Grant amount
NIS 291,500
Planning a ‘Tech-English’ Challenge for Excellence Class Students
Planning a ‘Tech-English’ Challenge to Provide Excellence Class Students with Online Learning Solutions of English Skills Required in the High-Tech Industry
Planning a ‘Tech-English’ Challenge to Provide Excellence Class Students with Online Learning Solutions of English Skills Required in the High-Tech Industry
English is an essential tool for the modern job market, particularly for professions who work with global markets. It is no surprise that almost all of the employees in high-tech companies in Israel, had graduated their high school studies at the advanced five-units level in English, alongside very high rates in mathematics, physics and computers. Research by the Aaron Institute also revealed that 20% of those who work in business development, marketing, and sales departments in high-tech firms, know English at the level of a mother tongue and often are native speakers of the language.
Despite this overwhelming rate, the leaders of the high-tech sector are persistent in making a strong claim, that the level of English of their teams is far from sufficient. They point to the fact that the English studies that is taught in school, have traditionally concentrated on reading, vocabulary and grammar and less on the ability to communicate, present arguments and analyze data. Consequently, the public committee on high-tech talent, and the following government resolution, emphasized the importance of teaching these skills, particularly to those studying in excellence classes and ‘tech matriculation’ tracks.
The Trump Foundation has no previous experience in this area, however, to catalyze activity that would address this issue, we talked to several of our colleague foundations. As a result, we turned to the 8200 Alumni Association with an idea that would potentially spark joint movement. We approached 8200 Alumni Association because in 2017 they initiated a Mathematics Challenge that invited startups to offer creative solutions to personalize the learning of mathematics at the five-units level. The challenge attracted 207 startups and chose 7 that matched with schools and inspired them with energy and creativity.
In response to our approach, the 8200 Alumni Association is proposing a six months learning process, that will be shared with potential partners in the Ministry of Education and philanthropy (Steinhardt, Azrieli, Yad Hanadiv, and others). The learning process will seek to answer the following questions:
Answering these questions will involve meetings with English language teaching scholars and Education Ministry officials, interviews with different departments at high-tech companies, conducting focus groups with high-tech employees, teachers, and students, and collecting data from expert organizations. The findings will be prepared as a report that will facilitate planning a “Tech-English Challenge”. The plan will be presented to potential partners with an aim to seek their support and to create the Challenge as a collaborative endeavor of multiple funders.
* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 510