Fifty overseas Filipino workers in Bahrain sat down for their first review class on English-language testing this week, part of a broadened push by the OWWA Overseas Welfare Office (OWO) to open more learning and skills-building options for the Filipino community in the Gulf kingdom.
The IELTS review, staged at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manama, walked participants through basic listening techniques and offered practical guidance on how to approach the International English Language Testing System exam. Organizers focused the opening session on exam strategy, giving attendees a clearer sense of what to expect on test day. The Filipino Club Bahrain and the Philippine Teachers Association-Bahrain worked alongside the OWO to put the program together.
A separate track ran the same day, July 17, for workers hoping to build hands-on trade skills. Twenty OFWs and their dependents made up the first group to go through Barista Skills Training, held at the Al Hadi Complex in Gudaibiya with support from Medici Global.
Both activities fall under a government effort to keep expanding upskilling and continuing-education opportunities for Filipinos working abroad. That direction follows a standing instruction from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to widen the support and openings available to overseas Filipino workers.
