the effective execution of the Enjoy Languages project.

7. Have you encountered any obstacles to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project, and how have you overcome them?

As already mentioned, the difficulty of any project is the management of physical, financial and human resources and that is why it is often difficult for it to last over time, but a good way to ensure its continuity is to somehow prepare the community, community leaders or other volunteers to invest their time and knowledge for the continuity of the project in the long term.

8. What advice would you give to others interested in starting a similar community project?

It is recommended to implement a similar community project, to have clear project objectives, to have a lot of order and perseverance that are essential to develop it effectively and to verify the progress or difficulties that may arise to solve them properly, but above all, to put into practice the motto of Partners of the Americas, serve, connect and change lives, because you must have a passion to serve, you must have connections with other organizations or communities that can help achieve the purpose so that together you can positively impact the target community.

9. Finally, what lessons have you learned from this experience that you consider valuable for others embarking on similar initiatives?

Impact vulnerable communities through the teaching of a new language in a didactic way that do not have a good level of English.
Learn to manage, design, implement and evaluate a community project to teach English through games, didactics and music.
Develop leadership, project management and team volunteering skills.
To be able to fulfill the Partners of the Americas’ motto of Connecting, Serving, and Changing Lives, generating personal, professional and collective satisfaction.