Langdons Language Institute (LLI), which has been teaching English for 24 years in Trinidad and Tobago, is starting a new project to train Latino children.

Susan Langdon, director and teacher at LLI, said since its inception in 1998, the institute has worked in Chaguanas with the main idea of teaching Latinos to learn English in a family environment.

Annually, more than 100 foreign adult students come to TT to learn English at LLI. During the July-August vacation season, more young students and even entire families arrive, mostly from Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and Panama.

However, Langdon believes it is time for the LLI to advance at a formative level and since 2019 she has started the project to expand teachings to Venezuelan children currently living here.

“The idea of the school for migrant children arose when seeing that the flow of Venezuelans in TT began to rise. We want to give these children and adolescents the opportunity to take advantage of their stay here so they can advance in their educational processes,” she said.

LLI is headquartered on Mulchan Seuchan Road, Chaguanas.

[caption id="attachment_948364" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Venezuelan teacher María Bracho teaches to Initial Education students. Photo by Grevic Alvarado[/caption]

Langdon explained the situation of Venezuelan migrant children is different. Being refugees, children and adolescents do not receive student visas from the Immigration Division and that is where the brake halts their education and certification.

Langdon is looking for alternatives to make the project work.

"The school is a project to give Venezuelan refugee children an opportunity for a well-rounded education. We use the University of Cambridge's bilingual curriculum from elementary through high school that leads to an international baccalaureate degree," she said.

This title does not depend on a government certification directly, but it does receive the endorsement of the Ministry of Education.

"We are in the process of obtaining an endorsement to be an official Cambridge institute. In the meantime, the students who are in high school are preparing to take their tests at a Cambridge test centre right here that awards the international high school degree at the end," she explained.

[caption id="attachment_948365" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Susan Langdon, director of the Langdons Language Institute (LLI), is a certified English and Spanish teacher and helps with classes for first graders in this case. Photo by Grevic Alvarado[/caption]

In the case of students at intermediate levels between preschool and high school, whose parents decide to end their stay at TT and go to other countries, they receive the LLI certificate stamped by the Ministry of Education and which can be apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The institute has 83 students between preschool and high school in the hybrid method. Some students are attending their face-to-face classes and others virtual.

Classes are Monday through Friday from 8 am-2.30

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