WHAT WE DO / OUR PROGRAM

A DIVE DEEPER INTO THAILAND'S CHALLENGES

We believe education has the power to uplift livelihoods, elevate communities, and change the world. However, Thailand’s educational landscape faces numerous challenges inhibiting students from achieving their full potential. Systemic challenges such as inadequate quality of resources and insufficient accessibility to learning opportunities marks over several hundred thousands of Thai students’ educational journeys. That’s where we aim to mobilize change.

CHALLENGES IN QUALITY OF EDUCATION

Thailand ranked 54th out of 70 countries in 2015 PISA assessment (Programme for International Students Assessment), with scores dropping across all subjects from 2012 measures.

According to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index 2019, Thailand scored a low 37/100 points in ‘critical thinking in teaching’.

The method of rote memorization and traditional lectures used in the current education system inadequately develops critical skills for the 21st Century workplace. Students are limited from self-expression, critical thinking, and collaborative learning environments, which are essential to their development.

CHALLENGES IN ACCESSIBILITY TO EDUCATION

Thailand faces challenges in educational disparity between different socio-economic statuses impacting student’s education attainment and performance.
According to UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report in 2018, only 80% of low income youths complete lower secondary education compared to 100% of advantaged youths.
The PISA assessment in 2018 shows that higher income students outperformed low income students in reading by 69 score points.
Furthermore, shortage in education resources is significant in underprivileged small schools in rural areas. In 2017, there were a total of 15,224 small schools. These schools lack sufficient funding, qualified teachers, and teaching resources, with one teacher often having to teach multiple different subjects.

WHY SPEAKING HUB WORKS

Increased accessibility to underserved communities

Although accessibility to personal computers and home wifi is low, Thailand has significant mobile internet access and usage. With 55 million active mobile internet users over Thailand’s 69-million population, Thailand’s internet usage and mobile penetration rates are higher than global averages¹. Leveraging this connectivity, we design our classes based on learning through mobile devices. With this, we are able to provide remote learning for numerous low-income students with mobile Internet access. Furthermore, we aim to provide opportunities for students without mobile Internet access through our financial assistance scholarship program.

Source: ¹ “Thailand tops global digital rankings” by Bangkok Post, 2019

Our Scholarship Program

Being a safe practice space

Being a safe and engaging space for students to practice their skills is at the heart of what we do. Our focus is on empowering self-expressions and building students’ confidence in their own skills and potential. Our student-centric approach focuses on promoting individualism and active learning.

Providing co-curricular educational opportunities

Speaking Hub classes provide students a safe space to build and practice the skills gained from formal education. We aim to complement formal education by filling in the missing gaps in students’ schooling experiences. We work to equip students with sufficient knowledge to work in the 21st Century by focusing on practical skills and relevant real-life topics.

OUR PROGRAM

60 minutes per week

8 weeks per term

Make a difference.

Our weekly classes are 60-minute long video calls after-school on weekdays and on weekends. In the weekly classes, students get to practice speaking English through relevant real-life topics. Classes are taught in small groups of 6 to 10 students. Our curriculum focuses on improving English communication and critical thinking skills using real world content. We believe that students should be given the platform to express themselves and voice their opinions on issues that are directly affecting them. Therefore, by cultivating a safe space for expression and exploration, we become an interactive community for learning, sharing, and skill building.

Speaking Hub bridges learning opportunities for students.

We connect middle and high school students with further learning opportunities to improve their skills. Designed to be accessible through mobile devices, our classes enable rural and low-income students to improve their skills. We create not only an online community for learning, but also, connect students with trained volunteer teachers across the globe.

Our curriculum centers around real-life application of language.

The curriculum emphasizes daily conversation practice and introduces local and relevant social issues. Our goal is to spark new insights and broaden students’ horizons that enables youths to achieve greater livelihoods and improve their communities. Through Speaking Hub, students get to explore new topics, gain confidence in themselves, and develop practical skills.

We apply active learning principles to design courses for different language levels.

We highlight active learning in our student-centric approach to foster deeper levels of understanding. Our class activities include role plays, discussions, problem solving, and peer sharing. Courses are designed for different levels of skills, with Level Basic courses for foundational content and Level 5 courses for advanced students.

We aspire to expand learning opportunities for all.

We aspire to garner a larger reach of students from low socio-economic backgrounds without Internet access through providing scholarships to study with us. Through our financial assistance program, we cover students’ mobile Internet expenses while studying online. We aim to reach greater communities and open doors to further learning opportunities for students in-need.