Public speaking is never easy, especially if it’s to an international
audience using a foreign language. Yet for eight young adults attending
AIT’s English-language Bridging Program, mastering the language this
way is an important stepping stone to embark on a regional career in
sustainable development.
That’s because each has been chosen by the Mekong River Commission
(MRC) for its Junior Riparian Professional (JRP) program designed to
strengthen the capacity of young professionals in issues related to
integrated water resource management.
The batch of twenty and thirty-something recruits arrived at AIT in
March from Lao PDR, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. They came
to attend the Bridging Program run by the AIT Language Center which
helps students from diverse backgrounds prepare themselves for
graduate-level study conducted in English.
The tailor-made capacity building program for the MRC, however, also
assists the JRP selectees in the professional skills and competencies
they need to work at one of the region’s most influential international
organizations.
“We made a big effort to bring the essence of the MRC directly to our
classroom,” explains language instructor Tylor Burrows. “The idea is
for the students to be ready for what they will experience in
Vientiane.”
Designed by Mr. Burrows for client MRC, the JRP Bridging Program
immerses the trainees in interactive skills-based class instruction in
reading, grammar, speaking, and writing and vocabulary development,
while injecting necessary real-world assignments into the curriculum.
It also incorporates constant feedback and assessment approaches such
as video review sessions, one-on-one consultations, and ample rubrics.
Specific MRC topics investigated by the recruits included gender,
navigation, and CITES. The group also paid a site visit to Thailand’s
Khlong Tha Dan Dam on May 4.
After starting their studies on March 19, the students submitted their
final assignments last week. The JRPs now move north and east to assume
6-month on-the-job-training placements at Mekong River Commission
Secretariat Offices in Vientiane, Lao PDR, and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
All were granted a nine-month furlough from their regular jobs in their
home countries to be a JRP.
“It’s my first time studying outside of Myanmar,” says Yangon native
Sau Daing, 37, an official at the Directorate of Water Resources and
Improvement of River Systems, Government of Myanmar.
Buoyed by two months of intensive practice in proposal and report
writing, emails, memos, interviewing, and presentation and survey
skills, Mr. Sau Daing now feels himself ready to leave the confines of
AIT and succeed at MRC.
Living and learning about regional environmental issues in English,
the eight from five Lower Mekong Basin countries have grown in
confidence and formed real, cross-border bonds.
Outlining an on-the-job proposal titled “Team Building Activities for
Integrated Water Resource Management” for her pending assignment at
MRC, Thailand’s Mesiya Tikampornteerawong, who works in community-based
agriculture extension projects under her country’s Ministry of
Agriculture, explains: “The Mekong River borders six countries so
team-building is important to solve trans-boundary conflicts and to
promote cooperation.”
“It’s AIT at its best,” says Canadian Mr. Burrows of the program
that unites young Southeast Asian contemporaries on environmental
issues.
