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.

• 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.

• 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 End-
of-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.