Nostalgic I feel !

We all know that the old team of NELTA Choutari is on the way to departure and a new team of promising ELters is to join the board from the New Year on wards. At this moment, I feel a bit nostalgic about everything we had and we did being associated with Choutari. This moment reminds me of my early days in NELTA Choutari. The story is long and I do not have room enough to tell you all but I still remember how my journey in NELTA Choutari began and how I collaborated with such brilliant minds  in order to help transform Nepalese ELT. I have never seen Shyam Sharma(the key architect of Choutari)  in person, yet we are so close and at one by both heart and mind in shaping the profession. I have had very a few meetings with Balkrishna Sharma but the intimacy has grown so strong that we do care for each other not only personally but also professionally. And Prem Phyak is always close to my heart. What I would like to say is it is Choutari that has at times cemented and strengthened our relation.  We have been together for a single cause and that is transformation of Nepalese ELT and Choutari has been a common umbrella for us and for you.

At this moment, I am not and should not be evaluating the Choutari activities: I leave them upon the newcomers and others but this departure does make me a bit more emotional than I had ever thought I would feel. While I am writing this editorial, I am not in position to believe that I am quitting Choutari from January onwards. On the one hand, it makes me a bit gloomy that I will be, in a way, missing the wonderful company I have had for the last four years; I will no longer be compiling articles, contacting possible contributors and writing editorials. These are the things that gave me utter satisfaction in my academic life.  On the other hand I am happy that the responsibility now on has gone to the shoulders of a very effervescent team who have already shown their utmost commitment and efficiency to maintain the legacy that began four years back. I still remember myself talking to Shyam,  Prem, and Balkrishana for longer hours on messenger, Google chat and Skype, learning technology, requesting professors for interview, encouraging young ELTers to read the contents and share their comments, publicizing things in conferences and so forth. I believe my association with NELTA Choutari has fetched me more than I gave it.

All this makes me so wistful and also lets me nearly utter: “Team, I do not want to quit”. But there has to be a system of entry and exit in all associations and projects. And it is time for me to say “Good Bye”.  Nevertheless, I am pretty sure that it does not in any way curtail my presence from Choutari completely in the days to come. I will be ever happy to contribute NELTA Choutari whatever way possible. With this commitment and also wishing the new team good luck in their endeavor to initiate new but worthwhile discourses in Nepalese ELT, I would like to give a stop to this editorial.

Last but not least

December, the last month of the Gregorian calendar, has turned the last month of my association with NELTA Choutari as a co- editor but I am very much aware that I should not let it become the least in any sense. The issue of NELTA Choutari brings you with some new personalized ELT experiences having typical Nepalese flavor. To begin with,  the interview with Vishnu Singh Rai (my guru) on considerably a new venture that Asian English Teachers Creative Writing Group sheds light on a new philosophy of producing poems and stories for use in Asian EFL/ESL classrooms. The discourse with him is insightful and will have a considerable space in Nepalese ELT in the days to come.  The next two entries again reflect on prevalent fallacies in Nepalese ELT. Whereas Maheshwor Rijal, in his write up, shares his individual reflections on teaching and learning of vocabulary during his school days, Binod Kumar Yadav highlights the need of rapport between teacher and students, the lack of which has considerably affected Nepalese ELT making it virtually a one way traffic. Similarly, Dipesh Sah, in his tiny entry, shares his own strategies of motivating students in EFL classrooms in rural Sindhuli and finally Bharat Babu Khanal measures the effectiveness of a US sponsored Micro-scholarship Access Program implemented by NELTA.

1. ‘Creative writing brings fresh air in the classroom’: An Interview with Vishnu Singh Rai
2. Revisiting Vocabulary Teaching/Learning: My Reflections    by Maheshwor Rijal
3. Significance of Rapport in English Language Teaching and Learning by Binod Kumar Yadav
4. Motivation in ESL/EFL Learning: Who’s Responsible? by Dipesh Kumar Sah
5. The Impact of Access Program in Nepal by  Bharat Babu Khanal

Acknowledgement:

I would like to sincerely acknowledge Madhav Kafle’s support in compiling and editing articles for this issue as an intern. His sincere efforts have shown that he will make a good editor. I wish him all the best.

Sajan Kumar

Editor

NELTA Choutari 

Dear October Choutari readers,

I have always been thrilled to answer the questions ‘Kamal, I have heard about Choutari, but I do not know much about it, and please tell me what actually it is.’ when I meet people from the rural and countrysides where internet or information technology are still exotic or foreign matters. I talk to them as if these are everyday activities, and I get more excited when I come to know about their involvement (though relatively slow) in these matters. This normally happens upon my second visit or I come to know about this on phone, or when I get a request, ‘Kamal, please subscribe me the yahoo-groups of NELTA, so I will know about Choutari.’ Naïve they are, but they have kept themselves in the smooth move of ELT.

These are the exciting stories that I have collected from the branches over my visits. Recently, I have visited Dailekh, Rautahat, Ramechhap, and I am visiting Nawalparasi, and I am sure that I am collecting similar stories from the friends in that region. Like in other branches, after participating in the session particularly on ‘NELTA Choutari’, they will visit me and express their inner desire to be the part of Choutari. The obsession to be the part of Choutari is the stimulus for us that they need to be pushed, pulled or encouraged to be the part of wider world through Choutari, no matter what formal text they prepare. Their reflection is all that takes them to the world of ‘High’, which gradually will influence their students. This is one of the unannounced fundamental objectives of all teachers and definitely of Choutari.

Knowing the principle of creating a creative text, a poetic one, Mr Gopal Basyal from Palpa engages his students and endeavors to transform the participants into poets. He deliberates in his reflection how everybody can write poems. This gives the flavor to the readers that the creativity is a common phenomenon to all the learners. He, thus, proves that we all are poets.

Moving further, Mr Ashok Sapkota deliberates that the teachers in the modern world should not feel alienated as there are unlimited sources available mainly because of internet. As a Choutari editor, I request all the teachers to be the part of global world and share the wider information with those who do not have the access to net. And, thus, be a mentor to the society, which is the part of your responsibility.
Being a mentor is a part of professional development. There are other aspects of professional development. Mr Madhukar KC discusses the values of observation in Teacher Development. It is a requirement that a teacher needs to undergo the process of being observed which may show you the unidentified challenges, and this is helpful to grow yourself as a better teacher.

In the meantime, becoming a better teacher is further possible through being a part of wider professional network like NELTA, which organizes professional gatherings at local, national and international levels. These ideas are expressed by Mr Ganesh Shrestha and Mr Ashok Raj Khati in ‘ELT in Rural Context: Growing through Professional Networks’.

The modern world is marked by the feature of interdisciplinary, which is one of the basics for everyone to be the part of modern professionalism. Mr Hem Kafley’s reflection comes up with the idea of ‘intuition and imagination know no disciplinary boundaries’.

So, here is the list of ELT khurak for the month:

1. Observation as a Key Concept for Teacher Development, by Madhukar KC
2. Disciplinary Bias, Interdisciplinary Benignity, by Hem Raj Kafle
3. Everyone can Write Poems: A Reflection, by Gopal Prasad Bashyal
4. How to Use Newspaper in ELT, by Praveen Kumar Yadav
5. Bringing Technology to EFL Classroom: The World Wide Web, by Ashok Sapkota
6. ELT in Rural Context: Growing through Professional Networks (A Brief Report of Branch Conference), by Ashok Raj Khati & Ganesh Shrestha

Finally, Dear readers, I would like to request you to proceed with remarkable feedbacks and comments, which will push the editors to collect more reflections and articles from varied sources, and thus make the Choutari full of required diversity.

Cheers Choutari!

On behalf of Choutari team:
Kamal Poudel

Dear Colleagues,

This time again, we have a variety of contributions. Raj Dhakal discusses how English teachers can create interest among students. He also gives an example from a Thai context– setting where he is teaching now. Surendra Raj Adhikari provides a critical overview of World Englishes perspective and questions the symbolic dominance of English as a global language. Bal Krishna Sharma and Prem Phyak’s report on critical literacy workshop cogently argues for a need to address broader social and critical issues while teaching language. Umes Shrestha reflects on a number of English expressions from students in his school and asks the Choutari audience to share similar experiences. Bal Ram Adhikari, drawing on his experience as a course writer and teacher trainer of the same course, puts forth new aspirations and challenges that the teachers are facing. And Madhu Neupane’s reflective write-up reviews a number of themes from the American context and provides some insights for a critical pedagogy.

As always, I hope you will share your thoughts and comments. Here is a list of entries for the month.

1. How to Interest Students in English Class? : Raj Dhakal

2. Symbolic Dominance Vs Transformation in Relation to World Englishes: Surendra Raj Adhikari

3. Workshop on Critical Literacy: Bal Krishna Sharma and Prem Bahadur Phyak

4. An English Teacher’s Dilemma: Umes Shrestha

5. Advanced Reading Course: New Aspirations and Challenges: Bal Ram Adhikari

6. My Recent Trip to the US: Reflections and Some Insights for ELT: Madhu Neupane

Thank you.

Bal Krishna Sharma
Editor, August

I hope everyone is having a nice summer.

Here is July 2012 issue of Nelta Choutari. This is a variety pack. The increased diversity of contributors is exciting. And we are also excited about the fact that our contributors share their experiences while discussing issues at more or less general scholarly/theoretical level.

The first piece is a reflection of one of our colleagues, Kapil Neupane, who shares his experiences about beginning to use lesson plans and improving his teaching. In an entry about corporal punishment, Atmaram Bhattarai and Praveen Yadav first describe the scenario of corporal punishment in Nepal and then argue why corporal punishment is not the solution to problems that it is supposed to solve. The authors also provide alternatives and make an appeal to NELTA as a professional organization to address the issue of corporal punishment in our schools. Tirtha Wagle writes about an issue that most of us are are not aware about, decision making before, during, and after teaching. Sometimes, we ask editors to join the conversation, so in this issue Bal has provided an entry in which he discusses how experienced teachers deal with diverse students in the classroom. Finally, we have included the second half of the interview from last month with a veteran English language teacher Dr. Rajendra Bimal (thanks to Praveen Yadav again for collecting the interview). For convenience, here is the list:

• “Importance of Lesson Plan in ELT class,” by Kapil Neupane
• “We Can… Without Corporal Punishment,” by Atmaram Bhattarai and Praveen Yadav
• “Decision Making in ESL Classroom,” by Tirtha Raj Wagle
• “What Experienced Teachers Tend to Do with ‘Silent,’ ‘Dominant,’ and ‘Off-Task’ Students,” by Bal Krishna Sharma
• Dr. Rajendra Bimal’s interview Part II, by Praveen Yadav (audio editing: Shyam Sharma)

I hope that you will enjoy this issue and join the conversation as always. You don’t need grand ideas, just any response, thought/opinion on the topic, or a genuine appreciation or critique. And please remember to share it on your professional/social networks.

Thank you and happy reading!

Shyam Sharma

The fields of English studies and English teaching demand inclusive readjustment today. Beyond the age-old concerns of originality and standard in learning and practice, issues like gender sensitive curriculum, glocalization of indigenous knowledge, inclusion of mother tongue in school education seem to question the authority of English as a major medium and resource for modern education. English teachers must be prepared to take up an increasing pressure of interdisciplinary exposure and networking across diverse geographical locations to cater to this need of readjustment in the days ahead.

The June issue of Nelta Choutari is expected to hint at this reality. We have included the insights of Dr. Rajendra Bimal, a Janakpur-based scholar, in our oral history project. Other posts, in addition to covering usual pedagogical issues, aim to present local experiences to mark an increasing sense of awareness to redefine our roles as teachers and practitioners of English.

In this issue we bring to you:

1. “Interview with Dr. Rajendra Bimal” (Part One) – by  Praveen Kumar Yadav
2. “Challenges in Assessing Learners’ Written Skills in Nepal – by Eak Prasad Duwadi
3. “Learning Style Preferences” – by Khem Raj Joshi
4. “Writing English in Nepali Way” – by Hem Raj Kafle
5. “Gender Disparity: A Classroom Issue” – by Mandira Adhikari

BEFRIENDING GRAMMAR

Thanks to language, man became man.

 Descrates

It is needless to reiterate that we are human beings for the reason that we are gifted with the faculty of language. Aldous Huxley joined Descrates when he made even a stronger claim that ‘deprived of language we should be as dogs and monkeys’. True, hundred percent true!  Words fall short to illuminate the value of language in human life.  However, a million dollar question is “what is something that makes a language?”, What is something that distinguishes language from other communications?   Of course, there are several defining features of language but perhaps most importantly, human communication is set apart from rest of the communications because language has the attribute of grammar which others do not. The enormous complexity in language also leads us to look for grammar.  Thus, men are not merely homo loquens but also homo grammaticus to tag along with Frank Plamer.

Arguably, grammar (and its instruction) is as old as human language.  Though the history of written grammar is traced back to fourth century in the East (India) and even later fifth century in the West (Greece), some grammar plausibly must have existed in oral tradition of language before. This existence of grammar implies the existence of grammar instruction in some way. To say more explicitly, we have been doing grammar in one way or other since the origin of language. And perhaps, we will not be able to imagine language without grammar any time in future.   Despite criticisms against its tyranny in language learning, grammar continues to survive either implicitly or explicitly. We have heard and read controversies for and against grammar instruction but the fact is that every language teacher is a grammar teacher. Whether a language teacher teaches different skills or aspects or various genres of literature, grammar is inherent. It is because language is language because of its grammar.   If so, then a sensible question is:  “how can we befriend grammar?”  Befriending grammar implies befriending changes in grammar. Changes in grammar are shaped by changes in language which is also called a living phenomenon. If the grammar of a language does not proceed in consonance with changes in language, the grammar can/should be declared dead. Similarly, innovations in grammar pedagogy have deconstructed our perceptions and practices both. Thus befriending grammar also requires us to be familiar with the issues and directions in grammar instruction both home and abroad. Some of the current issues in grammar instruction worldwide as Rod Ellis puts are: Should we teach grammar, or should we simply create the conditions by which learners learn naturally? What grammar should we teach? When should we teach grammar? Is it best to teach grammar when learners first start to learn an L2 or to wait until later when learners have already acquired some linguistic competence? Should grammar instruction be massed (i.e., the available teaching time be concentrated into a short period) or distributed (i.e., the available teaching time spread over a longer period)? Should grammar instruction be intensive or extensive? Is there any value in teaching explicit grammatical knowledge? Is there a best way to teach grammar for implicit knowledge? Should grammar be taught in separate lessons or integrated into communicative activities? These issues demand every grammar teacher to be alert and think critically over them.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Nepalese ELT has ever made an effort to adopt and adapt the global trends. The reason is Nepalese ELT does not have its own research foundation. Though some of the issues in grammar instruction can be addressed with the insights from mainstream ELT, several local issues seem to be cropping up and demanding course desiginers, experts and practitioners to think afresh, to initiate research to diagnose the gaps and to reveal new directions in order to reshape it. For instance, nativisation of English in Nepal has led us think in a new way on whether we should continue with grammar of British English, American English or we should have our own grammar of Nepalese English. We are already familiar with the fact that many discussions have taken place to justify new English in Nepal and to build a corpus for it. Likewise, with the privitazation of education, English grammar writers in Nepal are mushrooming but the quality of their products can be questioned on several grounds. Grammars based on borrowed materials and devoid of any attention towards English and Nepalese English corpus can in no way expose language learners with everyday English. Vertical course designing trend also poses another problem in grammar instruction. We gradually seem to be realising that teaching grammar in isolation does not fetch more and therefore it is the time we moved towards discourse grammar of English.

In this May issue of NELTA Choutari, through an interview and two reflective articles, an attempt has been made to inform the ELT practitioners with the issues in grammar instruction and also some insights and expertise to enlighten their perspectives and  practices both.

Though this issue lays its efforts to penetrate into the issues of grammar instruction in Nepalese ELT, we serve you with the following diverse contents:

1. What, Why And How of Doing Grammar?  An Interview with Dr. Bal Mukunda Bhandari
2. Gaps In The Expectations Of Course Designers, Teachers And Students –Bal Ram Adhikari
3. Almost Every Sentence Has A Tense!!!–Madhu Neupane
4. Examining Examinations–Pavan Kumar Sah
5.  The Training And Trainees!: A Reflective Report On Training In Birgunj-Suresh Shrestha

We are sure that while you go through the aforementioned writings, you will find the issues thorny, creating controversies and stimulating discussions. Please feel free to share your observations, no matter sweet or sour.

Sajan Kumar 

Editor

May Issue, NELTA Choutari

Kamal Poudel

Dear Readers,
Professional conferences can be vanguard of change for a community like ours. If you have been a teacher for some time, you may remember the teaching approaches that you adopted in the early years of your career and how you have refined them over time. The way you think now is the consequence of the change in the time that you have undergone. Knowingly and unknowingly you are changing the patterns of your professional behaviors. You feel the same way in the days to come; no matter you are a novice teacher now. But such changes are possible only when you are charged with the concept of development. The professional development is the key factor to change you and your working pattern. As soon as you believe in the principle professional development, you start feeling to involve yourself in the gathering of teachers where you develop your network and finally you influence and get influenced. You, as a result, always feel the dire need of joining the conferences where people from different parts of the world bring various stories and you also convey your message in the same way.
NELTA organized its 17th International Conference in the month of February. There were teachers and ELT experts/practitioners from more than 22 countries to present and participate in the conference. There were a lot of sharing and discussions among the ELT stakeholders.
We are making this issue a special conference discussion issue. In addition to the reports of the conference, you will enjoy the materials by the three key speakers viz Prof Angi, Prof Malderez Fredricka L. Stoller and Prof Rod Ellis. Please enjoy the brief report of the presentations of various speakers from the different societies in the world. Further, we have articles that address the classroom teaching directly. It is my pleasure to share a report of training that was supported by Kate Miller.

1. 17th International Conference of NELTA Phase I (Kathmandu)
2. 17th International Conference of NELTA Phase II (Chitwan)
3. Summaries of Conference Events 
4. Three-day Teacher Training in Tanahu and Siraha supported by Kate Miller (a report by Shyam Pandey)
5. Principles of Instructed Language Learning (by Rod Ellis)–click to open a slide show
6. The Use of English Words in Teaching ESL in Jaffna (by T.Karunakaran)
7. Beyond Binaries in Supporting in Teacher Learning: the Vital Role of Mentors (by Angi Malderez)
8. Stories in ELT (by Angi Malderez)
9. Project-Based Learning in EFL Classrooms (by Fredricka L. Stoller)
10. Vocabulary Building: A Response to Students’ Present & Future Needs (by Fredricka L. Stoller)

Please join the conversation and share posts you like on your networks.

Cheers!
Choutari Team

Bal Krishna Sharma

In a brief solicited feedback survey last month (in January Anniversary issue), Choutari readers indicated that they would like to see more practical teacher stories and tips, and hands-on teaching materials rather than scholarly and abstract theoretical reviews. As always, we sent an announcement though our NELTA group mail and we editors wrote to potential authors  individually to solicit contributions. Except some, most of the teachers sent a green signal to contribute a blog entry by the 15th of January. Eventually, only few could make it, however.

This is understandable. We have more than 14 hours of loadshedding at home. Within the limited hours, there are other tasks that get more priority. However, we do have some veteran teachers who devoted their time to prepare blog entries for this issue. NeltaChoutari thanks them for their contributions.  Enjoy reading them and leave your comments.

Contents

1. An incident that changed my attitude by Madhu Neupane (This entry presents a story of why teachers should be more careful in assigning homework to the students.

2. Teacher training: for money or for professionalism? by Ram Abadhesh Ray (This anecdotal entry discusses a need for professionalism in teacher development programs/occasions)

3. Local needs and local resources in teaching English  by Asharam Shah (Asharam draws his experience from his involvement in materials preparation)

4. What I as a student expect from an English teacher by Manju Pokhrel (A story on a college student’s expectations from her English teacher)

5. Branch Highlights: Tanahun, Kaski and Makwanpur

.

Editorial

EDITORIAL

Shyam Sharma

Dear Colleagues,

We have a great set of materials for you this month, including entries about the status/role of women in academe, Quality Circles, ELT program building, envisioning one’s role as a teacher, developing your professional learning network,  and a spicy entry on Nepali English!

We hope that you will enjoy the entries and also contribute your thoughts as comments to the posts. It doesn’t matter if you have a grand idea or a related experience that you can quickly share, and it doesn’t matter if you are an expert on the subject and want to add to the author’s idea or if you are not very familiar with the topic and just want to ask a question. It is important to share an idea or experience, to add something to the conversation. With that request, here are the ELT khuraks of this month:

1. “Why Can’t Women Do It?” — a book review and reflection on the phenomenon called the Madam Curie complex, by Sewa Bhattarai

2. “Quality Circle for Life: A Quest for Possibility” — an essay adapted from a conference paper on Quality Circles in education, by Lekhnath Sharma Pathak

3. “Learning-Centered ELT Programs in Nepal” — an article on how to make language classrooms as learner-centered as possible, by Krishna Bista

4. “What-like What-like English?” — an entry that includes some humorous examples of Nepali English in private schools, by Parmeshwar Baral

5. “Knowing Your Role as a Teacher” — an essay about the use of metaphor for developing awareness about the type of role we want to play as teachers, by Bal Krishna Sharma

6. “The Power of Professional Learning Networks” — an essay about the importance, benefits, and process of developing networks for learning and sharing ideas for professional development as teachers-scholars, by Shyam Sharma

Happy reading!

———————————-

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

For the Third Anniversary issue of Nelta Choutari, we are currently accepting contributions. Please send your work—essays/brief articles, narratives, reports/updates, reflections, commentaries/opinions, etc—to neltachoutari @ gmail . com. Please see submission guidelines here.

Editorial 

Critical Thinking and Nepalese ELT

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled”

Plutarch, a Greek historian, biographer, essayist

Critical thinking unveils the shade of black clouds that had blinded us for years, breaks the wall of Berlin which had concealed pearls for ages and leads us from the corridor to headways and highways. In a nutshell, critical thinking guides us from darkness unto light. A critical thinker is one who does not take for granted what her eyes observe, what her ears hear and what her mind perceives at a glance but coalesces  her inner mind and heart both to examine things against observation and perception, asks questions and finally arrives at inferences or conclusions that leads to the elucidation of the problems in a reasonable and the best possible way.

The importance of critical thinking in human life can hardly be exaggerated. Unfortunately, most people are not critical thinkers. They do not ask questions. They do not try to understand why they are doing what they are doing. They just live life in the way it comes to them. Even if they think, their thinking is transient, momentary, only of immediate value.  They think for themselves, for their own life, not for the whole lives. Both their thoughts and actions are self-centered. This is the crux of the problem. An aware life demands thinking-in fact critical thinking. A conscious citizen is one who thinks and acts for society, does not only try to fill up her own stomach but thinks and acts in such a way that others eat first and try to  quench her hunger with the leftover. She thinks and acts both reasonably and responsibly.

Critical thinking is needed in all professions; however education requires comparatively more critical thinking. Particularly, teachers and students are required to think critically. Human life is heaped with piles of issues and it is on the part of conscious educated citizens to think about them critically and address them. Thus, education system of any country requires that its stakeholders –teachers, students, educationists, course designers, textbook writers, test writers, examiners etc. are critical thinkers, that is, they understand the purpose of the activities they are doing. They understand that if their thoughts and activities are not much worth and therefore,  they think and seek other ways.

With deep concern, I have to say that in the paucity of critical thinking element, Nepalese education has remained more stagnant and less progressive. Most professional lectures/teachings have been one way provoking little participation and thinking on the part of students. Most examinations have merely promoted rote-learning. Most textbooks do not tend to stimulate thinking and interactions in the classrooms, let alone critical thinking. Consequently, educational issues have remained unaddressed, piled up. There is very little Nepalese education has contributed in improving life. There is very little Nepalese education has alleviated society.

Nepalese ELT is not different either. It is staggering with the issues discussed and many more. There are a few courses that aim to involve students into critical thinking: most of them encourage committing and reproducing. There are a few teachers who enjoy critical thinking approach in classroom: most of them prefer to recite the same old mantra they recited decades ago. There are a few students who want to take part actively in teaching learning: most students want the readymade capsules prepared by teachers that they can chew and spew it back in the exams. There are a few test papers that require students to argue and reflect: most of them only measure if students are good quality parrots or bad ones. Where is language and where is language teaching?  Where is language learning and where is language testing?

Recently a few courses in ELT seem to have incorporated bits of critical thinking which is of course worthy of appreciation, but  just a drop in the ocean. From course designing to teaching, from teaching to testing, we require to integrate the component of critical thinking.  We require asking questions-a lot of questions. Should we keep doing what we are already doing or there are better alternatives? If yes, why not try them?

We have long been learning and forgetting and relearning Bloom’s taxonomy of three domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Categories of cognitive domain knowledge and comprehension, we have still been stuck to, higher order thinking such as application, analysis, synthesis (create) and evaluation have virtually been missing from Nepalese education and ELT. It is high time we leaped towards higher order thinking and reshaped Nepalese ELT for better outputs. What do you think?

Sajan Karn

Editor

NLETA Choutari

This issue of NELTA Choutari contains a very critical piece of writing by Professor Govinda Raj Bhattarai where he wishes his childhood days were back since the English language for which he deserted his age old family culture and tradition; for which he spoiled his own pious religion eating eggs, with which he has been involved for the last three decades, has merely thrown him at the state of great loss and void. In an interview by Professor Chandreshwor Mishra admits the fallacies in Nepalese English education and unveils his plans of action to adjust them in his tenure. In his article, Lal Bahadur Rana argues that critical thinking approach could prove immensely beneficial not only in developing communicative competence of the language learners but also in inculcating intellectual traits in them. Archana Shrestha and Sarah Chevalllie in their experience based write-up, share their successful practice of encouraging team activities in order to address the imbalance in classroom participation. Finally, it also consists of a Critical Thinking Lesson Plan for teaching a poem which adheres to four conditions of A (Audience), B(Behavior), C(Condition) and D(Degree).Please, do not go after my words, read them yourself to find what is worth and what is not and share your reflections straight away.   

CONTENTS

Reminiscing My Childhood Days  by  Professor Govinda Raj Bhattarai

Exam-oriented Nepalese ELT: An Interview with Professor Chandreshwor Mishra

Critical Thinking in ESL Classroom by Lal Bahadur Rana

The Power and Potential of the Classroom Collective  by Archana Shrestha &  Sarah Chevallie

A Critical Thinking Lesson Plan   by  Sajan Karn and Uzma Arshad (Pakistan) 

Dear Readers, this issue focuses on professional development of English teachers in settings like ours. It includes a great set of experience-based reflections by our fellow teachers.

In “Beginning Teaching in an EFL Class: a Novice Teacher’s Experience,” Ed Saul deliberates that becoming a teacher, especially a teacher of English, is a task which enriches one’s own mind while additionally bringing about the opportunity to constantly enrich the minds of others. As long as you keep your determination, feel ready to face the challenges given to you, and remember to have fun with the subject, you’ll be guaranteed success in this, your chosen career. Smile, put your best foot forward, and be prepared to be professional.

In his article “Teacher Development, its Nature and Classroom Observation as a Tool,” Thakur P. Bhusal discusses how as teachers we learn from our own experience of teaching and through personal engagement with ELT scholarship as well as through formal training, conference, networking, using ELT publications to guide our teaching, experimenting new curricula, taking on new roles in professional development initiatives, adapting our teaching strategies when curricula change, collaboration in teaching like team teaching, collaborative projects, peer observation, supervision and so on. Mr. Bhusal’s essay discusses in greater detail classroom observation as a strategy of teacher development.

Taru Budha’s article “Teacher Development through Reflective Practice” explains how teacher development is a process of becoming better teachers, while also seeking to facilitate the growth of fellow teachers, understanding teaching as well as themselves as teachers or individual persons. Development means a continuous and dynamic process that involves making sense of and interpreting one’s experiences as a teacher.

In his essay “Reflection on Monthly Talk on Professionalism and a Professional Organization,” Praveen Kumar Yadav shares a reflection on professionalization of teachers based on his participation of a monthly talk series in Kathmandu, presented by Ganga R. Gautam, immediate past president of NELTA, upon his return from the US where he completed his one year Humphrey scholarship at Boston University. Yadav asks, “Do you know who a professional is? What are the characteristics of professions?”

In his entry “Self-Directed Professional Development: Success Mantra or a Myth?,” Tika R. Bhatta discusses the values and importance of self directed professional development. He delineates that self-directed learning acts as a scaffolding device for a professional to augment his or her knowledge base and competency. His article deliberates on how adoption of certain strategies assists teachers to gain professional development thereby making teachers self-directed. The strategies discussed in this article are applicable to teachers teaching any subjects at any level, but they are most relevant to teachers of English as a foreign language. The essay presents a few strategies for self-directed professional development of teachers.

Please read the articles and leave your suggestions and comments. This will encourage the writers as well as give us the opportunity to share ideas.

Happy Dashain!

On behalf of NELTA Choutari team
Kamal Poudel

Bal Krishna Sharma

We have included diverse topics related to the teaching of English in this issue. Krishna Bista describes the value and importance of using music in teaching English. He provides examples of possible activities (oral, reading and writing, vocabulary building, etc.) that can make use of music. He adds that to involve the whole class, students can fill out response sheets about each presentation, answering questions about the featured topic, something new they learned, and something they enjoyed.

Praveen Yadav takes a right-based education approach to the teaching of English of in the Nepalese context. He argues that learning English is everybody’s right, possibly implying that marketizing and commodification of English in our context may create a barrier to the economically disadvantaged stratum in our society. In addition, he also suggests that ELT profession take a right-based approach as one of the values in pedagogy.

Ushakiran Wagle recollects her development as a learner and writer as she witnessed the innovations in technology. First coming form a relatively less preleviged background, she says she did not know how to send an email attachment. Now, Ushakiran has became the member of teachingenglish.org.uk and is getting better ideas and knowledge about the teaching learning process that can be used while teaching and learning English.

Madhu Neupane’s story reports an intervention in enhancing learner autonomy in her English reading class. She moved from teacher-fronted class to a relatively student-centred class, asking the students to prepare cards for learning word meaning, pronunciation and use and asking them to read texts before they come to the class. She reports positive changes and encourages other teachers to try out similar pedagogical practices.

As a branch highlight, Eka Dev Adhikari presents a report of a comprehensive training that took place in Chitwan. The NELTA with a partnership with PABSON delegates conducted a programme for private schools in three phases. From the experience and insights gained in this program, other branches can also draw implications for their similar programs.

In a brief reflection on the subject of changing paradigms of education, Shyam Sharma invites us to think about the larger social and historical forces that change education and which we need to intellectually and pedagogically respond to. Shyam concludes by asking us to think about the small things that we can do in the classroom with the big ideas about educational paradigms in perspective.

In addition to this, we also have two resources from the web: reflective narration of teaching conversation in Japan and fun with elevator English.

Please read and leave  your response!

Contents

Teachers’ narratives:Building theory from the bottom up

Prem Phyak
(with Shyam Sharma)

We generally assume that only so-called ‘scholars’, especially those who are from the national or global centers of knowledge production, can produce new knowledge; ordinary teachers don’t do so–they just teach! We are used to simply turning to the ‘real’ scholars for ideas about how to teach. Isn’t this a problematic view of our profession? Without grounding scholarship, research, and pedagogy in the local realities of the classroom and students, and without teachers participating in the creation of new knowledge, how can our profession genuinely develop from within? It is time that we start being a part of pedagogical innovations that we know will work for our students. We need to start developing new approaches, theories, and methods based on local socio-cultural contexts and dynamics. The practical challenges of the classroom can be better tackled if we as teachers try to theoretically, methodologically and pragmatically address those challenges  than if we continue to look for solutions in the big ideas of big scholars out there. We need to develop ELT scholarship that is based on our teaching practices, experiences, stories*.

August-2011 Issue of NELTAChoutari brings teachers’ narratives related to various issues of language teaching and learning within classroom and beyond. Janak Raj Pant’s narrative is related to teaching English in large multilevel classrooms. Janak discusses a number of unusual benefits of large classrooms. While recognizing  many downsides of teaching/learning in large classrooms, he also shares his experiences and strategies of how to tackle those challenges. His article is a good example of how methods, approaches, and theories of ELT must and can emerge from local teaching/learning situations.

Alban Holyoke, a Fulbright scholar from the US, who shares his experience of teaching English in Nepal, reflects on the challenges faced by novice teachers. In his narrative, he articulates uncertainties and pains teachers, particularly those who have never had any experience of teaching English, have to bear in their first year of teaching. Three important themes emerge from Alban’s narrative (a) building rapport with students is as important as having teaching skills, (b) utilizing students’ existing knowledge is an important strategy to promote dialogue in the classroom, and (c) teachers must learn to teach from mistakes and uncertainties.

Simon Taranto, another Fulbright Teaching Assistant, shares his experience of teaching English in a government-aided public school in Nepal. His narrative depicts that understanding local context is an indispensable component of teaching English. A brief account of his experience indicates that teaching English is always a situated practice i.e. without understanding local exigencies it may not be possible to expect effective teaching of English. In order to understand contextual realities, as he describes, we have to engage ourselves in outside-classroom-interactions (with teachers, community members and students) which help to understand dynamics of teaching and learning in school. He also suggests that it is important to be a part of teachers association like NELTA for professional development. At the end, he presents how students can be helped to produce a variety of language by using a simple communicative activity.

In another narrative, Luke Lindemann, also a Fulbright scholar, shares his thoughts about a crucial issue in ELT: creative production of English. He points out that Nepalese students lack the ability to produce English creatively i.e. they can only produce limited chunks, usually on one-to-one question-answer basis, but they cannot express their own thoughts and feelings very fluently in English. He suggests that by engaging students in collaborative activities and games in groups or pairs, students’ creativity can be fostered. As an example, Luke uses collaborative storytelling, which seems to be very effective towards meeting the goal of creative production.

Uttam Gaulee in his review article discusses the issue of gender in education and urges us to think about it in the context of Nepal. Reflecting on his own narrative which depicts how students are segregated in the classroom in terms of their gender, Gaulee raises some crucial questions for discussion. Here is a list of Choutari’s ELT khurak for the month:

• A Reflection on Teaching English in Large Multi-level Classroom (Janak Pant)
• Brief Experience of Teaching English in Nepal (Alban Holyoke)
• Within and beyond classroom for teaching English ( Simon Taranto)
• Encouraging Creative Production (Luke Lindemann)
• Review article: Shall We Separate Boys from Girls? (Uttam Gaulee)

We hope that you will enjoy this issue. Please remember to leave at least one comment: let us build knowledge as a community, one idea at a time. Please also remember to like, share, and subscribe to entries. Thank you.

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* If you’d like to read more Choutari scholarship on the subject of teacher narratives, please look them up by “teacher experience” tag in the selection menu on right.

Shyam Sharma
(and Sajan Karn)

July 2011 issue of Nelta Choutari is rich.

From the reflections of teaching English for the first time by a young scholar from the other side of the world to an oral interview with a veteran at home who has taught longer than some of us have lived, to critical reflections on speaking a foreign language, a travelogue by a group of teachers, observation about participating in the Humphrey Scholarship by the immediate past President of NELTA, honest thoughts of another Fulbright scholar about abstruse words in Nepali text books, to thoughts about the challenges of teaching poetry combined with a practical lesson plan, the materials we have collected for you are varied. They are also all thought-provoking.

Kent Grosh, a Fulgright Teaching Assistant, jumps right into his subject: the gap between students’ current vocabulary and the vocabulary their text books often use. His analogy is memorable: you don’t use calculus to teach basic multiplication. If we think about it, the analogy of using calculus to fourth graders not only applies to the case of vocabulary but is also true about many other aspects of our curriculum, materials, and often pedagogy: we often fail to meet students where they are. Luke Lindemann, another Fulbright scholar, points out a similar problem, which is regarding the increasing use of English as a medium of instruction by public schools, like the one where he taught. We know how proud parents are when their children are taught in “English,” the media gets equally excited, and even ELT scholars are prone to jump on that bandwagon of “English” as a measure of good education. But if we think about the negative impact of suddenly beginning to use English as a medium of instruction on teachers’ instruction and students’ understanding in class, the issue is much more complicated than English or no English. Lindemann’s article is absolutely thought-provoking. Four NELTA members from Birgunj–Praveen Kumar Yadav, Ram Abadhesh Ray, Ashok Kumar, Kamlesh Kumar Raut–share a lot of good ideas from the experiences that they had from their travel to a conference in south India. Their piece serves as an inspiration for colleagues who attend conferences, trainings, and other events: if we reflect on and write about what we do or experience, that can become useful resource to our professional community. In another entry, Ganga Ram Gautam, immediate past President of NELTA, shares his experience of participating in the Hubert Humphrey Scholarship at Boston University, US. His observations about ELT practices, educational leadership, and professional networking are worth thinking about for all of us, because those are activities that all of us should be engaging in at our own levels. How can we be more observant and reflective teachers? How can we integrate leadership into our work? How can we promote and engage in professional networking? Finally, Gambhir Man Maskey shares in his own voice the experience of teaching English for forty years and a few observations about the changes in ELT over time. His interview gives us a glimpse into the past and a sense of how much progress we have made as a professional community. (In an editorial extra, Shyam shares his own experience and a thought about the mission of developing professional networking among Nepalese English teachers.)

Contents

1. So Many Textbooks, So Little Time, by Kent Grosh
2. Speaking a Foreign Language Makes You Less Intelligent, by Luke Lindemann
3. Teacher Travelogue: A Journey to ELT@I Conference in Vellore, India, by Praveen Kumar Yadav, Ram Abadhesh Ray, Ashok Kumar, Kamlesh Kumar Raut (members of NELTA Birgunj)
4. A Brief reflection of my Humphrey Fellowship Program at Boston University, by Ganga Ram Gautam, Immediate past Present of NELTA
5. Interview with Gambhir Man Maskey, a podcast by Hem Raj Kafle and Eak Prasad Duwadi
6. Strategy and Challenges for Teaching Poem at Secondary Level, by Mabindra Regmi
7. The World is a Big Choutari, but– , by Shyam Sharma

We hope that you will enjoy reading this issue. Again, we have five requests for you: 1. Please write at least one quick comment in response to at least one of the posts. 2 Please “share” posts that you like on Facebook or in other ways with your colleagues. 3. Please “like” what you liked—that sends a nice message to the author. 4. Please subscribe Choutari—it’s one click away. (We have 53 subscribed members including ten from abroad and we are surprised why folks are hesitant to use this convenience). 5. Please contribute your own entry for future months by writing to neltachoutari@gmail.com.

Thank you.

Editorial

Certificate Distribution Centers (CDCs)?

Are our schools and universities primarily serving as Certificate Distribution Centers? Yes. And that happens when educational institutions aim merely to help students get high scores, when teachers teach students just to enable them to get through exams, when students go to schools and colleges mainly to get certificates.

Nepalese education has always overemphasized examination and under-emphasized learning and education. Exams are held mainly as periodic rituals. Of course, exams can serve legitimate educational purposes. But if education merely aims at giving away certificates, why invest so much of effort, funds, resources and time into it? Why not just open educational institutes that confer degrees to students in three days: first day for admission, second day for filling up forms and third day for distributing certificates that are as good as the students demand? That would be very “loktantrik,” wouldn’t it?  Such a democratic education would require no teaching, no hassle.

So, exams can be used well–as when they are used as teaching tools–or they can be used badly–as when they are given for passing or failing students. Unfortunately, we seem to have done the latter very well. Thus, the million dollar question that we need to ask is: how do we use exams to serve the larger purpose of genuine education? We certainly cannot get rid of exams. Despite criticisms, exams survive and are bound to exist in education for some time.  Then, what are challenges and what could be their feasible solutions? There is a whole lot of exam related issues in Nepalese academia that are waiting to be tackled. For instance, most of the exams that are taken at almost all levels of our education demand nothing but memorization and reproduction. Students either commit contents to their memory or carry “guess papers” into examination rooms. There is little space in the currently system for students’ creativity and critical abilities. Tests writers hardly receive any orientation on what is to be tested and how students should be tested. Likewise, examiners never receive any training on how to mark the papers. Without any doubt these practices have harmful effects on education and ultimately on society. It is high time that we address the problem of our education systems’ overreliance on exams.

The posts in the May issue of NELTA Choutari address those testing and language testing issues in Nepal with a very insightful interview and a few articles. The interview by Professor Tirth Raj Khaniya, a testing expert discusses a number of significant issues about testing practices. Similarly, the article by Dr. Ram Ashish Giri, another well versed expert on language testing who now works in an Australian University argues that it is extremely regrettable that while tests are the cheapest but influential tool to reform academia elsewhere. He also proposes to develop an explicit English language education policy to bring changes in the existing problematic English language testing situation in the country. In his article, Suresh Shrestha argues why cheating is tending to have moral grounds in today’s contexts. Please do not go after my words, read yourself to find what they have to say and please do show your acceptance or dismissal through comments. Last but not least, Exams, Academic Writing and Nepalese ELT by Shyam Sharma proposes academic writing as  an alternative to tests, tests, and tests that the Nepalese ELT as well as the entire education system  is submerged in.

Contents

1. An Interview with Professor Khaniya on Issues in Nepalese Testing 

2. Examination as an Agent for Educational Reform by Dr. Ram Ashish Giri

3. Testing: What? by Suresh Shrestha

4. Exams, Academic Writing and Nepalese ELT by Shyam Sharma