TEACHING TEACHERS: Senior English language fellow George Bishop Jr. interacting with lecturers at part of retraining of teachers. — PHOTO: T VIJAYA KUMAR

GUNTUR : English language teachers, who were trained in new pedagogic methods to make students more communicative, came up with some very good suggestions and devised simple ways to drive home easy methods of learning the language and conversing in it.

At the first-ever follow-up workshop in Andhra Pradesh as part of A.P. State English Lecturers Retraining Programme, sponsored by Directorate of Collegiate Education the resource person and coordinator of the programme George Bishop, Jr. told The Hindu that the joint venture programme had transformed many a teacher.

"We are on our way to evaluate the impact of one year of imparting training to teachers in various zones in innovative methods of improving English teaching and from the feedback we have got so far, it has been quite useful," he explained.

Competitive scenario

"Some of the teachers and students are very good at English while writing, but do not express themselves confidently in the classroom or outside putting them at an disadvantage in the job market in the extreme competitive scenario these days," he observed. The Directorate wants to improve the methodology, but everything was not in its hands as universities decide on curriculum and pattern of examination, but slowly improvement in English communicative skills is visible in all colleges, Mr. George added.

Marring chances

Teachers were never given pedagogic training and used local language to explain English, which marred the chances of students learning speaking in English. For decades Shakespearean English was being taught with methods introduced by the British that suited India then, but with the globalisation of economy, market needs have changed and every employer wants a person with a better communication skills and the DCE in association with the U.S. State Department, had embarked on this project.

A Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and Bachelor of English literature/communication, Mr. George had a stint in Republic of Azerbaijan, a country in the South Caucasus, as a trainer of teachers after getting a Cambridge diploma in Training in Teachers, so finds this job, likely to last till July, interesting. At the Government College for Women, lecturers Sasibala and Vijay Babu coordinated the programme on Saturday.

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