CLIx English Workshops in Telangana (05.09.17 -17.09.17)
I found myself in the ‘City of Nawabs’ this September! We went to this beautiful historical city to train teachers who have become part of the CLIx journey. The training workshops were organised from September 6 to 16, 2017 in Rangareddy and Vikarabad districts.The visit was an enriching and reflective experience for me and my colleagues Mayuri and Jennifer.
Each three-day workshop involved exploration of the CLIx English student module, the English teacher certification course and engagement of teachers in the online community of practice (CoP) through the Telegram app. While exploring these platforms, we discussed topics related to English language teaching-learning processes. The discussions were enriched by contextual and hands on workshop support by teacher educators (for two batches) deputed by Telangana state Education department.
Teachers exploring the listening and speaking activities on the platform
The student module exploration went off well. Teachers loved exploring the listening and speaking activities on the platform. They recorded and re-recorded their answers. As they did this activity in pairs, discussions and learning from each other were naturaland unprompted. There were a few technical hiccups at the beginning, which were resolved on the first day, and the rest of the sessions went smoothly.
The Reflective Teaching with ICT course in English –S01 Communicative English Language Teaching – was introduced during the workshops. The registration took time and there was confusion concerning Gmail IDs and passwords in the beginning.But once it was done, teachers were observed happily exploring the first unit of the course. By the end of the training, they were well acquainted with platform navigation and acknowledged that it would help in their professional development.
Engaging discussions were a central part of each workshop. Teachers shared their implementation plans and devised strategies to implement student modules in their schools with the available resources. A few teachers shared their plans with the Telegram Community of Practice (CoP) group. A separate session was held to discuss implementation issues and to address any apprehensions or on-field problems teachers may have.
All through the ten days, the immense patience, enthusiasm, and fervour of the Telangana teachers made the sessions lively and interactive!
(Surbhi Nagpal, Junior Research Associate, English team, CLIx)
