All posts by Balkrishna Sharma

NeltaChoutari June 2010 ISSUE

Editorial

Working on Diversity in English Pedagogy

Bal Krishna Sharma

Welcome to the June 2010 issue of NeltaChoutari Webzine!

We have always tried to work around a particular theme in each issue and collected contributions that go along with that theme. Contrarily, we receive the contribution from the authors who address diverse issues in English teaching in Nepal and some write ups go beyond English teaching to general issues of education and pedagogy. This time as well, we received articles that discuss varied and important issues in education. I believe this diversity is a more valuable asset to address the tastes of our audience who have different academic and professional interests.

The first post by Laxman Gnawali on teacher development emerges from his own experience of observing his teacher after a professional development course and his own academic degree in the UK for his MA. His convincing arguments with his narrative based on his real life experiences prove helpful to reinforce the NeltaChoutari’s mission to localize and situate language teaching profession that connects teacher training and professional development program with the teacher’s lived experiences in the local contexts. Bishnu Mani Thapaliya in the next article has raised a very important issue of challenges that English language teaching profession is facing in public schools that are located in more rural areas where teachers and students do not have necessary instructions, let alone the tools of technology. His arguments make our editorial team as well as the English teaching community to rethink our ways that technology can bridge this gap. Thapaliya also raises another critical issue that English is serving differently for different socio-economic class people: those who can send their kids to private, well-equipped schools versus those who send their kids to public schools where they mostly learn English from a translation method. Thapaliya also raises another critical issue of how and to what extent our rural teachers can participate and benefit from the type of professional discourse we have initiated online. Another post by Lekhnath Sharma Pathak outlines the importance of Student Quality Circle- a student centered, action-oriented approach to address student issues in schools- in schools in Nepal. Pathak convingly argues that these types of circles promote cooperation and problem solving nature among our students in schools where they have traditionally been more oriented toward competition. His writing is able to look at our teaching from a macro perspepctive where we aim our instruction not only to develop basic four skills of language for communication; we in addition have to aim for more social skills like cooperation, team work and excellence in our students. Another post by Eak Prasad Duwadi draws on his teaching experience in different contexts.  I have also provided an MP3 audio on Information Technology in Nepal broadcast by the BBC Radio Nepali Service. The last item provides a link for a teacher resource for managing discipline probmels in a classroom but I refrain from generalizing it as a universal teaching tip; it, however, certainly is one of several ways to handle discipline in classrooms.

Enjoy the readings and leave your feedback.

Table of Contents

1. Teacher Training in ELT: Where does it Go Wrong? by Laxman Gnawali

2. Factors and Problems in Teaching English in Nepal by B. M. Thapaliya

3. Student Quality Circle by Lekhnath S. Pathak

4. Bubbles are Bound to Burst by Eak Prasad Duwadi

5. Information Technology in Nepal (BBC Nepali Service Report)

6. Maintaining Discipline in Classrooms (a Youtube Video)

Teacher Training in ELT: Where does it Go Wrong?

Teacher Training, Teacher's Experience/anecdotes

By Laxman Gnawali

Senior Vice President, NELTA

Whenever the issue of teacher training comes up, I start visualizing an event which I witnessed as a student in 1976 when I was a student at Grade VI. This event left an indelible question in my mind. As an inquisitive student I used to listen to what my teachers said and observe what they did to find a correlation between their words and deeds. Once our English teacher told us in class that he was going to Kathmandu for a three month training course; there he would gain knowledge. He returned after three months and resumed his work. Intuitively, I had developed an expectation that when he came back, he would teach us in a different way. I did not expect a better way as I had no idea of what good teaching was, but I expected some difference in his activities in his classroom teaching. To my disappointment, he started with the same method of translating the texts, giving us grammar exercises and asking us the Nepali equivalents of English terms. There was no difference in him and his practice. A question struck me: what had he been doing for three months? I thought training meant learning new things. What had he learnt then? For years the question lingered: What difference did the training make to my teacher?

In 2000 I went to the College of St Mark and St John Plymouth (now, University College Plymouth St Mark St John)  to a Master’s course in Teacher Development, the interactions with my tutors and other professionals, professional literature, visits to different institutes and conferences answered the question that haunted me for years. Then I realised that any training that does not relate to the real classroom world, examination system, local context, and trainees’ mental constructs, their needs and expectations cannot achieve the desired goals. Training that takes place away from the school environment without monitored school-based practice or follow–up cannot be transferred to the classroom. Training contents based on trainees’ needs and participant-centred experiential learning approach in the training can make a difference in teacher learning. For teachers to develop in the job, they need to constantly reflect on their practice. As Burns (1999:12) says

‘reflective analysis of one’s own teaching develops a greater understanding of the dynamics of classroom practice and leads to curriculum change and that enhances learning outcomes for students’.

Appropriate ways to structure the reflection are classroom observation and collaborative action research. Justifying the role of classroom investigation for professional growth Burns (1999:12) writes,

‘researching one’s own classrooms and teaching contexts is something which can, and should, be considered by language teachers, as a realistic extension of professional practice’.

Now I understood why my teacher did not show any difference in his classroom practice.

In the dissertation I submitted to the College, I tried to justify my view on the role of classroom observation and classroom action research for teacher development. I also discussed my belief that in-service training can be an important step to guide teachers towards their self-directed developmental activities. Based on these discussions, I proposed a course which incorporated training-centre-based activities and school-based practice.

Since my return, I have invested all my energy to implement what I proposed in the dissertation through the MED and PGDE programmes at Kathmandu University and NELTA-led in-service training and the results have been positive. However, as there is so much to be done in this area, I keep reciting Robert Frost’s lines:

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

(Modified excerpt from the Introduction to my dissertation Investigating Classroom Practices: A Proposal for Teacher Development for the Secondary School: Teachers of English in Nepal submitted to the College of St mark and St John, Plymouth, UK, 2001)

Bubbles are bound to burst

Critical Outlook, Teacher's Experience/anecdotes, Teaching Tips

Eak Prasad Duwadi

Kathmandu University

Be it students or administrators, everyone used to praise me for engaging learners satisfactorily in the class; and I was very self-motivated. In fact, I was started imagining myself to be one of the best teachers in the world. Was I a snob?

Well, I have been teaching English as Foreign Language at reputed schools and colleges in Nepal for more than five years. Besides having degrees, I possess dozens of ELT workshops certificates. Whichever class I go to, learners see me off with broad smiles. Not only they produced what I asked in class but also did every assignment promptly. So I used to feel proud and maintain my learner-friendly status.

However, some time back I had gone for a month long rigorous training along with four other trainees. Besides, theoretical perspectives and language games, we were required to go to real schools along with lesson plans and materials.

It was my first teaching practice of that training. It was also an opportune time to prove one’s worth as a teacher. The instructor and peers would observe the class so as to give feedbacks later. I was so confident that I thought I was the best teacher in the world. I entered the classroom of Grade 10, and started my lesson that had to do with grammar (direct/indirect questions).

As a warm up, I drew some pictures for context setting, and displayed a chart. To my surprise, before I had finished half of the lesson plan, the bell rang, and it was time to wrap up. I felt so guilty that I nearly burst into tears. My ego got dismantled as fragile pane. What I realized was that I was having a vicious circle of self scorn. I was not a perfect teacher as I still had to learn hundreds of methods and countless exposures. It laid bare the threads the fabric of superiority that I had cultivated. Above all I had never thought about timing which is very important. Returning to school, my peers and instructor reflected on my strengths and weaknesses.

I found the first was insignificant in comparison to the second. Obviously, the trainer asked for ‘Repetition’. Although very bitter, I accepted their remarks and promised to do better from another day. It was but another lesson learnt: learning and familiarisation continues all throughout life; and no one is perfect.

ELT Resource Development

ELT Resource

From the very first issue of NeltaChoutari, we have been emphasizing that we as English teachers in Nepal are not only consuming knowledge and skills, we are also committed to produce teaching and training resources that are appropriate for our local contexts. We have also been arguing that in this fluidly changing global world, we cannot create a demarcation between global vs. local or national vs. international because we are connected to the global world via several mediums of information and communication. In such a changing global-local context, we can also see what is going around the world, what pedagogic practices have been successful or challenging and whether we can ‘appropriate’ them according to our own context. Similarly, if we produce some innovative or useful teaching practice or tips from our unique classroom context, we can share that with a larger audience both within and outside the nation.

As has already been explained in the main page of this Choutari issue, one of the goals of “NeltaNetworking”  mission is to collect, build and develop ELT resources that are useful to our local context. The NeltaNetworking will be devoted to assemble resources that are useful to the English teachers in Nepal, provide links information of useful applied linguistics and English pedagogy websites, organizations, academic journals and blogs, and also encourage the Nepalese teachers to create, upload and share their teaching resources to a larger audience. This will largely be done via NELTA’s website and NeltaChoutari blog’s pages.

As an initiation to provide links to resources to our university researchers and ELT practitioners, I have created a separate page on the NeltaChoutari’s homepage. Please click the link (http://neltachoutari.wordpress.com/downloads-and-links/), find the resources and enjoy the premium access.

And please remember to leave a comment on this post, telling us what kinds of resources would be most useful for you (as well as what resources you know of). Thank you.

NeltaChoutari Anniversary Issue (January 2010): “Nepalese ELT Professional Networking on the Web”

Editorial

Happy new year 2010!!! Here is the first Anniversary issue (January 2010) of NeltaChoutari professional networking. This issue contains the following items:

1. NeltaChoutari’s past journey and future directions

2. An interview with NELTA President- Mr. Ganga Ram Gautam

3. Teachers’ anecdotes and stories

4. ‘Need for ELT Survey in Nepal‘ (originally published in The Rising Nepal by Sajan Karn)

5. Some Humor: Global English in Use

An Interview with NELTA President Mr. Ganga Ram Gautam

Teacher's Experience/anecdotes

Choutari: How does our effort for promoting professional communication relate to NELTA’s goals and how might we be able to enhance them?

Mr. Gautam: First of all, I would like to appreciate the efforts of our young colleagues Shyam, Bal, Prem and Sajan for taking initiative to begin the NELTA Choutari forum which has offered a professional platform for the NELTA members to share their ideas, arguments, views and their observations. This effort is directly related to the NELTA goals. As mentioned in the NELTA constitution, the two key objectives (among five objectives) of NELTA are: (2) To provide a forum for individuals, institutions and associations having similar goals and (3) To foster the exchange of ideas, resources, information and experience among people associated with ELT and for the last one year you have been trying to enhance the professional communication among the members through this forum. This is indeed a big achievement and we need to continue this in the future. However, the readership network of this forum is still limited and we need to discuss how we can expand the readers’ network and make sure that they read and contribute to the discussion.

C: How do you think we can increase engagement/contribution to networked discussions by NELTA members who have access?

G: This is indeed a key concern for all of us and we need to work collectively on this issue. One of the strategies could be to use the quick communication channels such as facebook/twitters etc. to publicise about this forum and motivate people to read and contribute. For example, if someone posts a quick note on the facebook that s/he read the article posted in NELTA Choutari and make a very brief comment on this on the facebook and link the site on it so that people get motivated to read and contribute. Similarly, we can also put the notice in the NELTA newsletter and make announcement in the NELTA conference. Also, we could have a brief presentation on this in the forthcoming NELTA conference. We shall be happy to have a brief webinar on this if you would like to make a short presentation on this.

C: Do you have any suggestions for conducting networked discussions in better ways so that branches and members can contribute better?

G: Friends, this has been a great challenge for us and we need to find ways to engage the branch members in the professional discussion. I think we need to find a contact person in each branch who has internet/email access and work through that person. Some branch members have already started doing so on individual basis now we need to institutionalize this in all the branches. One of the strategies to promote this could be through the regional network that we plan to establish. Birgunj has already started the regional conference and Surkhet is holding the next. Similarly, we could have other branches from different regions to initiate this kind of activities and the lead branch that organizes the regional event could work as a satellite to disseminate this information. We have proposed this modality for the next English Language Fellow (ELF) when we submitted the proposal to the US embassy. (I have attached the proposal for your reference to give you detail picture of what this is about). These regional centers can be mobilized to promote communication among the branches. Perhaps we can start this on pilot basis.

C: Do you have any practical suggestions for us to collaborate with NELTA in its efforts at increasing professional communication on and off line?

G: Some of you have been very generous to offer your time for the NELTA journal. On behalf of the NELTA committee, I would like to thank you very much for your contribution and I can see that there are a lot of places where we can work for NELTA breaking the distance barrier. Some of the things that I can talk about now are:

a)  Our members include teachers, trainers, researchers and various ELT practitioners. A large number of our members are also trainee teachers who at some point carry out research in various aspects of ELT. In order to support them with the resources, can we set up a site on NELTA Web page, or Yahoogroups or NELTA Choutari or maybe in all of them where we can hyperlink the academic research sites and also upload the articles from the US for our students so that they can have access to the materials? We can also include these materials in the discussion forums.

b)  We would like to put all the Master’s Thesis Titles and Ph.D. thesis titles on the NELTA web so that students can see what has been researched so far.  It would be nice if you could also find the link from other universities where our students can see what kind of Master’s thesis are produced in other parts of the world.

c)  As I and Shyam talked on the phone, we could assign someone from NELTA to liaise the NELTA committee and groups like NELTA Choutari or individuals who contribute to NELTA on the Web. This will make the communication much easier and quicker.

Finally, I once again thank the team that has managed NELTA Choutari very professionally and I also take this opportunity to say Happy New Year 2010.

——

to leave a comment, click here (editor: Bal Sharma, Shyam Sharma)

Which English to Teach?

English as a Global Language

August 2009 Issue

The English language has established itself as the most influential global language of communication in different countries around the world. It is one of the major languages taught in schools and universities. Most countries have adopted either the British or the North American variety of English as a target for teaching and learning purposes. But research studies have shown that there are new and legitimate varieties of Englishes in countries like Singapore, India, South Africa and the Philippines, and they too are governed by linguistic and sociolinguistic rules of use and usage. In addition, most people use English in order to communicate with the people belonging to different linguistic backgrounds in order to carry out real world communicative tasks in events like business transactions, conferences, transnational negotiations, etc.

The notion that few center countries own English as their sole property has been questioned due to its expanding role worldwide. Due to its global spread and emergence of new varieties when it has come in contact with other languages and cultures, no one nation or group of nations can claim the sole ownership. The obvious claim is that the people who employ English for communication must have a sense of ownership and agency over it. Therefore, the pedagogical policies and practices must inform the learners that they are learning English that belongs to them and that they can find their identity with it. So English is no more ‘foreign’ or ‘alien’ to the learners. Closely connected to the question of ownership is the traditional dichotomy between native and non-native speakers. The native speaker construct on genetic or ethnic ground is unjustifiable, and to assume that there are idealized native speakers of English is a myth. Native speakerness is not a fixed identity but is socially-culturally constructed identity. Other more neutral terms related to affiliation or proficiency like more/less proficient, expert/novice user might replace the NS/NNS dichotomy. Vivian Cook, for example, prefers to use the term ‘successful second language learner’ for the more proficient user of language. This discussion and debate questions the fundamental goal of traditional English language teaching: To make the learners able to communicate with the native speakers of English which is unattainable or irrelevant target. Since there exist no idealized native speakers or since everybody can be a native speaker of English if s/he has mastery over it (See Davies, 2003), then there is a need to redefine the goal of language teaching.

Against this backdrop, Aya Matsuda provides a case study of Japan (where American English is an ideal target for curricular goals) in the article entitled “Incorporating World Englishes in Teaching English as an International Language” published in TESOL Quarterly in 2003. She analyzes the textbooks used in the Japanese public schools and justifies the need to incorporate other outer circle countries’ English speaking characters and dialogues in the course books. She also points out that we can bring in the fluent speakers of English from other parts of world rather than only from the center English speaking countries. I have quoted the main highlights of her argument in the following bullets:

  • The  international  scope  of  learners’  English  learning  agenda should  logically  be  matched  by  pedagogical  approaches  that  teach English as an international language (EIL), in part through inclusion of varieties of World Englishes (p.719).
  • Teaching  inner-circle  English  in  Japan  neglects the real linguistic needs of the  learners, eclipses their education  about the  history  and  politics  of  English,  and  fails  to  empower  them  with ownership of English (p. 721).
  • Teachers themselves must be aware of the  current  landscape  of  the  English  language.  Teacher education programs for pre-service EFL teachers need to focus on both the inner circle and the outer circle varieties of English (p. 725).
  • Incorporating  World Englishes  does  not  mean removing  native  varieties  from  English  classes  or  replacing  them  with less-perfect  ones;  rather,  they  add  to  the  current  repertoire  and  thus enrich  the curriculum (p. 726).

She concludes her argument as:

“Presenting the  complexity  of  the  sociolinguistic  reality  of  English  is  needed  to prepare  learners  for  their  future  use  of  English that  may  involve  both NNSs  and  NSs  and  that  may  take  place  in  any  part  of  the  world.  The understanding  of World Englishes  does  not  consist of a  set  of  discrete items or topics that can  be tucked in at the beginning of the semester, between  formal  chapters,  or during the first 5 minutes  of  every  lesson and  then  be  forgotten.  It  is,  rather,  a  different  way  of  looking  at  the language,  which  is  more  inclusive,  pluralistic,  and  accepting  than  the traditional,  monolithic  view  of  English  in  which  there  is  one  correct, standard way of using English that all speakers must strive for. In a sense, incorporating World Englishes is like putting on a new pair of glasses— the detail and complexity of the world we suddenly see may initially be overwhelming,  but  in  the  long  run,  we  would  have  a  better  view  and understanding of English as an international language (EIL)” (p. 727).

Though the arguments and examples come from the Japanese EFL context, they have implications for Nepal too, and we English teachers can draw insights and develop our awareness of the plurality of English. Please find the attached article in the neltamail and provide your comments via the ‘comment’ link below.

The English language has established itself as the most influential global language of communication in different countries around the world. It is one of the major languages taught in schools and universities. Most countries have adopted either t