Category Archives: Teacher Training

Teacher training: for money or for professionalism?

Teacher Training, Teacher's Experience/anecdotes

                       -Ram Abadhesh Ray

      In this piece of writing, I hope to discuss English teaching profession. Teaching, professionally, is a very precarious and sturdy job. In the context of Nepal, teaching has become inferior or substandard one due to politicization on it. Because of unstable government system and its fragile education policy, the teaching career has become in miserable condition. The government of Nepal trained almost all the teachers but the teachers are still ‘literate but not educated’ , following Sajan Karn’s argument. I think most of the teachers are trained but they are resourcefully untrained because they are still facing lots of problems for effective teaching and for bringing drastic progress in the students. This article also begins with the current teaching trend of the government schools teachers’ i.e. Old Fashioned Method of teaching. Then it also mentions some solutions to the problems that are faced by the teachers.

                          Under School Improvement Program (SIP), the Educational Manpower Development Centre has prepared various instructional materials, scientific and innovative technique to make the teaching livelier in order to develop the teacher’s capability in effective teaching.  The Conceptual Framework has been prepared on the basis of the received feedbacks from national and international level workshops. At first, so many ideas and experiences were gathered from almost one hundred and fifty teachers from different seven districts. Not only this but also from the trainers of these centers, from the DEOs (District Education Officers) and from professors of related field, the ideas and experiences has been accumulated for the preparation of this TPD.

                          Due to fragile and ineffective accomplishment of teaching policies of Nepal, there has not been found more achievements in the field of training system of TPD. Though it has commenced all over Nepal, it is not in its entire height. One of the main cause of its being letdown is also due to lack of wakefulness in teachers of Nepal. Most of the teachers of remote and semi urban areas are still surviving with their old weapons of teaching in the class room for just passing the time anyway for the sake of the government’s obligation and for the sake of their earning. Generally, teachers in the context of Nepal especially in far remote areas have been junked due to lack of innovative teaching technique and due to lack of their activeness to learn something worthy for their professional development. The same means of teaching i.e. after five or ten minutes of ringing the bell of first period, they with attendance register and a stout stick go to class room as they are forcefully being sent to the class. As soon they enter the class, they as usual do the attendance and instruct the students read themselves and they instead of teaching the students with their daily lesson plan, sit on the chair outside the gate comfortably thinking and waiting for the next period. They don’t want to change themselves into modern era of teaching. They look as if they have been worried and seriously ill. Actually the system of providing training in the context of Nepal is not an apt. Here, instead of providing training the teachers are given a very handsome allowance that becomes their additional income. Their salary is not deducted from the government side so they get double benefit. It has become a sort of tendency for the government schools’ teachers to get allowance and then participate in any sort of training. When there is less allowance in any training then the teachers don’t seem even talk about such training. By this, we can assume that such teachers can never transform themselves for learning in any sort of training if it is even giving a large sum of allowance to them. They always have intension to be present in the training and after the break, they go for shopping and again next day same thing happen.

I can still remember the very first NELTA training held in the then SEDU and now ETC by Dr. Bal Mukund Bhandari, the then treasurer of NELTA, Center when I was in  M. ED. First year. Almost 60 English teachers participated in the training session. Dr. Bhandari inaugurated the session and his facilitator was Mr. Sajan Kumar Karn, the then teaching assistant of English M.ED. Program of Thakur Ram Multiple Campus, Birganj and secretary of NELTA, Birganj. The program was successfully commenced and all the teachers were very much curious to listen the speech by Dr. Bhandari. As soon as Dr. Bhandari announced that the training was without allowance, the faces of the reputed teachers of the government school were to see. They started feeling disappointment and as there was break for half an hour and then after break no government teachers were seen in training session and Dr. Bhandari was amazed and we too. Just after a year, I got another opportunity to be participated in a workshop provided by the Examination Control Office, Sanothimi, Bhaktpur at the same venue and there was a large gathering of the government school teachers but there were limited seats for participants. Everyone was wishing to be the participants and I was stunned to see that and thought it a very good workshop. But the reality was something else, I felt myself very fortunate to be one of the participant. I at that time was in Mount Edmund English Secondary School, Birganj and I was sent to participate in the training. The workshop was run for three days and on the last day, one of the head teachers said forcefully to the trainers to stop training and distribute the allowance. The trainers also agreed and within some minutes training program was postponed and then the time of receiving allowance came and asked whether I would also get something. One of the teacher asked if I was new fellow to go there and I agreed. My name was also called and I went to receive the allowance. I couldn’t believe myself that how all teachers were very much curious to take participate in training. It was all for the allowance not for learning point of view.

Now you can easily conclude that where there is allowance the teachers go there and where there is no such facilities the teachers won’t go. Since then I deduced that teachers participated in training only for earning, not for learning. Among such teachers, some bad concepts have emerged about training that government is compelled to train them and then why should they care for such training. They always ask about the facilities i.e. lodging and dining a very common term in training and then only they are ready for participating. Sometimes the teachers surprise me by asking the questions if the training is going to take place in any grand hotel or not. If it is so they are ok and vice versa. The tendency of providing allowance to the teachers by government has created lots of problems for NELTA fellows to conduct any sort of conference in local level for the teachers here demand the same too.

                            In the context of Nepal the teaching doesn’t take place as it is shown in the model  in  every nook and the corner of the nation but in some part of urban areas of Nepal, there is such teaching which is very expensive and the common people are not going to bear that. However, we can make our teaching effective by our entire effort and honesty with the help of the teaching aids which are locally available. But most of the teachers of our country have been fossilized from very beginning in the traditional way of teaching. For them the teaching aids are stout stick and ruthless sound in the classroom while teaching. Look and just imagine how the teachers in the European countries are teaching their students with great fun, scientific equipment and hovering around the students with great love and affection.

The entire teacher should be like a professional teacher and enjoy his/her work every now and then and then after there will be something new changes in the field of effective teaching. A teacher should go in training not for allowances rather for learning and being refreshed for removing their junk old traditional method of teaching. If one has to be a professional then he/she has to revolutionize his/her attitude towards scientific teaching from that of traditional one. They must understand their responsibility being honest in their teaching.

Conclusively, I can state that some of the old fashioned teachers and even some new who have been habituated to act in their teaching learning activities are to change themselves for their satisfaction in teaching. For that very purpose, the government should also take any massive action against such dead habits of teachers by improving in the education policy according to the change in pace of time. Then only something worth can be expected in the field of scientific and innovative teaching. Unless there is drastic modification in the trend and attitude of such teachers, the government, education policy maker cannot bring change in them and in their profession.

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The author is an English Teacher at Shree Nepal National Higher Secondary School, Kalaiya, Bara, Secretary, NELTA, Birganj Branch  

Knowing your role as a teacher: The teaching metaphor project

Teacher Training, Teacher's Experience/anecdotes, Teaching Tips

Bal Krishna Sharma

There are several ways of learning and development for language teachers. For example, you can read articles/chapters and research reports published in journals and books, critically understand the ideas there, and import them to your classroom teaching. You adopt and adapt the textbook ideas rather than picking them up and trying to implement them wholesale. You can also talk to your peer teachers, share teaching stories and experiences, or observe each other’s class and borrow some ideas from there. A third way, which I have recently been relying heavily on is a reflection of my own teaching, critically assessing what worked and what did not in my class, and focus on improving my teaching and tasks next semester.

I taught an academic reading course to international students last year. In order to train myself in teaching reading lessons effectively, I took a second language reading course from a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. This class had several mini-assignments that proved instrumental in bridging my academic knowledge with my teaching experience in Nepal. I will explain to you one of those mini-assignments here, which was called a ‘reading metaphor project’.

Around the beginning of the semester, my professor asked all the students to think of a metaphor that would represent our role as a reading teacher. Many of us chose such metaphors as ‘mid-wife’, ‘football coach’, ‘driver’, and so on. Then the professor asked us to think about refining the metaphor and its meaning, or shifting to a more appropriate metaphor by the time we finish the course at the end of the semester. Following is a description of my metaphor:

I chose two metaphors during this semester. Metaphors are a useful way to compare the teacher’s roles and duties in a reading class. First, I compared a reading teacher with a tour guide. A tour guide shows ways to the tourists who otherwise would have a hard time to travel on their own. A guide shows ways to the visitors, takes to new places, explains the history and importance of those places, and also suggests other places to visit or stay. Then I thought this metaphor is too simplistic. Comparing a reading teacher with a tourist guide is very straightforward and gives more power to the teacher. When I believe in student-centered teaching, I thought I would need to find a metaphor that would minimize the role of the teacher. Then I compared a reading teacher with a ‘walking stick’. I remembered my childhood days and I remembered the tourists from different countries visiting our places inNepal. Everybody had a walking stick with them. Then I also remembered my reading class taught by my teacher. I also reflected on how I taught reading to my students. Obviously, there were differences in my and my teacher’s teaching styles and roles. However, a common thread I could think of was the role of a ‘facilitator’ or a ‘supporter’. A walking stick thus is a support; it does not walk in itself. Second language readers can take the support of the stick. Learning to read is a long journey. I compared reading journey with a trekking of several days. While trekking inNepalone has to climb up the hills through small trails and rarely through steps. There come plain and flat places as well. In case of those straight ways, the role of the walking stick is minimized or sometimes neutralized. Learners of reading are also similar. When there are difficult texts and words, there is a teacher to help the learners in some way: direct explanation of the meaning or teaching the students the reading strategies, for example. But when there are easier texts, the students can read on their own, teacher’s role is minimized.

So what?

Writers in NeltaChoutari have discussed the need to be careful against lifting pedagogical ideas that have been proven effective in different contexts than our own without necessary appropriation, so the concept has floated here as well quite often. I hope that you will find this concrete activity valuable towards implementing the idea into practice. Such reflective practice is useful whether we are novice or experienced because reflection and critical assessment are important for any efficient language teacher. If you are a teacher educator, or a teacher trainer, please try this out in practice and respond to this post with your thoughts so the rest of will learn from actual practice. I am always eager to hear more.


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)

July 09: Needs Analysis and Teacher Training

Teacher Training

Dear NeltaChoutari Readers,

Let us post our Choutari and other ELT discussions on blog form, because this platform will make our interaction globally accessible and help us join the global ELT professional community as well.

JULY ISSUE

Below are some quick comments on the article attached on Nelta Mail: “Implementing ELT Innovations: A Needs Analysis Framework” by Waters and Vilches. In case you didn’t get to read that article in full, these brief remarks should help you post a response here.

One great point raised by Waters and Vilches article is that of giving teachers the sense of ownership in implementing any curricular innovation: “… the trainers’ role is not simply to ‘teach’ the content of the innovation, but to maximize the potential for ownership of the innovation by the teachers” (139). When teachers are given training in a new approach or methods, it is extremely important to make them feel that the method/approach benefits them, makes sense to them, and motivates them to take the new challenges involved. Teachers ultimately implement the innovation at the level of the classroom, so if they don’t feel a sense of ownership, and therefore satisfaction, the new pedagogy will remain an idea, an obligation, or a misunderstood something.

Another important issue the article considers is the need to take into account not only the interest of teachers who implement the innovation, or the administration that makes the innovation possible on a larger scale, but also students and a whole spectrum of stakeholders in the process of making the innovation in curriculum and pedagogy.

A third point worth our discussion in this article is that of the need for educating teachers about the rationale for the innovation, and not just train them with new skills or content: “Any attempt to change the curriculum—whether indirectly through changes in teaching materials, for example, or more directly, through changes in teaching methods—implies a need for teacher learning, i.e. opportunities for teachers to learn about the rationale for the new form of teaching, to critically evaluate, and understand how to get the best out of it” (137). The Choutari team looks at discussions that we are having on NELTA mail as motivated by that particular need to discuss ELT issues at the conceptual level. But at the same time, we urge readers/contributors to relate the general/theoretical readings and posts to practical classroom teaching as much as possible because what we all want is a balance of concept and practice.

Based on the article, let us extend the great discussion on the issue of Needs Analysis and Teacher Training raised by Kate’s initial call for feedback and the following series of posts. The issue of training and innovation in ELT in general, or that of how to make new ideas and approaches to ELT productive in the classroom as well as relevant to our local society in particular, is potentially inexhaustible. We certainly haven’t had enough discussion on this subject, and we hope to hear more from you.

Finally, here is one specific issue that has come up in our discussion since last month but hasn’t been followed up very much. On the issue of teaching basic sounds to beginners, Nepalese ELT community obviously needs to think in terms of thorough innovation: there is a need to make a paradigm shift from teaching letter names  to teaching sounds at the same time or subsequently, from teaching words starting with letters to teaching words that represent sounds, and from teaching only pronunciation of words to enabling students to “hear” the unique sounds and then produce them with the correct (approximate) vocal features. Specifically, this would mean something like teaching a beginner not the “A for ‘e-pal’…” but A-æ, as in “apple”; A-a:, as in “arm”; A-Ə, as in “Anil”; B-b, as in “boy”; etc). The innovation, to connect this problem with the issue in the article, should start by familiarizing teachers with the concept that English letters DO (most often) correspond to particular sounds, within the sound system of the language (against the myth that they do not, or rarely do so). The Waters and Vilches article makes that great point in its conceptual framework of needs analysis that includes both horizontal and vertical layers of issues to be addressed by any training or innovation project in education.

Besides the scholarly article, there are also the following items in this issue:
b. Teacher anecdote (by Dhruba Neupane)

c. ELT resource on the web (videos on pronunciation):

d. ELT humour (funny videos about pronunciation):

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT
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