Hogeschool Utrecht & EAN Announce Community Partnership

The partnership agenda provides select students with the opportunity to gain professional experience in teaching English for their HU Teacher Education Program. At EAN, the end goal is for its newcomer-students to take and pass the IELTS test, so that they can enrol in a university. Through this internship, participants will be a part of the teaching team helping to make this happen.

Teaching interns will be working together with EAN’s experienced educators who will provide them with supervision and support. They will also receive training in Task-Based Learning (TBL) methods. TBL embeds language education in a context unique to the students’ particular needs.

“We are very excited to see the interaction between the HU students and ours. This partnership will not only be another source of knowledge to drive innovation in our programs but also a chance to raise the awareness of young local communities on the importance of education to newcomers in rebuilding their lives in the Netherlands.” said Kinan Alajak, executive director EAN.

“We are looking forward to collaborating with the English Academy for Newcomers. This will certainly be a win-win situation as our students will gain valuable hands-on experience teaching English to second or third language learners and the participants will benefit from newly acquired knowledge on how to improve their language skills. Apart from these practical considerations the HU also has a social responsibility towards refugees, recognising their capabilities and playing an active part in helping them regain their lives and careers.” said Jenny du Plessis, HU international coordinator.

Students aren’t the only ones expected to develop. Interns grow in their professional capacity by responding to feedback. Similarly HU and EAN focus on creating an environment of continuous learning among our students and teachers.