Editorial

Praveen Kumar Yadav
(with kind support from Madhav Kafle)

Welcome again! With the publication of July Issue 2013, the new editorial team of NeltaChoutari is completing its first round of publication. We tried our best, and we know that we can do better–with your participation and encouragement.

Most of the issues in this round leaned toward being special issues. After the old and new team produced a joint issue in January, in February, we focused on seeking a theory-practice interface in Nepalese ELT; March was a conference special; April issue advocated for the integration of creative writing in ELT; May issue mainly focused on teacher’s perspectives on scholarly ideas;  June issue stretched from ELT practitioners’ reflection on their achievement to action research; and July issue featured topics on local pedagogies especially in multilingual settings.

As most readers already know, this is a friendly and unofficial blog started by a group of NELTA scholars and now run by a new group of ELT professionals at home and abroad. Inspired by and willing to work in the same direction of the vision of NELTA to promote professional conversation and build local scholarship, we strive to encourage fellow ELT practitioners from across the country (and often the world) to share their ideas. There may be no clear distinction between local and global, ours and others, even practical and theoretical when it comes to scholarship; but we do want to share thoughts about what we actually do as teachers and scholars in our own contexts, tackling our own challenges, pursuing our own needs. Thus, there is a great need for more pedagogical and scholarly discussions in Nepal. We want fellow teachers/scholars at home and our friends and well-wishers abroad to recognize and join hands in addressing this need. Obviously, we don’t have an agenda, not even a theoretical one. That is why, as we have tried to articulate in some new resources that we’re publishing with this issue, that members of the community can contribute whatever they have expertise or interest in, within a broad framework for what to write about and using a set of general guidelines for how to write for this forum.

As we move forward, we ask you again to contribute to the professional mission by contributing to this forum as a reader, writer, and active participant of the conversations that follow the publication of each issue. You are the secret of the blog’s great success, and together we can continue to make a difference, one comment or blog post at a time.

This issue focuses on teachers’ narratives followed by some very useful resources for our contributors. Chura Bahadur Khadka and Angel Lin highlight the importance of interaction in EFL contexts like Nepal. Suman Laudari shares thoughts about his professional history from being a novice to a better teacher. Dipendra Kanu tells us an unforgettable teaching moment when he was successful in teaching a story very effectively and comprehensively with the use of audio visual aids in the classroom. Sharing her teacher’s style of teaching in a brief entry, Jyoti Tiwari, shows how professional and skilled teachers can teach the students effectively in spite of the lack of resources in our schools. The last piece in this set is an open access source link where you can find sample theses for ELT scholarship in general and research activities in particular.

Then there is something special that we want to share with our readers who would like to contribute their own blog posts for Choutari. We have been trying to gradually implement some general guidelines so that blog entries read like blog entries. So, in addition to the general guidelines that we used to have, we have now added two new pages. The first page, “What to Write,” tries to answer a frequent question that we read from potential contributors. Using/linking examples from past issues, this page describes different kinds of blog entries that you can write for Choutari. The second page, “How to Write,” practically illustrates the general guidelines for writing blog entries by using an example. Based on a legacy from past editors, we want to further develop ways to support writers with how to write effectively; we also want to ask more experienced writers to consider the audience, genre, and context when writing for this blog.

Here is a list of the topics hyperlinked for navigating the blog entries:

1. Interaction in English language classrooms to enhance students’ language learning, by Chura Bahadur Khadka and Angel Lin
2. My journey from a Novice to Better Teacher, by Suman Laudari
3. An Unforgettable Teaching Technique, by Dipendra Kanu
4. An effective teaching through a student’s eyes, by Jyoti Tiwari
5. Resources for Researchers, (courtesy of Bal Krishna Sharma)
6. What to Write for Choutari (Choutari Editors)
7. How to Write Blog Entries for Choutari (Choutari Editors)

Please share what you read and like. Please leave comments to encourage writers. Please join the conversation by writing new entries for future issues of Choutari.

Thank you.

Praveen