A bunch of confident young women attended the wrap-up event for an intensive two-week course in business English at American Center, Kolkata, on June 13.
US consul general in Kolkata Melinda Pavek and American Center director Adrian Pratt were present at the event.
Adrian Pratt with the participants
The 29 participants who had registered for the course were mostly students, entrepreneurs and young professionals in non-profit organisations, between 18 and 25 years old.
Madison Nunes, an English language fellow from the US consulate, and Olivia Mondal, educator and business trainer, took the course on the art of presentation, spoken English and business English. “We received more than 150 applications after we put out the advertisement on social media. From there, we screened and selected 29 participants,” said Mondal.
The participants
The goal of the project was to empower the next generation of young women professionals/university students to develop their English communication skills and interview etiquette and put them to practical use in their professional lives.
The participants were divided into five groups and awarded on the basis of their performance.
American Centre director Adrian Pratt and consul general Melinda Pavek
“It's an honour to be here today. I belong to a country that believes in the political and economic empowerment of women and nothing is more empowering than language and communication skills. Learning communication skills and a language is just like going to the gym. You have to be regular and you have to know your strength. You will be frustrated at times but that is when you will have to be kind to yourself,” consul-general Pavek said.
Speaking about the event Debangshi Bhattacharjee, a journalism student, said that she lacked the courage to speak in public before the course. “But now I am confident. This is a great achievement for me,” she said.
Consul general Melinda Pavek and Madison Nunes, English language fellow
Abhinanda Paul, a baker, said that she is planning to diversify her business and that’s why she needed to improve her communication skills. “I want to start a bakery class and for that, I need to know how to communicate properly. This course helped me a lot,” she said.