Partnership Initiative Benefits Egyptian Language Learners

“I love movies," recalls Taher Refat, an English-language trainee at the at the American Language Center (ALC) in Damietta, a city in the Nile Delta.  "Before learning English, I couldn't watch movies without subtitles! But it’s getting easy now, and I enjoy it. I can also listen to a song with lyrics and understand most of it,” 
AMIDEAST's Offsite Partners Initiative has benefited nearly 50,000 English language learners across Egypt to date.

The ALC training center is one of 13 English language institutes across Egypt that is affiliated with Amideast through an offsite service providers program that Amideast introduced in 2006 in order to serve Egyptians living beyond Cairo and Alexandria. OffSite Service Providers (OSPs) provide Amideast language education certification remotely, on their premises.

Each year, the initiative has benefited some 4,500 English learners like Taher, who took courses at ALC for one year. At the outset, Taher’s ultimate goal was connected to “real world” concerns such as keeping up-to-date on English slang and improving his accent in order to have better career prospects. His year of language training paid off. As he progressed from Level 6 to Level 9, both his reading and speaking skills improved greatly, and he began job hunting with greater confidence and drive. In short order, he had several successful interviews and landed a job! 

Taher credits much of his improvement to the Amideast certified courses — an approach that he appreciates not only for its rigor, but also, he adds enthusiastically, because “they’re teaching the fun way by bringing the real world to the classroom. I like the system, the variety of activities … I'm much better now at talking to my trainer or even my classmates, not to mention the improvement in my presentation skills. I'm much more confident now."

Meeting Amideast Quality Standards

Amideast is continuously developing rigorous partner selection and monitoring processes to ensure they meet Amideast quality standards. OSPs, for example, utilize Amideast affordable course designs, outlines, textbooks, and methodology in order to reach low income areas in Egypt. Instructors are approved by Amideast and are subject to the same selection and evaluation criteria as those who teach in Amideast’s main offices in Egypt. Nearly 50,000 Egyptians have benefited from the initiative to date.