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:
- Observation as a Key Concept for Teacher Development, by Madhukar KC
- Disciplinary Bias, Interdisciplinary Benignity, by Hem Raj Kafle
- Everyone can Write Poems: A Reflection, by Gopal Prasad Bashyal
- How to Use Newspaper in ELT, by Praveen Kumar Yadav
- Bringing Technology to EFL Classroom: The World Wide Web, by Ashok Sapkota
- 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
