Hi from Argentina,

I have been teaching English and  I have also been a teacher trainer for 27 years, that means that I have seen both sides of the spectrum, my question is: when does the book dependancy start? and Why?

Recipes/ textbooks  vs. academic growth is  the issue here in Argentina:

Dear Marya,

Is Marya your first name?

It is great to have an experienced teacher and trainer as part of the team.  

You have raised a very important question.  Here in India many teachers of English do depend on books.  When does the book dependancy start?  It starts only when the teacher ceases to be creative and innovative.  It starts when teachers feel that they are incompetent to create their own materials. It starts when teachers feel that they are not comfortable teaching a particular course. 

Academic growth is possible only when teachers are trained to become more creative, productive and resourceful.

Members, do share your experience and views on the topic.

Best wishes,

Albert 

My name's Nelba and I live and work in La Plata, Argentina.  I am a computing laboratory coordinator and teacher trainner at the School of Languages of the National University of La Plata . I also develop  online material courses about the use of technologies in language teaching for TEACHNET.As Frank and Doris have said in their intros, I am also a  blogger , twitter, facebooker and Second Lifer (Nelba Aeon). I am one of the ARCALL- CALL Argentina funding members. I am very happy to meet some cyberfriends here and looking foward to exchange experiences on the net :-)  

I am not happy with the way English language teachers are trained in my region. Teachers usually do not have time or support to be trained. In general in Argentina, most teachers have to posts in order to have a good salary to live on, so trainning may be a kind of burden. Anyway, there are some curious teachers who do some reasearch on their own to develop their professional lives, but unfortunatelly, this fact does not have immediate recognition.

I am an example. I have specialized on ICT on my own for more than 10 years without any kind of support. After getting a scholarship to WorldCALL and the necessity to incorporate ICT to classes,  the schools where I work have promoted me as computing laboratory coordinator.

My suggestion to bridge the gap is follow what your heart tells you. You have chosen teaching as your profession because you like it. So, inspite of lack of suppport, you should go on trying to do your job the best you can.

Hi Nelba  

 Many thanks for sharing your experience with the members of this forum.  I'm glad to know that you are a self-motivated person.  Your efforts have helped you achieve success in your career. 

   In  India too most teachers of English do not have adequate training in ELT.  Most teachers who teach English at the primary and secondary levels are not aware of modern teaching methodology. Those who work in government run schools do not feel the need for updating themselves as their jobs are secure.  Those who work in private schools feel the need for improving their skills but do not get support from their schools to attend inservice programmes or conferences.  This is the tragic situation in this part of the world.

  There are a few good institutes which offer professional training to teachers of English.  English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) is one among the premier institutes.  Those who have been trained at EFLU, formerly known as CIEFL, are in different parts of India and they have proved to be good resource persons. 

 Let us discuss this question:  Which is more important: preservice training or inservice training?

Albert P'Rayan

Moderator, Teacher Training and Education Forum

Hi from Romania,

My name is Anisoara Pop and I teach Business English at Dimitrie Cantemir University from Targu Mures, Transylvania, Romania.

Regarding our topic of the existing gap between theory and practice in teacher traning in Romania I would like to say that this is significant at least at ESP higher education level. I have recently presented the results of a questionnaire based survey at the Vienna University international conference exactly on the issue of bridging the gap between theory and practice in ESP teacher training in higher education (HE). The most acutely perceived needs of ESP teachers were in teaching with the new technologies and in course-book design, which at first sight might seem contradictory. If the former need is a natural consequence of the new developments in education, the latter is more conservatory, as our colleague Marya from Argentina noticed, but coursebook design is still perceived in many universities. Besides, there are either no ESP training courses to meet these needs or they are not adequately advertised. Most of the surveyed teachers have made significant efforts on personal basis to keep abreast developments. As for me, starting this year's English Village Online sponsored by TESOL, I am part of two professional, smoothly run and collaborative communities of practice: Becoming a Webhead and  Enhancing Lessons in ICT-based teaching, for which I am really grateful. 

Hi All, I think that the big question is  : teacher development, the gap between the theory and the practice may be due to the fact that once graduates the new teachers find little space to develop the new, they have to fit in a set order, a  school structure that may be  not ready for change. The question is: How can we teach them to make a difference?

What strategies can we pass on them in order to make them feel  eager to embrace the new ( technology, as Anisoara and Albert point out) What can we do to make them feel that teaching calls for ongoing development?

Hi Delpilar

Many teachers are disappointed because they are not ready to change the mindset of school administrators who do not know the value of inservice training.  The question is how to make them realize the importance of training.  It is possible if teachers show real interest in training and convince school administrators. 

Albert

Hi, Albert and everybody who joined this important talk!

I am one of the moderators for the Business English section but I couldn't stay away from your hot discussion, and while reading your postings, I realized that these problems appear to be world wide! I live in the Far-East of Russia, and we also have inadequate training, so sometimes I wish I lived in Moscow where teachers have wide opportunities to improve their skills and upgrade their level of teaching. I can't say that nothing is done in this direction, though; Universities require lots of self-improvement from the instructors, but mostly it remains for the teachers to do the self-training, and as you said, it is not easy. Sometimes some seminars are conducted by the native speakers specialising in TEFL, many conferences are run yearly, but all of it remains insufficient if we turn to the English-speaking countries' experience, and more, in most cases irrelevant for the field. For example, it is hard for me as Business English teacher to do further training in Economics, because my salary doesn't allow me to do so. Sometimes Universities provide this training free of charge, but it is not common. And surely there are no courses devoted to increasing computer skills for teachers yet. So I think we have lots of room for teacher training!

Anastasia

Dear Anastasia

Thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts with us.  Yes, the problems you mentioned in your posting are worldwide.  Some individuals try to overcome all the hurdles and still try to shine.  We can develop our skills by attending conferences physically and if it is not always possible we can take part in forum discussions virtually such as this and grow. 

One suggestion is that we can form a network of ELT professionals and continue to share our views on ELT issues.  What is your opinion?

Best wishes

Albert

Dear Áll,

I am Gabriella from Hungary. I am a teacher and a teacher trainer too.

I agree that networking is very important but let me share my concerns with you.

I think that regarding teacher development and coursebook dependency and the other problems that you have mentioned, the biggest obstacles are the teaches themselves. What I experienced during the teacher training seminars that we run was that teachers are happy with training sessions that provide them with a bank of activities that they can try and the next day take into the classroom. But is this teacher development? Isn't it something like opening a resource book and photocopying activities from it?

The older I grow the more I am interested in how trainees can be trained to develp their own activities so that they can respond to the needs of their students. So in my opininon theory connected to practice and how to connect the two is the real issue in teacher training seminars.

What do oyu think?

hi Gabriella,

 I think that the trainer has to have the link between theory and practice already solved, i mean, the trainer should be at both ends?...at the same time. When trainers are far from what happens in the classroom the training may become an utter utopia .

Hi all,

Just to build on Gabriella and Pilar's comments, I feel Gabriella has noted something important - the quick-fix training phenomenon. Feedback on our in-service training always includes some comments on the lines of 'we want more sessions where we're given activities'. I too find this frustrating, but try to strike a happy medium where the session has discussion of the methodology / theory followed by practical application and examples of activities. I also like to get teachers to look in their books and and see how sections could be adapted in consideration of what we've been discussing.

I also found Pilar's comment interesting, that of training as utopia. I do feel this can be the case, but also feel that this is useful. I feel training has a role that is to inform and 'plant seeds' that teachers can then take away and nurture as they will. An analogy I enjoy is that of learning to drive - I was taught in my lesson to drive with my hands at 'ten-to-two' on the wheel, and to feed the wheel through my hands when turning. Both my instructor and I knew that this was never going to happen after I passed my test, but at least the knowledge was in my head and I now had awareness. I feel training, especially pre-service but also in-service, shares this principal.

As to the original question, about what is offered versus what is needed, I feel that this is an area that needs work, locally, and that some compromise between principled training and where teachers feel they are in need of development.

Looking forward to reading further comments.

Nick

Dear All,

Thank you for all your comments. I am interested in the issue that I wrote about as we are just about to start an international two-week long teacher trainer seminar and I am in the middle of designing my sessions. So I really appreciate all your comments.

Pilar, yes, I completely agree with you, the trainer should be able to draw practice from theory and vica versa. What I meant was that we are really successful as trainers if our trainees can do that too.

Nick and Maureen, it is really comforting to see that others are also fighting this challenge of balancing between giving trainees ready-made activities and a different training session. There is a saying about fishing, that I cannot quote precisely, but it is something like "it is not enough to give people fish, the best is to teach them fishing"

My main problem is that it is fine, I'll show them some nice activities that they can use immadiately. But what makes a good lesson? Definitely not good activities. Or not only. The trainers should train the trainees to be able to give instructions properly, to be good at classroom management and the list is very long. If I, the trainer design a good activity that I teach, without the theory behind the design, and without a thorough discussion about it, I simply gave them the fish...

Hi,

Training is not an utopia, I say it may become utopian when the trainer is not aware of what is going on in the classroom.I agree that trainers should find the meeting point between theory and practice, to make teachers understand that classroom practice is not enough, to make them see that they should know about the theory of learning that is the frame that sustains their practice and their proffession.

secondly,I believe that one possible way of making teachers become aware of the need for on-going development could be to work with the trainees´system of beliefs. Do you agree?

Absolutely Pilar! And not only the trainees beliefs but hte trainer' as well. We simply have to be aware of those beliefs, and that can help us understand trainees needs.

Hi

Hi RAYAN,Thank you and welcome.The question is of vital importance.Pre-service training is necessary but more than that interservice training is all the more important.In teaching English,aliving language and apriceless commodity in-service training gives teachers a confidene and equips them to teach in ameaningful way.There are several ramificatins ofELT.Grmmar awreness is something.Knowing Grammar is another thing.Using  the language is another thing.Training in this sense essential.It is one thing to  teach literature and requires another skill to teach language,for which a sustained training is an imperative need.Language changes.Teachers should know these changes to set their minds to attune to required changes.

 As some have discussed there is a gap between training and reality. Training is given in an ideological atmosphere but the real teaching is done in big class rooms, multi varied interested students, sharing the need of time, exam oriented courses, lack of facilities in the class rooms, the rigid infrastructure of the classroom make the teachers unable to apply what they learn. slowly they forget. Flexibility and academic independence are essential factors. Above all commitment from the teachers is essential. Many have chosen teaching as there is no other option and is convenient for many other things.

Padmasani

Dear Anup and Padmasani

Could you please introduce yourselves?  We would like to know more about your teacher trainer experience and the challenges you faced as trainers.

Albert

Dear All

Padmasani states that many teachers have chosen teaching as their profession there is no other option and is convenient. 

How do you react to the statement?  Is it true in your country? 

Looking forward to reading your comments.

Albert

Pilar, you are asking me about the selection criteria for teacher trainers in my region. I have to admit, I don't really know. We have possibilities to do sessions at conferences but since I work in a very specific area, my situation is different. I teach military English and I was lucky to graduate from the British Cuncil's one year trainer training project that was designed for teacher trainers working in the military context.

I can tell you that when I am trying to involve colleagues into teacher training Ilook at qualities that I was writing about above. How my colleague is able to connect theory and practice, if she is interested in her own development and is open and ready for observation and feedback. If she is ready to understand her own beliefs and is able to modify them if necessary. If she is ready to teach trainees to fish and not only give them the fish...

Perhaps openness is the main idea...  Does it make sense?

Gabriella, many thanks for sharing your ideas about selection criteria for teacher trainers.

Shall I just rephrase the question:  What do trainees expect of a teacher trainer / educator?

My answer to the question is:

1) competence (subject knowledge)

2) communication skills

3) people skills (interpersonal skills)

4) willingness to learn from others

5) openness for new ideas

6) readiness to accept mistakes

7) creative and critical thinking skills

Dear all,  do you agree?

Let me know what trainees expect of trainers?

Albert (raydeal)

My answer is yes to all the points .

as for the question:  " what do trainees expect?" I may say that having  trainers that are willing to open their minds and take the responsibility that this demands amy be one of the goals they are pursuing.

Pilar

Many thanks for your contribution. 

Your answer to the question 'What do trainees expect of a trainer?" is not clear.  Could you please throw some light on it?

Albert 

Hi Albert,

My answer is : trainers  should be aware of trainees´needs. and trainees´s should be aware of what trainers expect  from them.

Hi Marion,

My personal view is that once graduates, teachers find it very difficult to find their own voice, to finf the pedagogy that will define them as teachers, once in the classroom they generally adhere to the school requirements and leave aside the flame  that brought them there, in the classroom. It is the  trainers´s job to keep that flame alight, to remind them of the reasons why they are teachers, to make them become aware of the simple fact that above all their mind-openers.

I think it is the trainer's task to train the teacher to be able to draw practice from theory.

And I think it is equally important to be able to draw theory from  practice. 

The important thing is - and this will bridge the gap - the technique(s) that help do so.

Hi all,

Reflection plays an important role in teacher training and in teacher development, I think that reflection is what a makes  teachers become aware of  their roles, simple, yet fundamental questions such as: Why do you teach English? What theories are behind your ways?

or What do you teach when you teach English ? or What beliefs did your English teachers pass on you? or  Are those beliefs still present in your teaching? or What beliefs do you pass on your students? These are some of the questions that should  be borne in the trainers´ minds as reminders of why they are trainers and as reminders of what their job is.

What do you think?

Pilar

I think that another important question is if that is the only way to do it... Can it be done in a different way? If I do it in a different way isn't it more beneficial?

Hi Gabriella,

Tell us about that way, please! I do believe in the importance of sharing ways. and I also think there is not just one way. I told you about mine, Will you share yours?It will be benefitial, no doubt.

Hi Pilar,

What I meant was that there are sev eral ways to do things. There are several ways toteach and totrain as well. When we teach or train we do it according to our beliefs and assumptions concerning teaching and training. The important thing is to realize that there are several other ways to deliver a session. 

Sometimes we feel that a session was not very successful or we receive feedback about it that is not very facourable. Some teachers/trainers take defensive in those cases. It would be more beneficial to realize that we can deliver lessons/sessions in other ways and changing something we used to believe in can in fact be improvement.

So, I didn't mean one special way of training but to be able to change something we did earlier.

Hi Gabriella,

You are absolutely right ,teachers should be able to read their audience and develop metacognitive skills about their own teaching in order to be ready to change that which does not work. Thanks for your reply.

Hi Gabriella and Pilar,

I agree with you Pilar, reflection on what you have done and how your work is going, is very important. A trainer should help the trainee build the habbit of stepping back and looking at how a lesson has passed. And I am not talking only about the lesson plan , the steps and the goals. No, what I mean is while striving to achieve the set goals, did the trainee manage to form a bond with the class? What went wrong? What went down well? What made the students respond and what bored them? As Gabriella said, there are many ways of doing something, but it's the ability to recognise a problem and select an appropriate solution that is important. And , in my opinion, that ability develops through a lot of self analysis and experience, of course)::):)

best, Iskra

Hi everybody

Thinking, Doing, Reflecting, Involving in action research are some essential activities trainers should be involved in.  Trainers who are not thinking teachers cannot be effective in their field.

Many of you have highlighted these in your postings. Let us discuss the importance of action research for ELT trainers.

Albert

  Hi,

  I've been a trainer for past 10 years & one thing I learned from my experience is that each school has a unique requirement & a trainer should use new ideas to implement in each schools.

Shahnawaz