Visit by UNTAG Banyuwangi, Indonesia

A group of 33 faculty staff from UNTAG Banyuwangi Indonesia, led by the Rector of the university, visited the Writing Unit at the Education Resource Centre, University town on 21st September 2011.

For more photographs from the visit, click here.

Visit from Christian Thailand University (CTU)

The delegation from Christian Thailand University (CTU) consisting of 28 faculty members and undergraduate students from the International College and College of Management and Accountancy of the university, visited CELC on Friday, 17 September 2010 at 2.30 pm. The delegation was led by Ms Kanchana Savatasukh, Dean of International College of the university.

Dr Chitra Varaprasad, Co-Chair of the Complimentary Initiatives Committee, welcomed them in her opening remarks. The Centre’s corporate video was played to give the delegates an overview of CELC. This was followed by the screening of a corporate video of CTU, and Ms Savatasukh’s presentation. She briefly shared the history and the vision/mission, the role of International College and the English courses her college offers. Dr Chitra followed by giving the delegates a briefing on the three types of courses offered by CELC: Special Programmes, Undergraduate Programmes and Graduate Programmes. Next was the Q & A session, with the delegates, mainly the Dean and faculty members of CTU exchanging information and views with CELC staff members -- Chitra, Poh Wai, Meng Leng and Lian Aik. The discussion centred on the types of courses, the entrance and exit tests, the class sizes, duration of courses, proficiency levels ofthe students, and approaches and techniques used for teaching.

The delegation was then taken on a tour of the Centre’s SELF. The visit concluded around 4:00pm.

Visitors from English Department, Hampton University, VA, USA

Chitra Varaprasad and Mary Ng received Prof Khawaja at around 4:40pm on Wed Aug 25, 2010. She was shown several of our course websites as well as the SELF and ITSELF website.

Prof Khawaja is developing a course for the Humanities Dept in the University and seems particularly interested in transnational virtual interaction on an issue via blogs. We shared with her the blogs from ES2007S, some topics from a GEK course on intercultural communication and EG 1413 Critical Thinking and Writing and also topics from UTWP. She wondered if there could be collaboration resulting in exchanges on such topics on line between her students and ours. We indicated such requests would depend on interest of staff and approval of the Head.

She would have liked to share her on-line writing program using “Blackboard”, but due to lack of time, she was unable to do so. At the end of the visit, Chitra presented her with a bag consisting of CELC Symposium Proceedings and RELT publications.

Visitors from Temasek Polytechnic

Seven lecturers from Temasek Polytechnic, including Ms Charmaine Oei (Section Head, Communication Skills) and Ms Katherine Rajah (Manager, Communication Skills) from the School of Engineering, visited CELC on 10th December 2009.

Drs Chitra Varaprasad and Mary Ng welcomed them. During the informal discussion about courses that CELC offers to Engineering undergraduates, Mary responded to their questions about the Critical Thinking and Writing module, while Chitra clarified their doubts about the EAP module. The visitors greatly appreciated the brief tour of SELF and the sharing of information.

Visitors from Vietnam

Led by Dr. Chu Hoang Mau, Vice President of Thai Nguyen University and Dr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, Director, International Training and Cooperation Center, a delegation of thirty graduate students (Master of Arts in Teaching English) under the international joint graduate program between Thai Nguyen University and Southern Luzon State University visited NUS and CELC as part of their study tour to explore collaborative opportunities for learning.

Visitors from the Philippines

Dr Canlas (President of Mabalacat College Province of Pampanga, Philippines), Dr Lagman (Vice Mayor of the Municipality of Mabalacat) and four faculty members visited CELC on 28th October 2009 to find out more about new and effective methods of teaching English language.