Eka Dev Adhikari
The newly formed executive body of NELTA Chitwan wanted to extend its activities in the wider level covering both public and private schools in Chitwan. The initiation of this programme was taken right after the formation of the body. NELTA Chitwan was schocked to notice a rift between NELTA and PABSON that had been developing in the past few years in Chitwan. NELTA Chitwan was also charged of treating the private schools with partiality. The PABSON Chitwan even had the misconception that NELTA Chitwan was centering its activities only for the public schools. In order to defend against the charge, NELTA Chitwan vowed to conduct the programmes in the future impartially for both the private and public schools.
Another benefit of conducting such programmes for NELTA was that we anticipated to disseminate the news about the international conference among the secondary level teachers of the district so as to unite the supporting hands together to make the upcoming conference a grand success. So, with this aim, the NELTA started lobbying with the PABSON delegates and decided to conduct a programme for private schools. For a wider coverage and inclusion of teachers from different parts of the district, NELTA decided to conduct the training in three phases. Phase I for the teachers in the central Chitwan, Phase II for the teachers of Eastern Chitwan and Phase III for the teachers in Western Chitwan. For this NELTA Chitwan decided to conduct a survey on the needs of the teachers. The survey resulted in a programme for the secondary level with the sessions mentioned herewith. A package compilation committee was formed that was led by district chair Batuklal Tamang. The other members of the package compilation committee were Mr. Minraj Bastakoti, Mr. Khemlal Pahari, Mr Dilip Sharma, Mr. Manoj Kshetri and Eka Dev Adhikari. The package was produced with the following training sessions in them.
• Teaching Poetry at Secondary Level by Mr. Batuklal Tamang (addressing the need of the Poetry to be taught the poetry in Compulsory English)
• Teaching Literature at Secondary Level by Mr. Minraj Bastakoti (addressing the need of teaching Optional English at Grade 8, 9 and 10)
• Integrating Skills teaching at Secondary Level jointly by Mr. Manoj Kshetri and Mr. Khemlal Pahari (addressing the need of integrating four skills of language together, if possible, in a language classroom)
• Teaching Grammar at Secondary Level by Mr. Dilip Sharma (addressing the need of teaching grammar in grade 8, 9 and 10)
• Teaching writing at Secondary level by Mr. Eka Dev Adhikari (addressing the need of teaching writing with special focus on Essay writing, story writing and news story writing)
• Correcting Learners: Correction Technique at Secondary Level by Mr. Minraj Bastakoti. (addressing the need and time management of assessing the student tasks in an ongoing language classroom)
The first phase of the programme (A Two Day ELT Programme: Phase I) was organized at Bharatpur English Schools Society (BESS) Office Bharatpur dated Shrawan 6 and 7 2068 (22 and 23 July 2011). As anticipated, the participants of the programme were the secondary level teachers of central Chitwan covering private schools (PABSON schools). The teachers had already mentioned their expectations in their survey form, so it was easier for us to go on with the package compilation as well as programme co-ordination. The sessions were planned to be taken as below:
Day 1: Session One: Teaching Poetry at Secondary Level by Mr. Batuklal Tamang
Day 1: Session Two: Teaching Literature at Secondary Level by Mr. Dilaraj Pathak
Day 1: Session Three: Integrating Skills teaching at Secondary Level jointly by Mr. Manoj Kshetri and Mr. Khemlal Pahari.
Day 2: Session One: Teaching Grammar at Secondary Level by Mr. Dilip Sharma
Day 2: Session Two: Teaching writing at Secondary level by Mr. Eka Dev Adhikari
Day 2: Session Three: Correcting Learners: Correction Technique at Secondary Level by Mr. Minraj Bastakoti.
The programme was duly conducted for two days. About 35 of the English teachers from the PABSON schools in central Chitwan attended the training and in the closing ceremony the participants felt and expressed their views that the sessions were aptly addressing the demand they had mentioned in the demand collection sheet filled by them. The participants also felt that since the sessions were derived by improvising the actual teaching rather than theoretical doctrines, they found the programmes really applicable in the classroom. They also said that they found the programmes to be really useful to carry out the lessons learnt from the training sessions directly into their classroom situation.
The closing ceremony was honoured with the presence of District Education Officer as Chief guest and other distinguished guests. The chief guest congratulated NELTA for initiating the short term refresher training courses for private schools. He also promised to support NELTA Chitwan and its ensuing 17th International Conference phase II in every possible way. He even promised to take NELTA in confidence in order to develop further training programmes for different level in the future. PABSON Chair, Mr. Shree Prasad Dhungana expressed that this programme has filled the rift between NELTA and PABSON that was supposed to have been built in the past few years. As the chair of PABSON Chitwan, he also promised to support NELTA and its ensuing international conference in every possible ways. Finally NELTA Chair closed the ceremony by promising to carry out such programmes in the near future in other parts of the districts as well and support with every possible way to improve and enhance the ELT situation of the district in the days to come.
The second phase of the programme (A Two Day ELT Programme: Phase II) was organized at Ekata Shisu Niketan, Ratnanagar dated Bhadra 3 and 4 2068 (21 and 22 August 2011). As the programme was cascaded to the Eastern Chitwan after its successful presentation in the central part of Chitwan. The sessions that were taken were –
• Teaching Poetry at Secondary Level (addressing the need of the Poetry to be taught the poetry in Compulsory English)
• Teaching Grammar at Secondary level (addressing the need of teaching grammar in grade 8, 9 and 10)
• Integrating Skills Teaching (addressing the need of integrating four skills of language together, if possible, in a language classroom)
• Teaching Writing at Secondary level (addressing the need of teaching writing with special focus on Essay writing)
• Dissemination of NELTA Activities in and around Chitwan and introduction to the online forums like that of NELTA Choutari, Yahoo Groups and so on.
• Correction Technique at Secondary level (addressing the need and time management of assessing the student tasks in an ongoing language classroom)
The second session of Phase I (Teaching Literature in the Secondary level addressing the need of teaching Optional English) had lost its importance as per the demand of the Eastern Chitwan. The reason was that Optional English was not in practice in Eastern Chitwan. The sessions were facilitated by the following trainers.
Day 1: Session One: Teaching Poetry at Secondary Level by Mr. Batuklal Tamang
Day 1: Session Two: Teaching Grammar at Secondary Level by Mr. Dilip Sharma
Day 2: Session One: Integrating Skills teaching at Secondary Level jointly by Mr. Manoj Kshetri and Mr. Khemlal Pahari
Day 2: Session Two: Teaching writing at Secondary level by Mr. Eka Dev Adhikari
Day 2: Session Three: Dissemination of NELTA Activities in and around Chitwan and introduction to the online forums like that of NELTA Choutari, Yahoo Groups, Teach English, etc. This was facilitated by Mr. Batuk Lal Tamang, Mr. Dilip Sharma and Eka Dev Adhikari
Day 2: Session Four: Correcting Learners: Correction Technique at Secondary Level by Mr. Minraj Bastakoti.
The programme was duly conducted for two days. A total of about 30 teachers of the Eastern Chitwan were facilitated in the training and in the closing ceremony the participants felt and expressed their views that the sessions were aptly addressing their need and they anticipated NELTA to continue such programmes in the days to come. The participants were found to be enthusiastic in working out with the lessons learnt from the sessions and expressed that they were grateful to NELTA, PABSON, SOECEBS, ECOBS and all other stakeholders of the programme.
The closing ceremony was honoured with the presence of SOECEBS Chair Mr. Balhari Devkota as Chief guest and other distinguished guests. ECOBS co-ordinator Mr. Madan Puri expressed his gratitude to NELTA for conducting such programmes for Private schools. The chief guest and the SOECEBS Chair Balhari Devkota also promised to conduct such programmes for lower secondary level and primary level as well. All the speakers also promised to support NELTA Chitwan and its ensuing 17th International Conference phase II in every possible way. Finally NELTA Chair closed the ceremony by promising to carry out such programmes in the near future in other parts of the districts and also for the other levels as well and support with every possible way to improve and enhance the ELT situation of the district in the days to come.
The third phase of the programme (A Two Day ELT Programme: Phase III) is yet to be conducted in the Western Chitwan. NELTA has taken PABSON western belt in confidence in collecting the teachers and setting the venue for the programme so that the programme can be conducted in near future.
(Eka Dev Adhikari working as as ELT practitioner for the last two decades. Currently he teaches at Janajagriti Higher Secondary School, Pithuwa, Chitwan. He is also The Vice Principal and English Department Head in Marigold Secondary English School, Chainpur Chitwan. He is an active NELTA activist and currently holds the position of branch secretary in Chitwan branch. He did his MA in English from TU, Central Department of English, Kirtipur and his M.Ed. In Curricullum and Evaluation From Saptagandaki Multiple Campus Bharatpur Chitwan. As an active NELTA activist, he has been presenting papers in Local, Regional and International conferences of NELTA. He has also published various articles on ELT.)
