American Corner

American Corner is the joint project of US embassy and Jaffna Social Action Center. It is a youth resource center which provide free internet WiFi, watch American movies,US Universities preparations, books & resources , games & activities and many more for youngsters. American Corner provides opportunities for youngsters to develop their English knowledge and also leadership skills.They believe that by breaking the language barrier reconciliation is possible. By educating English they wish to establish a strong relationship with America.They conduct monthly thematic programs according to Washington calendar.They conduct workshops, discussions, seminars, film screening and forums.

American Corner is located in #23,Athiyady Road,Nallur.

American Corner is a joint project of US embassy and Jaffna Social Action center. Jaffna Social Action center is the host institution for American Corner.

There is a small library in American Corner. It consist of small collection of novels written by famous US authors, famous short stories, small collection of children reading books like fairy tales. They have a quite number of books on US government which provide information about United States of America. Since American Corner does regular film screening , they have a collection of films of US directors, biographies, animated movies, adventurous movies. Also they have a special set of documentary collection from famous documentary makers of USA, where you can find documentaries about Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln etc..Anyone can read those books and can use the resources of American Corner but a membership is needed to lend books. Anyone can get a lifetime membership with a small payment.

The coordinator of American Corner is Mr. Danni Dishon. He joined American Corner in January 2016. He conducts programs according to Washington thematic calendar and manages it. He monitors the courses conducted in American Corner and he handle the youth forum.He summons the meetings of youth forum and guide them in proper way. He researches about new ideas and propose it to US embassy to organize new programs.He shared his experience about working in American Corner with us. "Before, I worked in a different sector, so I learnt so many things. By working as a coordinator, I learnt about reporting,organizing and monitoring". He was so worried as this youth resource center is not used effectively by people to develop themselves.

The Youth Forum is a part of American Corner. It is a group of active members from different fields. These people help the American corner to plan and execute programs. They meet once a month and decide the projects for every month. They are going to release a newsletter to show the output of courses and the state American Corner for past 3 months. They have fun activities and programs within themselves too. They are planning to have an exchange programs with Youth Forum, kandy to break the cultural and language barrier and for reconciliation. Some members shared their experiences as a part of youth forum. "It is easy for us to develop our leadership skills, managing skills, coordinating abilities and friendly nature by working together in planning and executing programs. we could able to notice the improvements in ourselves after jointing Youth Forum.You can also improve yourselves by engaging in the Youth Forum"

American corner is conducting a 3 month English Enrichment course for mainly school leavers and workers. The objective of American corner is to educate people with English knowledge to break the language barrier and to build a strong relationship between ethnicities. The resource person is Mr.Harry Gnanarajan, Vice Principal, St.John's college.

American corner conducts Basic Coding classes for the youngsters. The world is developing in the information technology sector. To compete with this world they give an opportunity to learn these computer language freely. The resource persons are Ms.sopitha, working in computer center of university of jaffna and Ms.Janani, lecturer at Engineering faculty.

The students working serioulsy on HTML to design their own wesites during the Basic coding class for an assignment.

He is Mr. Benislos Thushan,the instructor of digital storytelling course conducted at American Corner. He attended the Tiziano, storytelling training conducted by US embassy in 2013. And he studied journalism in University of Washington under SUSI program. He desired to share his ideas and views with the people of Jaffna. By realizing the need for education about Digital storytelling, US embassy grant permission to conduct a course on digital storytelling and social media. He always says that he wants to be a Facilitator to his students not as a lecturer. He always believes that discussions increase the clarity of students than formal lectures. when i interviewed him about the thought for initiation of this course he expressed his views in different angles. "The storytelling /communication is a crucial skill in the current society despite of the field. We have many social media platforms and resources. So we can tell a story in a effective way, we can create a brand for us to exhibit our views to the world. So I wanted to guide them how to use it properly to achieve your target"

She is Rachel O'Hara,Assistant Information Officer .She joined the US embassy in August 2016. So she wanted to see the American spaces in Sri Lanka and Maldives. For the first time she had visited the Jaffna to experience American Corner acivities, to discuss about future programs and to include new programs.She was impressed with the activities of American Corner.

American corner conducts various programs according to the thematic calendar of Washington.The most recent was they supported 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence .They ran a social media campaign and conducted an awareness program on December 8th.School leavers and University students participated in that event.

The event on the december 8th was a discussion about the Gender-Based Violence that still exists in our society.The students keenly participated in the discussion.

She is Sumalica, a student following the courses conducted by American Corner. I interviewed her to share her experiences about the courses with you. "The English class is much useful for me to improve my English knowledge. Our English sir always make us to speak out, which helped me to breakout my fear to talk and help me to improve my oral skills. i don't have any knowledge in Photography when i came to the class, but now i learnt about different views, techniques and effective use of social medias. I could able to see the improvement in the photos i have taken. In the html class i learnt a lot about designing a website properly. The teachers are so friendly with us and have personal care on every students. I am very thankful to American Corner and our teachers for guiding me."

Many laptops, i pads, tablets, mac books are in American corner, they wish the people should get advantage of it. Many users visit American corner to use the resources. Anyone can access the free WiFi of American corner. Many children,youngsters and also old people visit American corner to access these. They want to sort out the problem due to lack of resources in Jaffna by giving free access to technological equipment.

The American corner wishes to improve their infrastructure and resources.They need to extent their space.They desire to enroll many youngsters into American corner and they need to promote American corner.Many people don't know it.But it is a best youth resource center i ever found in Jaffna. That's why i put this small effort to make you get to know about the resources of American corner.

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