Editorial: February 2012

Bal Krishna Sharma

In a brief solicited feedback survey last month (in January Anniversary issue), Choutari readers indicated that they would like to see more practical teacher stories and tips, and hands-on teaching materials rather than scholarly and abstract theoretical reviews. As always, we sent an announcement though our NELTA group mail and we editors wrote to potential authors  individually to solicit contributions. Except some, most of the teachers sent a green signal to contribute a blog entry by the 15th of January. Eventually, only few could make it, however.

This is understandable. We have more than 14 hours of loadshedding at home. Within the limited hours, there are other tasks that get more priority. However, we do have some veteran teachers who devoted their time to prepare blog entries for this issue. NeltaChoutari thanks them for their contributions.  Enjoy reading them and leave your comments.

Contents

1. An incident that changed my attitude by Madhu Neupane (This entry presents a story of why teachers should be more careful in assigning homework to the students.

2. Teacher training: for money or for professionalism? by Ram Abadhesh Ray (This anecdotal entry discusses a need for professionalism in teacher development programs/occasions)

3. Local needs and local resources in teaching English  by Asharam Shah (Asharam draws his experience from his involvement in materials preparation)

4. What I as a student expect from an English teacher by Manju Pokhrel (A story on a college student’s expectations from her English teacher)

5. Branch Highlights: Tanahun, Kaski and Makwanpur

An incident that changed my attitude: Remember to check homework

-Madhu Neupane

If we are asked to list some of the things that learners should do to improve their learning, I think we would not miss to say that they should do homework regularly. Though we teachers have our own assumptions and attitudes about different things, we have positive attitude about giving homework in one form or the other.

We are aware of the advantages of homework. We know that it promotes the practice of independent learning; helps students to reinforce basic skills learnt during school days; allows them for the use of resources and materials not available in the schools; provides parents with information about the progress of their children; provides appropriate opportunities for long term research; provides opportunities for teachers to differentiate work for children.

These benefits can be categorized into immediate benefits (better retention and understanding of information, development of critical thinking and concept formation, and improvement in processing information) and long term benefits (encouragement to learning, improved attitude towards schools, and better study habits and skills). Furthermore, homework is supposed to have long term non academic benefits such as greater self direction and self discipline which we want to inculcate in our learners.

Giving homework is not sufficient. Equally important is the checking of the homework. It is necessary to check homework to reassure learners that what they have understood is right; to provide repeated exposure to aid acquisition; to provide them with a record of correct language for future reference; to encourage thinking about why an answer is correct or how they have reached a particular answer; to provide support for different levels of learners; to provide them with a sense of satisfaction from discussing and sharing something they have spent doing; and to allow learners to play an active role throughout the learning process by encouraging learner independence.

What impact does it have if you give homework but do not check it? Even a single event or incident may bring a great change in our life. The same thing applies to teachers as well. I want to relate this to one of the incidents that changed my attitude towards homework checking. For this reason I want to call it a success story. This has been a great lesson for me who used to sometimes not check homework because of lack of time or other thing.

One day I was teaching in my bachelor first year class. The learners in that class came from very diverse backgrounds. Especially they were from the government schools in rural areas so we can mostly imagine their level of English. Some of them were really good. I encouraged them to take homework every day and do whatever they can at home. One day I gave them a homework that was solving exercises given in the book and said that if any one of them did not do homework I would proceed without doing the lesson for it was also their duty to do some reading themselves. Next day I checked the homework and found some of them not doing the homework. I told them to do the same task again by convincing them that it did not matter if their answers were wrong. What mattered was their attempt. They seemed to have been convinced.

The next day I had to attend a meeting with the head of the department about terminal exam so I went to the class a bit late and started the lesson. That was a reading lesson. I did not care about the work that I had given to the learners. While I was about to leave the class one of the learners stood up and said, “Madam I stayed up to 11 O, clock to do the homework. There was load shedding (power cut) so I did my homework with the help of candle. I had to prepare for the class test of other subject but I felt so strongly about the work that I did it even putting the task aside. But unfortunately you did not check the homework today. I would not do homework next time”. He said this with tears in his eyes. I felt so guilty that I put my things on the table again and put my hand on his head.  I said “Sorry Rabindra, I just thought that I would check your homework next time. Take out your homework. I would check it now”.  He took his homework out of his bag and I checked that. He had done it very well. However, he was not happy because he realized that I just did this because he had said so. I left the class with a feeling of guilty.

In spite of giving me a sense of guilty, this incident had really positive impact on my attitude towards homework. So, I want to recall it as one of the success stories in my teaching experience. It taught me the lesson that checking homework is very important.  From that day onward I have felt so strongly about the work that give that I never miss to ask whether the learners have done the work that I gave them and give some positive comments on that. It does not take me much time. Sometimes, I just have a look on their work going from front to back. If I think some learners have done it really well I read it for the whole class and if most of them have got it wrong I provide possible answers on the board.

I have found that going through learners work very quickly if we do not have time to go thoroughly can have surprisingly good impact on learners. It gives them a sense of achievement. That is, I think, greater learning experience than anything else. Since the success is the accumulation of small steps we should not forget that “small things matter”. Checking homework may just be a small thing in leading learners towards a greater success.

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Ms. Madhu Neupane (Bastola), Lecturer, has been teaching at the Central Department of English Education, Tribhuvan University, for 6 years. She completed Master’s Degree in English Education in 2003 and Master’s Degree in English Literature in 2008. She has published some articles and books and presented papers in different conferences. She has experience of teaching English from Primary Level to Master’s Degree. She has conducted some research in the area of ELT. At present she is an executive member as well as life member of NELTA. Her interests include teaching and conducting research in ELT.

For contact:

Phone Number:           01-4332867 (Res) 9841738920 (Mobile)

Email:                           madhukneupane@gmail.com

Skype:                          madhu.neupane2

Local needs and local resources in teaching English

 Asharam Shah

Janjyoti Higher Secondary School,

Chandranigahpur, Rautahat 

Indeed, teaching is a noble profession. It has been carried out variously since the earliest times. It was conducted, facilitated, administrated and accomplished by ancient Hindu Gurus like Vishwamitra, Bashistha, Dornacharya, Kripacharya. The continuation of teaching and learning activities has been spreading widely all over the world. Considering the above circumstances, I involved myself in the field of teaching at the age of 17.

I was a typical young and shameful teenager when I started teaching. I started my teaching career since I joined a private English boarding school. My hearts and emotions were filled with a great enthusiasm. There’s one thing I detest; it’s the people who make comment on getting myself transferred from one school to another. I didn’t stand still at a single school or institution for all times. It is because I wanted to improve my academic career as well as economic status smoothly. During my teaching career, I have taught in more than seven schools and gained various teaching experiences. After completing my graduation degree, I became competent and eligible to be a secondary level English Language Teacher as per the legal provision in Nepal. I filled up my forms, faced the competition through both written and spoken modes. What I found is raw fruits in my palm that I could not taste. I was depressed by the policies and controversial arguments made among school management committee and the concerned authorities of selection committee. However, I didn’t lose my patience.

Later a new inspiration blended my performance in teaching at newly established Mid Regional Police Boarding School Jingadiya, Rautahat. I wished I could teach in that new institution. I competed for the teacher and fortunately, I succeeded among other teacher colleagues. The success really made me so delightful that I could not sleep that night. I conveyed the message of my academic victory to all my friends and relatives. My happiness knew no bounds.

The most memorable teaching event that I have experienced during my teaching career is my involvement in “listening tape script designing.” We all English teachers worked together under the department of ELT. We conducted several workshops regarding ELT issues, and picked out some new trends in listening skills. This led us to design “Tape script” ourselves. For this, we followed the following procedures and conducted task.

I.        Organizing workshop

II.        Interaction/ Discussion among EL teacher

III.        Identification of ELT issues

IV.        Making hypothesis

V.        Finding out the solution.

While designing the tape script, all English language teachers had participated. They prepared the tape scripts for each class ranging from lower to higher levels. They were prepared on the basis of their curriculum, textbooks and their needs. After the rehearsal was conducted, it was recorded on tape. When this original (self prepared) cassette was played in the concerned class, the students were fully motivated and they could understand most of the utterances naturally. Later, they were examined on the paper.

This process mentioned above was the most memorable for me. It gave a good opportunity to develop cassettes and we distributed some of the cassettes to other school teachers who also used the cassettes. Not only this, we provided some roles to our students whose voices were clear and tuned with correct pronunciation. This had encouraged them as well to design the tape scripts. Small children were also encouraged to records rhymes in chorus. When the recorded tape was played and provided them feedback as well. All these activities added enthusiasm among all English language teachers. We were highly benefited to develop listening competency among students.

Pedagogical Implications

 Several government-aided-schools, private boarding schools and even institutional schools are lacking such activities, which can be followed by English teachers and personnel.

Recently I have collected the needs from teachers working in government schools regarding teaching English in Rautahat district of Nepal. The arguments of the teachers show the changing trends in ELT regarding the use of listening clips. What I found is that they do not like to hire the cassettes produced by the native speakers but they like to get the cassettes produced by Nepalese English teachers or they would like to produce the hire cassettes in collaboration with competent speakers. It is because the teachers could not understand the utterance spoken in the script. For the beginners, self prepared cassettes are very essential. Some hired cassettes can only be played until they have mastered over the listening competence. This is why, designing and preparing cassettes by the teachers themselves for teaching listening is a must.

 Recommendations

There are some recommendations to be taken into mind before producing listening cassettes for your school and children.

• Teachers should be trained enough to handle such tasks.
• The school administration should support the teachers financially.
• The teachers should be creative, innovative and co-operative while carrying out the task.
• There should be proper use of some supra-segmental features like tempo, stress and tone intonation while recording sounds.
• Some recorded clips of sweet music, pause, rings and other catchy sounds, should be recorded along with original tape-script as background sound.
• Correct pronunciation of the words and the sentences with specific stylistic features should be maintained.
• For participants, male and female teachers, children and other concerned fellows can collaborate to complete the task effectively.

This can help English language teachers addressing present pedagogical issues regarding the listening competency in ELT and it can be scaled up and replicated in different school in Nepal.

What I as a student expect from an English teacher

Manju Pokhrel

BBA, Pokhara College of technology (LaGrandee College)

Simalchaur, Pokhara

In this entry, as a business student learning English for global communication, I am writing about what I expect from a ‘good’ English teacher. A good teacher is the one who actually aims to make students understand his/her teaching. I expect good English teacher should be built with different characteristics- i)Proficiency in English ii)Good organization iii)Effective body language iv)Patience v) Knowledge vi) A good sense of humour vii) Good attitude ix) Adaptable to the environment x)Vocabulary knowledge

It’s a genuine fact that an English teacher should have knowledge of English so s/he can teach students with fluency and in right manner. The teacher should also have a good preparation and organization of the materials s/he is presenting in the very time. The detail knowledge on subject matter is very crucial. The vocabulary power assists the teacher to be strong in their lecture or class. The continuous speed up or steady teaching cannot be effective, hence sense of humour play a role for this purpose of holding the class within the control of teacher. Perception of an individual differs according to the attitude of a person. Good attitude can be also an important factor for determining the perfection of teachers. Good attitude leads to positive response from the listeners. The environment is a dynamic factor; therefore teacher should be able to cope within given educational environment whether it suits his/her personality or not. They must  pave a way to develop congenial environment where they are teaching.

In fact, the expectations I put on were fulfilled when I was at graduation level. On remembering my English teacher, today also I felt so warm about her and her teaching. Writing about her teaching is like describing the natural beauty that adds value to the environment. Really I am privileged by this chance on putting words about the personality whom I admire. The smiling face, so poised and elegant nature adds her personality. Her speaking was pellucid; her soft and sweet voice, attracting the attention of whole class; the class which used to be noisy in other’s lecture. Her presence makes the class dear and lovely. Her vocabulary was fabulous and power to make whole class understood is admirable. She had full knowledge on subject matter she was talking on. She was conscious about her words and used to alert timely so students’ attention can be gained. Her encouragement on better writing and good speaking made us careful on our doing. She used to delineate on how to impress the reader by the simple and meaningful writing. I still remember the fact she said – use of difficult or unfamiliar words do not add to clarity and impressiveness of writing; rather writing should be clear, precise and trustworthy to draw the attention of the reader. Her role was remarkable in my life time. She encouraged me in learning English to the extent I need. She used to dictate each and every ideas and information on the topic. She never felt bored and irritated by my questions. In return, her answers used to be reasonable to the questions asked. Today whatever I am able to write freely is the result of her teaching and her inspiration.

As an English teacher it is false to view that a teacher should memorize the whole dictionary or the whole concepts on English but he/she should be an expert in the subject matter, in classroom management and in teaching techniques.

Branch Highlights: Tanahun, Kaski and Makwanpur

Dear Choutari Readers,

In an attempt to provide you glimpse of the great things ELT that take place across the country, we invited brief reflective reports from our colleagues in NELTA branches. This time we have quick snapshots. Ideally, we want reports in the form of “blog” entries so that readers find them quick and interesting to read. We ask that our contributors take some time to learn and write blog entries as reflective pieces, whatever the content and subject may be. So, if you would like to share about professional development activities in your branch with the community via Choutari, please look at the guidelines for writing more substantive and reflective pieces on this page. And please see this example.

Editors

 TANAHUN, KASKI AND MAKWANPUR

Training: ‘Teaching Poems and Creative Writing’ organized by NELTA

Facilitated by Motikala Subba Dewan, Sarita Dewan, and Mr. Batuk Lal Tamang, this training involved the participants in writing their own brief creative work on the spot and then discussing how to teach creative work in the ELT classroom. More than 50 teachers participated in the event.

 

KASKI BRANCH

Training: Basic Level Teacher Training

Organized by PABSON Lamjung and Athrai Publication, this training was facilitated by Khim Lal Adhikari. The theme of the training was Child-friendly Pedagogy, Child-centred method and How to teach English. Fifty five English teachers from different schools participated in the training.

 Teachers Training on Teaching English Website

With the assistance of the British Council, Kaski branch organized a two day Teachers’ training focused on the Teaching English Website 8^th & 9^th Sep., 2011. Altogether 60 life members of NELTA, Pokhara from different campus, school and academic institution took part in the training. The training mainly focuses how to get the teaching materials from website on line so that the teaching learning activities will be more effective. Smreety Dewan and Asim Kharel from British Council facilitated the training.

Support in PABSON Spelling Contest

PABSON Kaski organized an English Spelling contest for Lower secondary Level from 10 to 12 August, 2011 in Pokhara. The programme was coordinated by Karna Gurung and assisted by other members. 198 students from 66 different PABSON schools participated in the contest.

Need-based Teacher Training by D.E.O.

NELTA, Pokhara worked together with the District Education Office, Kaski to prepare the Teacher Professional Development (TPD)  training manual as well as the training packages for all the levels beginning, intermediate and secondary levels. Min B. Gurung, NELTA chair and Khim Lal Adhikari including other ELT teachers and school supervisors prepared the training manual at the end of the academic session 2067.

MAKWANPUR BRANCH

Training: English Language Teaching: Breaking its Boundaries

This one-day conference was attended by about 200 members. It was facilitated by scholars like Kamal Poudel, Sajan Karn, and Ekadeve Adhihari.

NELTA Makwanpur Committee 2011-2013: (From left: Mr. Surya Pd. Ghimire, Mr. Ganesh Pd. Humagain, Mr. Kishor Parajuli, Mr. Shyam Pd. Dahal, Ms. Srijana Paudel, Mr. Dadhiram Chapagain, Mr. Thakur Ram Bhandari, Mr. Sangam Chaulagain, Mr. Rajeshwar Thakur, Mr. Mohan Waiwa and Ms. Reena Acharya)

Three Day Training on ELT

A three-day training on ELT for primary level English teachers was conducted by Makwanpur and was attended by 35 teachers from PABSON affiliated schools. This training was facilitated by scholars like Kashiraj Pandey from NELTA Center.

Third Anniversary Issue (January 2012)

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Editorial

- Shyam Sharma.

First of all, thank you for being with Choutari another year, for contributing your work, for reading, and most importantly for posting your comments and contributing to the discussion. The conversation is key to the forum.

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The world of publication is changing–and it should. In journalism, bloggers usually report the news first, and often report it best; so, media outlets tap into the power of citizen journalism. In education, publication is still stuck in slow and often unfairly selective processes that are rather out of sync with how scholars actually learn and communicate with their professional communities; worse, many scholars in the global periphery are locked out of even that exclusive party. The world of educators can be better. Especially in the age of social and professional networking, we can and should actively promote learning by sharing, collaborating and resource-building… and breaking barriers. Just think about it: with one click of a “like” or “share” button a week, one comment a month, and one article a year, you can help build one of the best blog-based professional ELT forums in the region–and, if many other colleagues like you make one small contribution at a time, it could even be in the world!

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We should remember that our colleagues across the country continue to have limited access to the web–on top of half a day or more of load shedding–and, in fact, even the relatively privileged among us have limited time and incentives for engaging in professional conversations and resource-building. But if we consider the level of engagement that we have seen nonetheless in the last two years, we can be very optimistic and enthusiastic as well. If we want to inspire one another, we can! And we should.

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Looking forward to the fourth year with the hope–in fact, confidence–that as writers and readers, we will all participate with even more energy and enthusiasm, and wishing you a

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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!

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Editors
Shyam, Bal, Prem, Sajan, Kamal, Hem

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Table of Contents

• Interview with NELTA President, Hemanta Dahal (by Editors)
• Multilingualism in/and Nepalese Education (an article by Shailaja Jha, Kathmandu University)
• New NELTA Branch in Rautahat (a report by Praveen Yadav, Birgunj, Tribhuvan University)
• The Process-Genre Approach: Some Thoughts about Teaching Writing in Nepal (an article by Madhav Belbase, Kathmandu University)
• Mixed Ability of Learners: Challenges for ELT Teachers (an article by Mandira Adhikari, Kathmandu University)
• Education for All, Millennium Development Goal, and the Issue of Dominant Language (an essay by Uttam Gaulee, University of Pittsburgh, US)
• Oral History/Interview with Prem Subedi  (by Hem Kafle, Kathmandu University)
• Your Voices (Choutari readers’ and writers’ observations)

Interview with NELTA President, Mr. Hemanta Dahal

Mr. President, You are aware that even while many of our fellow teachers across the country do not have access to the ELT resources, conversations, and communities on the web, the increasing number of Nepalese ELT professionals who have access look up to your office for supporting initiatives like Nelta Choutari from the level of policy, resources, or at least moral support and encouragement. What would you like to tell the readers of Choutari about how you have supported this or similar volunteer initiatives in the past? 

NELTA has genuinely taken this issue and has adopted some strategies to address it. Part of the strategies, a number of the Journal of NELTA has been uploaded in its website in a pdf format so that many of our fellow teachers can have access to the journals free of cost. Moreover, NELTA recommends the Regional English Language Office (RELO) based in the US Embassy, Kathmandu for online teacher training courses for our members. Some of the NELTA members have already been benefited from these courses sponsored by the US State Department and conducted by the US universities. To take a few examples, some of our members from Surkhet, Dang, Gorkha, Birganj and Kathmandu have already completed the online courses, and some are doing it. Several NELTA members also got chance to participate in the series of webinars presented by the US professors and the ELT experts who have given considerable insight to our friends’ vocation.

In order to promote English language proficiency of the professionals in teaching and beyond, NELTA in collaboration with the US Embassy and Radio Sagarmatha aired English by Radio for one and half-year. The materials were developed by the NELTA experts. With the consent of NELTA, the US Embassy has arranged to air 54 episodes of the programs through ten FM stations in Nepal.

Considering the importance of Nelta Choutari, we have been disseminating some sample works in Choutari, among our fellow members on different occasions. One of the most important occasions to give its visibility is the international conference of NELTA, in which our colleagues give a plenary about Choutari to more than 700 participants. The conference will take place in Kathmandu on 18-20 February and in Chitawan on 22-23 February 2012. I would like to invite the ELT professionals to participate in the conference.

Choutari team–and other volunteer teams working for promoting professional development of NELTA members–have used approaches, platforms, and talents of its members in pursuing NELTA’s visions and missions towards supporting professional development needs of NELTA members. Please tell us a few specific ways in which you might have thought NELTA can collaborate with or support such volunteer initiatives. 

First of all, I would like to take an opportunity to salute the Choutari team and volunteers for helping promote professional development of NELTA members through the regular publication of Nelta Choutari. Special thanks are due to Shyam Sharma, Bal Krishna Sharma, Kamal Poudel, Prem Phyak, Sajan Karn and Hem Raj Kafle.

NLETA highly regards the value of Choutari. However, just valuing it is not enough for promoting its visibility in the professional arena. The agenda has already entered in central committee meetings to print selected materials from Choutari and disseminate them among NELTA branches. NELTA has 33 branches across the country covering almost 50 districts. Given the need to reach widely, we are looking for resources for Choutari’s resources for teachers across the country.

Some other ways to support Choutari and similar initiatives would be to include their resources in the NELTA newsletter, journal, international conference booklet, flyers, website, etc., which is possible in terms of cost and efforts. I will certainly consider this as an agenda in the forthcoming meeting of NELTA, and I am sure my team will implement it immediately.

Choutari is a forward-looking professional development initiative in the sense that it seeks to build the platform before it even seems possible for many NELTA members to participate. What are some of NELTA’s official programs that similarly look into the future where you may want us to join hands with such initiatives? 

NELTA has been exploring the opportunities for how it could be instrumental in developing the English language teaching situation in Nepal. NELTA, with the support of the RELO office has planned to donate the ELT books to all 33 branches of NELTA and 82 public schools. RELO office has kindly agreed to allocate 40,000 US dollars to buy the books and administer the donation programme. NELTA already received fifty per cent of the books and distributed them to 38 schools, many branches of NELTA, Tribhuwan University, Faculty of Education, Kathmandu University School of Education, Mahendra Ratna Campus, Tahachal and Gorkha Campus. Rest of the books will arrive in March, and then distribution will take place in rest of the branches and the school, including some education campuses in the country. These books will certainly be useful for the teachers and teacher educators to bridge the gap between the theories and practices so that they could share their views to others.

NELTA  has started brainstorming for English by Radio program with a focus on the teachers. Moreover, discussions are underway to collaborate with the British Council for providing the NELTA members the access to the British Council global products.

We are also exploring the possibilities for how the Choutari can be linked with the websites of the British Council, RELO, IATEFL and TESOL so that more and more people can have better access to the resources. British Council has abundance of global products – many of them come online. TESOL has enormous online materials which could be shared with NELTA members via uplink. TEFL International is another key institution working for internationally accredited training such as TESOL Certificate and TESOL Diploma. The entire modules of TESOL Diploma are provided online. Collaboration between NELTA and TEFL International could be insightful to look into the opportunity for sharing the training materials.

Which Choutari article that you have read in the past three years did you like most and why?

There is no single article, I could refer to that I am impressed by. However, I would like to mention the one by Mr. Kent Grosh entitled ‘So Many Textbooks, So Little Time‘.  Mr. Grosh begins with the practical notion of teaching mathematics linking the ideas of teaching English as a second language. In the context of Nepal, the teachers are obliged to rely on the textbooks to the great extent whereas majority of the textbooks are far too difficult compared to the learners’ schema. Consequently, both the teachers and the students waste a lot of time rather than being self-aware of critical thinking. Therefore, there is an urgent need of revisiting what we do and what we are required to do.

Please suggest any areas of professional conversation that Choutari is yet to pay attention to. 

I would suggest publishing more practical teaching and learning tips in each issue of the Choutari.

Finally, do you have any message for Choutari readers? 

First of all, the more the readers could disseminate the work of Choutari, the more English teaching professionals get access to the forum. I would like to urge the readers to provide comments and feedback regarding the materials published in Choutari and also submit articles, teaching and learning tips and life experiences related to teaching and learning of English.