Mr. Md Mamunur Rashid, Lecturer, Brac Institute of Languages (BIL), received Excellence in Education Award in the 20th CTAUN Conference at the United Nations (UN) on April 5, 2019, for his project titled, Shaping the Youth with Empathy Education. This project took the concept of “Empathy” from Nursing Practice developed by Theresa Wiseman (1996, 2007), “Empathy Map” from Business Practice developed by Dave Gray (2017), and created a new model appropriate for the education sector.
This classroom project has been appreciated by BIL and is being taught in ENG091 (Foundation Course in English) each semester. In the class, by using the Empathy Map, students empathise with different characters from their surroundings such as girls who sell flowers on the streets, students who face humiliation for not achieving good grades in the examination, housemaids who are mostly underage in Bangladesh, and other characters who face discriminations and inequalities in our society. This project considers youth as the agent for change making and teaches them how to empathise with children and adults to step up to protect them.
The Committee on Teaching about the United Nations (CTAUN) focuses on providing educators worldwide with opportunities to learn about the work of the UN and to incorporate global awareness into curricula and educational activities at all levels. The CTAUN Excellence in Education Award is an annual recognition for those educators who have demonstrated the ability to inspire their students to collaborate, brainstorm and implement a plan successfully across all domains of learning on selected UN topics and global issues. This year, other than Bangladesh, the two other countries to receive International Recognition for this award are India and Australia. Mr. Rashid is the first academic from Bangladesh to receive this award.
The Grand Finale of Public Speaking Competition-Spring 2019, organised by Brac University Communication and Language Club (BUCLC), was held on April 8, 2019, at Brac University Auditorium. Ms. Farina Haque, Ms. Adrita Mulk and Mr. Imam Zafar Numanee, Lecturers at Brac Institute of Languages (BIL), participated in the event as judges. The grand finale began with a short inaugural video along with an introductory video featuring the top 10 finalists, who are current students from different departments of Brac University.
At the end of the competition, the judges chose the top 3 speakers as follows: Ms. Taiyeba Abedin Wafa, the 2nd runner up, who received prize money of Tk. 5000; Ms. Saraf Akhond, the 1st runner up, who received prize money of Tk. 7000; and Ms. Shaniz Chowdhury, the winner of the competition, who received Tk. 10,000 as prize money. All three contestants also received a crest from BUCLC.
After announcing the results, Mr. Numanee gave a concluding speech addressing all the contestants. Ms. Haque, who is also the Advisor of BUCLC, gave a vote of thanks. The event came to an end with the three judges receiving crests for their participation from the Vice President and General Secretary of BUCLC.
On April 18, 2019, a potluck party was held at Binni restaurant to celebrate Pohela Boishak, which was arranged by Lady Syeda Sarwat Abed, Director of Brac Institute of Languages (BIL).
It was a colourful and festive gathering to match the theme of Pohela Boishakh. The event was attended by faculty members of BIL and Savar Residential Campus, along with the members of Kumon, Counseling Unit and the Empathy Lab. The occasion was further graced by the presence of Lady Syeda Sarwat Abed.
The festive and joyous event came to an end after an impromptu cultural program with the rendering of songs and recital of poetry.