News

English programme set to improve skill-set for 45,000 of Mexico's workforce of tomorrow

28 May 2010

A new English language initiative for up to 45,000 Mexican students will benefit the workforce of tomorrow, according to language school Harmon Hall. The agreement between Cambridge ESOL and the well known chain of private language schools will give access to internationally recognised English language qualifications to students at the 110 schools throughout Mexico as well as numerous corporate clients.

Ms. Deborah Iddon, Harmon Hall's DNA Academic Chair, Corporate Office says: "By making Cambridge ESOL exams part of the Harmon Hall experience, we are opening doors to academic opportunities that might otherwise be closed, and preparing thousands of young Mexicans to enter, compete and advance in the national world of work."

The first candidates to benefit will be children taking part in the popular Young Learners English tests.

"Across the world we're seeing younger and younger candidates becoming successful at English exams which is very encouraging. Projects such as this one not only benefits the individual but it helps to up-skill the population of tomorrow," said Rafael Sánchez Majdich, Development Manager for Cambridge ESOL in the region: "By working with Harmon Hall we're able to increase access to language exams for all abilities in all states in Mexico."

This year will also see sessions for Key English Test (KET) and Preliminary English Test (PET) with computer-based testing from 2011. BULATS Online will feature prominently in Harmon Hall's activities in Mexico's corporate scene when their new business language programmes are launched later this year.

Harmon Hall, which has offered English language programmes since 1966 is the largest chain of private language schools in Mexico employing over 1800 teachers.

A selection of their teachers and coordinators have successfully taken the Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) - Cambridge ESOL's test for teachers of English and, as part of this new agreement, all teachers will have taken TKT by the year 2012. This will help to ensure that all teaching carried out at Harmon Hall is in line with common frameworks and standards.