In collaboration with the Regional English Language Office at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad Peace and Education Foundation (PEF) conducted two-week training workshop in Karachi. The workshop was conducted on communication and pedagogical skills for English language teachers from non-mainstream institutes from October 16 -27, 2023. A total of 50 teachers from Sindh, Balochistan, and Gilgit representing Muslim diversity including Barelvi, Deobandi, Salafi, Shia and Jammat e Islami participated in the workshop.
U.S. English Language Specialist Dr. Salma Waly teamed up with Pakistani English Language Expert Ms. Ismat Bahar to design and conduct the workshop. The workshop was participatory in nature and covered a wide range of topics including effective communication techniques, classroom management, integrated lessons with a variety of materials on the most important topics and content about teaching methodology, interactive activities covering listening, speaking, reading, writing and grammar were conducted. The participants did micro-teaching: they prepared and delivered 15-minute mini-lessons. The trainers and PEF project Manager met one-on-one with the participants to work on lesson plan work/feedback.
In addition to the training sessions, the workshop also featured cultural events. These events provided participants with an opportunity to understand the importance of culture, experience the local culture, and to build relationships with their fellow participants.
This initiative provided professional development opportunity to the teachers, who are educating to the underserved and underprivileged students. The teachers improved their English communication, teaching techniques and improve teaching and pedagogical skills. Our ultimate aim is to equip these teachers in this project to provide quality, modern and impactful English instructions to their students for brighter future. Community of Practice (COP) forum is formed.
Learning Outcomes:
As per participant’s feedback, teachers have:
1. Learned how to engage the four language domains and practiced those skills.
2. Learned the structure of Bloom’s Taxonomy and applied the structure to show an understanding of the need for a variety of tasks in a language lesson.
3. Learned where to find materials on the American English website.
4. Learned the structure of Garner’s Multiple Intelligences and demonstrated how to incorporate multiple intelligences to plan lessons.
5. Used American English materials.
6. Planned a student-centered mini-lesson.
7. Received feedback on their mini-lesson.
Participants Quotations
I want to give my heartfelt gratitude for this amazing opportunity to take part in the two-week “Relo” workshop for madrasah English teachers. The workshop greatly expanded my understanding of mindfulness and gave me great understanding of how it can be used and taught. The workshop was well-organized informative and engaging. The activities that were conducted were relevant and practical and the resources shared were valuable. I also appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with other teachers and to share ideas. Overall, I found the workshop to be a valuable experience and I look forward to attending future workshops. Musfira Saeed
The workshop for madrassa English teachers was incredibly informative and well-structured. I appreciate the diverse range of topics covered during the workshop, which expanded my knowledge and enhanced my teaching skills. The workshop provided a supportive and encouraging environment for all participants. The overall content was very helpful and I will definitely share my learnings with other teachers in madrassah. Nighat Gul
The session was an amazing opportunity to experience learning, in a dynamic environment. It was a one room world with a variety of spectrum. The harmonized ambiance, advance learning, welcoming and adaptable behavior of organizers were highlights. Most importantly the content of the workshop was so needful for language teachers of my area, hailing from the remote area I found the opportunity we missed all the time. As private and government sectors neglect Madrasa teachers especially when they are the influencers. We need a bridge to the advanced world to bring peace, acceptance and tolerance as an English language teacher in Madrasa we can put more impactful efforts than any other. Saliha Firdos
This two Week Professional Training Gave Me the Opportunity to Improve My English Communication skills as well as to learn to pedagogical skills and different teaching techniques. Those techniques will help me to improve my teaching style and I am become more expert in my English language class room. and I am thank full to peace and education foundation to give me such as wonderful chance where I was learned some new teaching techniques and styles .and in sha allah I will apply all this in my class room.
Maria Arbab
Pictures:
