The good English workshop by Oxfam

Today I attended an English workshop (an English lesson) held by a NPO, Oxfam Japan.
(Oxfam International website; http://www.oxfam.org)

When I put the article about humanitarian assistance on Lang-8, a member told me of Oxfam. I checked its website right away and applied for participation in the English workshop delivered by foreigner volunteers of Oxfam. The participation fees are used for donation.

The workshop was very useful not only in learning English but also in knowing activities of some organizations.
The workshop was for 2 hours and the participants were 9 people. One teacher is from England and the other is from India. I'm very bad at understanding English with an Indian accent, so I a bit worried but when the workshop started, I found it no problem.

The theme was "Making Poverty History: World Trade, Debt, and Aid".
First, we read a document about the theme, then we asked something we didn't know (both about English words/phrases and about contents itself).

The next, we were divided into three groups and discussed some issues.
For example;
- Are the World Bank and IMF fair institutions? Should they put economic conditions with aid or is this detrimental to the recipient countries?
- What role can civil societies, individuals and organizations play to "Making Poverty History"?
After discussing them, we expressed our opinions.

Lastly, we did a role play. We were supposed to attend an IMF meeting to discuss Mali loan. We were given a character card and acted the role. I was supposed to be the French representative. We insisted each opinion according to each situation written in the character card.
It was fun and useful.

I could get some information about activities of some organizations and various situations in some poor countries.
I think it was really good workshop. So far, they hold it once a month. If possible, I want to attend the next again.