Thursday Dec 12, 2024
Thursday Dec 12, 2024
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The National eSociety Excellence Awards, ‘e-Swabhimani’, showcase the best of Sri Lanka’s digital content and creations. The awards are organised annually by the Information Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) and attract over 200 submissions every year, since its launch in 2009.
This year, the British Council and zMessenger jointly emerged as the ‘winner’ in the ‘e-learning and education’ category for their ‘Learn English with the British Council’ mobile phone content e-learning product, currently being used by over 25,000 subscribers.
The product’s success is the result of a strategic partnership initiated last year, between Sri Lankan mobile phone content provider, zMessenger, and British Council Sri Lanka.
‘Learn English with the British Council’ is a simple and interactive product geared through SMS, which allows users to test and practise their English language skills through their mobile phone.
The product also maintains a complete record of each user’s progress. Users receive a personalised performance report every fortnight.
The judges commended the product for its functionality, applicability and affordability: “In Sri Lanka there has always been a high demand for acquiring English Language skills and it is a fact that fluency and competency in English gives a distinct advantage at any job interview.
“A good command of the language helps build confidence and is considered a social asset. ‘Learn English with the British Council’ has effectively used simple interactive mobile technology to meet the contemporary needs of learning.”
English is at the heart of the British Council’s work. The organisation aspires to provide millions of people worldwide with access to a range of quality English language learning resources. “Working digitally is essential for us to meet our corporate aspirations and to reach out to more learners and teachers of English,” British Council country Director Tony Reilly.
He added, “Winning this award is welcome recognition of how our work is well-received, acknowledged and widely used by thousands of people across the Island, trying to improve their English language skills. While we look forward to expanding this service, we are also looking at introducing more innovative ways in which we can digitally reach out to meet the huge demand for high quality English language learning materials in Sri Lanka.”
‘Learn English with the British Council’ is the first initiative taken by British Council Sri Lanka, to reach out to learners and teachers of English through digital means.
The product is currently being offered by both Dialog Telecom and Etisalat, which is a reflection of its general acceptance in the country.
British Council and zMessenger are committed to expanding the reach of the product by offering it through other mobile service providers in the near future. ‘Learn English through facebook’ is another exciting project in the pipeline, which the British Council hopes to launch soon. This product will allow learners of English around the country to learn the language in an interactive and fun way through Sri Lanka’s most popular social media channel, facebook.
To access British Council’s free online learn English resources available globally, visit http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en.
