Introduction

English Connects is a new programme funded by the FCO and British Council and managed by the British Council. It aims to:

• connect the UK to young people aged 18-35 and the future generation of leaders in francophone Africa through English
• improve the quality of English language learning and teaching and facilitate digital literacy, thereby creating opportunities to enable young people fulfil their potential while improving their employability, resilience and networks
• increase UK visibility across the region, improving UK access and making the UK more ‘relevant’ to senior policy makers and influencers.

Working with governments, the private sector, young entrepreneurs, future leaders, educators and learners in formal and non-formal education, the programme will reach and impact a wide audience through face to face interaction, media and digital channels and will connect UK ELT providers, institutions, media and educational technology agencies with the targeted countries.

The opportunity

To work through the British Council with English Clubs in Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea (Conakry), Senegal, Cameroon and possibly Angola to deliver a series of one-day workshops in each country for selected leaders and teachers who run English Clubs. In most countries, this is likely to be three workshops.

The one-day training session for each group of club leaders will demonstrate how the clubs can make effective use of the existing English Club toolkits piloted by the English Connects project last year, encourage the maximisation of participant talking time via learner-centred communicative activities, and explore how clubs could access further content from the British Council free digital English learning resources (http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/ and http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/) and adapt it for their local context.

For the fragile countries of Mali and Niger, the supplier would be expected to submit a detailed and thorough training plan for either the English Teachers Association (ELTA) or a British Council trainer to deliver and support the clubs.

Please see below for the RFP schedule: