Teacher workshop on English teaching methodology

The art of teaching is the art of discovery. Mark Van Doren

Considering the growing need of guidance in the right direction, Ms Itisha of The Indian School attended an ELT@I workshop for teachers of English on 26th November 2022 at Kalka Public School. English is considered the first global Lingua Franca.

In the modern world, English has become a part and parcel of every field. It is an international medium of communication, business, science, information technology, entertainment and so on. Resource person, Ms Anita Bahadur focussed on teaching English on the lines of the NEP emphasising the importance of literacy and social interaction. She advised the use of skills such as critical thinking, spoken, written and communication skills, creative skills and ideas for planning practical and interesting lessons, planning and organisation skills, a friendly and confident approach towards students, the ability to work well under pressure, a flexible approach to work and so on.

With regard to acquiring the learning abilities, listening first, followed by speaking, reading and writing, will enhance learning skills. Hence, these abilities are frequently called the LSRW Way of Learning. Taking the session forward, Ms Bahadur elaborated with activities, how teaching using this method will ensure focus around these four abilities and provide a robust base for students to sharpen their capability to learn.

The teachers were entreated to use figurative language to engage their audiences, using a more creative tone that provokes thinking and sometimes humour as well. It makes reading fiction more interesting and dramatic than a mere relay of facts.

The speaker emphasised on teaching grammar by relying on structures and the giving students ample practice exercises. She urged the teachers to avoid the rote learning of grammar rules.

The teachers were then briefed about the five elements of a good story narration. Ms Bahadur elucidated that a story should have an appealing character set in an interesting plot, followed by a sequence of events revolving around the latter and finally ending the story with a satisfying conclusion.

Handouts on the International Phonetic Alphabet were circulated to all the teachers present to help them learn to teach pronunciation effortlessly and in a fun way.

The enthusiasm of the teachers was quite evident as they looked forward to using all the techniques learnt to make their teaching more effective in their classroom.