As you may know, the Simon Greenall Award celebrates the life and work of Simon Greenall OBE, teacher, trainer, materials writer, President of IATEFL, trustee of International House. The Award offers mentoring, promotional visibility and a grant to projects dedicated to building communities through learning English. It is sponsored by Macmillan Education, International House London and International House World Organisation.
The previous Simon Greenall Award winner was the Dau Dau Project run by Sirhajwan Idek and Nurazilah Othman of Keningau College in Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. Their work uses folk tales, such as storytelling, dance and puppetry, to bring together the different peoples of Malaysia and to help them understand each other better.
This year's winner is the Happy Teachers’ Mentorship Programme which has originated and is coordinated by Venice Irving. This programme offers six months coaching to help new teachers who lack developmental opportunities to improve their teaching and develop their careers. Annie Thompson, a DELTA trainer at International House London, will work as mentor with Venice at The Happy Teachers’ Mentorship Programme to develop and expand her own programme.
Annie states that “This is a very interesting project and I am really excited about it!”
Venice mentions that “Mentoring with Annie is progressing well. I have learned how to match participants, set clear communication channels and schedules, encourage reflection and feedback, and evaluate program outcomes with the mentees and mentors in the programme”
Although there is a main winner, here are a few highly commended projects that have also been featured in this years Simon Greenall Award as well
Meet the Street is a programme based in Nice and coordinated by Clare Catchpole, enabling English learners and local entrepreneurs to meet and engage in English. Clare is also having mentoring from Lucy Horsefield, Simon Greenall Award committee member.
Malaysia & Japan Collaboration: Education Beyond Borders originated and is coordinated by Emi Nakamura (Japan) and Ann Michelle (Malaysia); a partnership that links a class in Konosu City, Japan, with a class in Sabah, North Borneo, Malaysia, strengthening ties through ideas exchange, technology, teamwork and understanding.
UQ Voices Choir originated from Vicki Bos at the University of Queensland in Brisbane Australia. Through choral rehearsal and performance this thriving choir builds a lasting community as well as English language development for overseas students. This choir is open to anyone for the duration of their studies in Brisbane.