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SHAPING THE WAY WE TEACH ENGLISH Replication and teacher training proposal Federico Arteaga C.

Background SHAPING THE WAY WE TEACH ENGLISH is an online teacher training course offered by the Office of English Language Programs of the Department of State and designed by professors Leslie Opp-Beckman and Sarah Klinghammer from the University of Oregon. It was offered to teachers in the Andean region in bi-national centers who were interested in professional development and applied by means of an essays expounding why it was important for them to make part of the program. The course is made up of fourteen modules divided in four problematic areas: fundamental approached to Language teaching, extensions of the same, focus on the learner and teacher development. The most seducing thing of the course offer was the video material that was at the heart of it all and justified the sub-header of the course name: SUCCESSFUL PRACTICES AROUND THE WORLD. Footage recorded in Costa Rica, Egypt, Thailand and the United States gave realistic and on-site examples of new and/or strategic techniques to approach different issues in the ELT world that may present problems to teachers in a varied range of environments. An online forum hosted by professor Opp-Beckman was weekly visited and beefed up by thirty-two trainees from Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador and Colombia and held guest-moderated discussions in a constructive and friendly environment of mutual learning. After the project swap and peer review, the RELO office in Lima hosted and sponsored a three-day closing training-of-trainers event where all the participants got the opportunity to deepen in some of the most voted topics of the series, designed and presented plans of replication of the knowledge acquired in their immediate areas of impact.

Replication For Colombia, at Centro Colombo Americano Manizales, a twenty-two hour training was proposed that included an initial stage of reflective teaching that comprises a minute self-evaluation of the trainee in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the field, peer review and formative class observation. After that, in-class sessions are held on a weekly basis. In these sessions, there is a preliminary discussion of vocabulary and schema activation that places trainees on a common ground, then guided viewing of the video material is carried out always keeping in mind that the situations shown on the screen are comparable to the present in the classrooms. Weaknesses and strengths are made visible for the trainees and ways for countering problems in the classroom are discussed, metalinguistic rationale of the trade is observed and teachers are presented with the concept of being ‘trained to train.’ There are mid-term and end-of-term projects on which SHAPING THE WAY WE TEACH ENGLISH

Federico Arteaga C.

they have to work and undergo peer review and then apply their proposals in class. This is the very quid of the whole course and replication: it’s a practical, hands-on training where the participants are expected to let the experience take place and precedence in their classrooms and then report back to fellow trainees for advice or to share a successful practice. Additional readings are assigned as a way to reinforce the topics seen in the in-class sessions and a blog is kept with reflections from participants on their areas of interest (see http://sharingthewayweteachenglish.blogspot.com).

Intensive training In order to carry out a successful experience in two days, the series and material offers a wonderful edge and that is its flexibility as to the sequence presentation of the fourteen modules, as they can be seen in the proposed order or it can be altered without harm to the completeness of the contents. The presentation and experience can be divided in three sessions that will include discussion, guided viewing, standardization of concepts and didactic experiences (hands-on exercises). The vocabulary and depth of the topics should be of no concern to the participants since this material is perfect for both experienced and novel teachers as well as for those in an environment rich in resources and those who have less of an advantage in this field. Throughout the replication carried out at the moment, a philosophy of ‘low-to-zero budget’ has been a guiding light to success and motivation of the trainees. The contents of the course will be seen as follows. The words in italics are the actual titles of the modules of the course: •

Session 1: Sensitizing teachers about their present situations and that of their students through the module Reflective Teaching. The need to shift from summative class observation to a formative one is seen in Peer Observation. Common ground is reached and now we can all start making sense of further contents in realistic contexts through Contextualizing Language. We will find the way to build up or classes to the learning moment in Building Language Awareness.

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Session 2: The second session will deal with some issues in logistics through Managing Large Classes which is of key importance to public school teachers and the constructivist approach of the series is ideal to go through this, it is in consonance with Pairwork/Groupwork. Young Learners deals with teaching to children and it is complemented by seeing Authentic Materials and a quintessential topic will be the thorough discussion of Alternative Assessment.

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Session 3: Finally, we will look back on sensitizing, but this time the theme will be thinking about teaching. It will open with Critical and Creative Thinking which must lay as the foundations for the language experience in the classroom. This will help us understand better Learning Strategies and Individual Learner Differences and the importance of Integrating Skills and Learner Feedback.

SHAPING THE WAY WE TEACH ENGLISH

Federico Arteaga C.

This is the proposal. Additional readings will be assigned and online follow-up will be offered which, of course, will depend greatly of the level of commitment of the trainees. Mid-term and Endof-term projects will be indeed developed in the sessions as they will serve as a measurement pattern of how the views of those involved are in tune or off key. SHAPING THE WAY WE TEACH ENGLISH is a wonderful opportunity for teachers who need something they can take into classes at once and ignite the spark of curiosity in their students and create a lasting engagement among teachers, learners and language.

SHAPING THE WAY WE TEACH ENGLISH

Federico Arteaga C.