The government is set to open the Samoa School of Languages (S.S.O.L.) at the beginning of next month.
To be housed at Malifa, the school is being driven by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture (M.E.S.C) in a bid to encourage the people of Samoa to learn different languages.
The languages to be offered when the school opens include Chinese, Japanese, German, French, English and Samoan.
<!-- ads-articles(24.03.14) -->
<ins class="adsbygoogle"
style="display:inline-block;width:336px;height:280px"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-9419815128221199"
data-ad-slot="2395638412"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>{/googleAds}
The confirmation came from the Acting C.E.O of M.E.S.C, Peone Fuimaono- Solomona.
“The government of Samoa has initiated the Samoa School of Languages a few years back to open up more options for our country in areas of education,” she said.
“The idea is to set up an institution where anyone can come and learn different skills and in this sense a language.”
The Acting C.E.O said that as Samoa continues to play a key role in global developments, our people are increasingly finding the need to learn other languages. The need became very apparent when Samoa hosted S.I.D.S last year.
“The need for people who are professional in languages has become an important issue not only for government but for organizations and individuals as well.
“Over the years, Samoa has grown into more globalized community and we have come to find the importance of learning different languages other than Samoan and English which we are used to.”
The Acting C.E.O said the programme hopes to teach as many languages as possible. Which means as the programme grows, there is a possibility that more languages will be added.
“Our country has become more and more a multi-cultural society and we need to portray that in the services that we give,” said Peone.
She said the Ministry’s curriculum division is working with different partners around the world who are helping.
Local help is also being sought.
“We are hoping for our local people who have qualifications in the specific languages to come forward and be able to help our people learn new languages rather than seeking it from overseas,” she said.
“We have also sent out brochures promoting this S.S.O.L to our stakeholders and also to members of the media.
“The importance of it is providing options for our people, those who are professionals in sports, in academia and also in the study and speaking of languages they all form and make up career options for many.
“So we would like to follow up in that example not only in the region and around the world.”
The programme is designed to help the community, she said.
“It’s not focused specifically for schools,” she said. “It’s focused on those who wish to learn different languages and new skills.”
So how does one qualify to become a student?
“For now we are accepting 16 years and over and anyone who is willing to learn another language and we will extend the program in due course when more trainers come on board,” she said.
The programme will be split between beginner, intermediate and advance levels.
The Samoa School of Languages’ programme starts on 9 March and will only be on Mondays and Wednesdays.
There will be afternoon and evening classes available and the length of the course will take up to 10 weeks.
Enrolment fee is $50.00 and the fee for each term is $350. Enrolments start on Monday 23 February and ends on 6 March 2015.
<!-- ads-articles(24.03.14) -->
<ins class="adsbygoogle"
style="display:inline-block;width:336px;height:280px"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-9419815128221199"
data-ad-slot="2395638412"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>{/googleAds}