Friday 25 January 2019 was a momentous occasion for Lorna Whiston. The well-known English language centre with its unique Speech and Drama classes, Public Speaking courses for pre-primary to secondary students and customised Teacher and Corporate training programmes for adults, opened their new centre at Plaza VADS in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.
The bigger and brighter premise, featuring state-of-the-art learning facilities, was launched by their Guest of Honour, Dr Cheah Swi Ee ─ Director of Special Projects, Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA) and Lorna Whiston CEO Adele Chia, among a crowd of teachers, staff and the media.
Lorna Whiston English Language Centre has a scintillating history. In the early years, Lorna Whiston was a teacher in the UK who came to Malaysia to teach with the British Armed Forces. She later opened her first centre in Singapore in 1980 and returned to Malaysia with her first Malaysian centre in 1998 to nurture Malaysian students by helping them find confidence in eloquent communication through a better command of the English language.
Twenty one years and over 20,000 students later, the English language centre in its new “home” today, still holds true to that mission and plans to stay even more relevant by preparing children for a future in a working world that will continually evolve with disruption and technology.
“Gone are the days when academic success equals future success,” said Chia in her opening address at the launch. Look at the world around us now, she urged, asking, “How many jobs will soon be taken over by Artificial Intelligence? Do we know what jobs will be available for our children when they grow up?”
She said parents will have to start looking beyond academic skills so that children are equipped with soft skills that cannot be replaced by Artificial Intelligence as it will be these skills that will enable children to be successful global citizens of the future.
“When we talk about empowering our children with soft skills, we are referring to the personal attributes that cannot be quantified by a grade. These are what our children will need to succeed in the workplace. It is our responsibility to nurture these skills in our children; skills such as resilience, interpersonal skills, critical thinking, empathy, creative problem solving, self-awareness and so on.”
She said Lorna Whiston, with its highly trained and passionate, native English speaking teachers from countries like the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, coaxes their creative skills and inspires children to learn through asking questions and making mistakes.
“We want our children to be taking risks so that they develop resilience and an increased self-awareness. We are confident that with this, we are providing our students with the best opportunity for their future success.”
For enquiries, call Lorna Whiston at Tel: 03-7727-1909 or Email: ttdi@lornawhiston.com.my