ESP Project

INTRODUCTION
The English Speaking Program (ESP) is a dynamic project under the Education Commission of Willing Hearts International (WHI). Willing Hearts International is an association, registered in N’djamena Chad, whose goal, among others, is to empower and transmit the spirit of self worth right from the grass root. In trying to realize this goal, the ESP (English Speaking Program) was conceived. On the 7th of June 2004 the ESP project was launched.
This program was developed to meet the growing desire of many Chadians of various ages, economic status and educational backgrounds who wish to learn to speak the English language. The universality of the English language cannot be over emphasized. English is an international language with many advantages for those who learn to speak the language, a fact that many Chadians have come to realize. Having said that, we know that Chad being a French speaking country, the task ahead of us is great. We acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of many Chadians who have expressed a desire to learn English and have begun doing that through several avenues such as BBC, local English programs, clubs etc.

CHAD
It is evident that Chad is facing a new kind of revolution in its history, which ultimately will launch her into the Global family. The role that each Chadian shall play will be determined by how much information he or she possesses. It is through this avenue that we intend to offer many young Chadians the opportunity to comfortably place themselves in this information driven society, through this program. It is a known fact that there has been some divergence in people’s opinion when it comes to teaching and learning English language. Some focus more on grammar, others prefer occasions to practice orally their English, while others desire to meet and interact with native speakers of the English language. Therefore, ESP was designed to meet such desires and concerns along with others by attempting to create an English-speaking environment. However, the ESP is primarily designed to cover two vital areas: 1) To teach English as a language 2) To teach the culture behind the language.
In view of the latter aspect, certain days in the program have been set aside for cultural activities and the invitation of certain individuals who will give lectures from time to time on a variety of topics. We have also sought out partnerships with other English programs, clubs, and individuals to realize this goal. We also desire to involve English-speaking guest in Chad who are willing to share about their home countries, their work in Chad and their feelings about Chad and Chadians. These visits will open doors for cultural exchanges and mutual respect and understanding. Therefore the ESP objectives can be summed up as such:
1) Empowering the students with the skills that will give them access to a broader range of information.
2) To bridge the cultural differences particularly between our foreign friends and Chadians.
3) To create team spirit within and among the students here and beyond.
4) Finally to give them reason to believe in themselves.

ESP STAFF
ESP is made up of an 11 volunteer staff. These individuals are from various backgrounds and have various ranges of experiences. They are: *see staff pictures and summary in back.
The ESP staff holds weekly staff meetings every Saturday to talk about the successes and problems of the previous week and to plan for the upcoming week. This allows us to evaluate problems and plan a course of action in solving the problems. The weekly meetings also allow all staff members to share their ideas on how ESP can be improved.

CURRICULUM
Mr. Samuel Azubuike the director, Mr. Singammong the assistant director, and Mr. Yohana Mohammed the coordinator designed the Curriculum for the ESP program. It took this committee two months to develop what we have now as our curriculum. In the curriculum we compiled eighteen courses, which we coded as CO1 to CO18 and each course is allocated 4hrs: 2 hrs for grammar and 2 hrs for dialogue, illustration etc.
This program is meant to last for a period of 3 months. The curriculum is subject to modification as the program continues and evolves.


CURRICULUM
ENGLISH SPEAKING PROGRAM COURSE CONTENT

FIRST MONTH

CO1: ALPHABETS
(i): capital letters
(ii): small letters
(iii): vowels and constants
(iv): phonetics and word sounds

CO2: PERSONAL PRONOUNS
(i): singular (PP) and their order 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.
(ii): plural (PP) and their order 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.

CO3: VERB TO BE
(i): in the present tense
(ii): in the present perfect tense
(iii): in the past tense
(iv): in the past perfect tense
(v): in the future tense
(vi): in the future perfect tense

CO4: VERB TO HAVE
(i): in the present tense
(ii): in the present continuous
(iii): in the past tense
(iv): in the past perfect tense
(v): in the future tense
(iv): in the future perfect tense

CO5: PERSONAL PRONOUNS AND CONTRACTIONS
(i): the verb to be (negative)
(ii): the verb to have (negative)
(iii): interrogative
(iv): contraction - the verb to be (singular)
(v): contraction – the verb to have (singular)
(vi): contraction – the verb to be (plural)
the verb to have (plural)

CO6: DETERMINANTS (i): indefinite articles
(ii): definite articles
(iii): applications of definite and indefinite articles

SECOND MONTH

CO7: DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES
(i): types of demonstrative adjectives
(ii): application of demonstrative adjectives

CO8: POSSESIVE ADJECTIVES
(i): in personal pronouns singular
(ii): in personal pronouns plural

CO9: POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS AND INTERROGATIVES
(i): in personal pronouns singular
(ii): in personal pronouns plural
(iii): application of interrogative pronouns

CO10: RELATIVE AND REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
(i): types of relative and reflexive pronouns
(ii): application of relative and reflexive pronouns

CO11: PATTERNS OF CERTAIN PLURALS
(i): types: word endings: s-(es), sh-(es), ch-(es), x-(es), o-(es), y-(ies), f-(ves),
fe-(ves).
(ii): irregular plurals
(iii): past and past participle of some irregular verbs
eg: Base Past Past Participle
Buy Bought Bought
Give Gave Given
Go Went Gone
Fly Flew Flown


CO12: TENSES AND SENCTENCE FORMATIONS
(i): present tense
(ii): present perfect tense
(iii): past tense
(iv): past perfect tense
(v): future tense
(vi): future perfect tense
(vii): classification of sentences
(viii): types of sentences


THIRD MONTH

CO13: NOUNS AND PRONOUNS
(i): types of nouns (brief)
(ii): types of pronouns
(iii): possessive case in pronouns

CO14: VERB AND ADJECTIVES
(i): definition of verb and adjective
(ii): types and applications

CO15: ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONS AND CONJUCTIONS
(i): definition and types
(ii): application with many examples as possible

CO16: PHRASE
(i): definition and types of phrase

CO17: CLAUSE – DEFINITION AND TYPES OF CLAUSES

CO18; MECHANICS AND PUNCTUATION MARKS
(i): routine procedures in written English
(ii): types of punctuation marks
(iii): applications


SHORT TERM AND LONG TERM FOCUS AND NEEDS
The focus of the English Speaking Program is to train students to speak the English language. In an excerpt from an article entitled “The Teaching of English as communication” by H.G. Widdowson, he writes:

“The problem is that students, and especially students in developing countries, who have received several years of formal English teaching, frequently remain deficient in the ability to actually use the language, and to understand its use, in normal communication, whether in the spoken or the written mode.”

ESP desires to challenge and change that trend and give those who are willing to give the effort to learn English an environment conducive to that effort.
However, despite this problem there are some immediate problems that have and will continue to impede our effectiveness. ESP is a self-supporting program. We function and depend completely on the tuition of our students. This faith in our students is not always rewarded and we of ESP do understand that. We understand the financial situation of many of our students and we try to work out to the best of our ability a plan of payment for many of our students. However, this does not allow us to carry out some activities in a timely and necessary fashion. Therefore, the ESP administration has agreed and decided to seek material and financial assistance from outside sources that share the ESP vision. This is because we believe that when these needs are met along with the volunteer manpower we have, we will be able to render efficient services now and beyond. Some of these materials we lack are divided into short and long term needs are as follows:

A. Short Term

a) Charts/Maps: Charts such as of the human body, types of materials or other types of charts that can give a visual image that can help students relate and connect the word to the object. It has been remarked that when Western culture or geography is talked about many students cannot relate or do not have an idea where certain places are located.
b) English books with emphasis on communications skills: We presently have borrowed books from English teachers in the community in order to use in the program, but many are outdated and focus solely on grammar. The ESP teachers have modified the material in order to reflect our premise of producing English speakers. We are therefore in the search and need of books that teach grammar and emphasize on the oral language.
c) Empty cassettes and recorded English programs and Cassette Players: Hearing the English language with its many tones and word uses is important in both understanding grammar and learning the oral expression.
d) Stationary: Pens, pencils, notebook paper etc.

B. Long Term
As ESP grows we know our needs will grow. We have faith and a hope that we will one day expand the program beyond the neighborhood we are presently located in the capital N’djamena. We hope possibly to expand to other parts of the capital and other parts of Chad, where English programs are desperately in need. When this hope starts to become a reality, we hope that we can count on your support for our needs to effectively carry out that reality.