Step by Step

I am totally engaged and enjoying my class. I get called to the front to point to the flashcard that has a picture that starts with the initial sound ‘b’. I point to the one with the bat.

“Is that correct?” my teacher consults the class.
“Yes!”
“Well done! You can choose the next student, then go and sit down.”

I smile. I appreciate the praise. I feel proud.

For fifteen minutes, I am a student in a grade 1 English class. My teacher is Win, a grade 1 English teacher in Mae La Temporary Shelter.

Why am I studying grade 1 English when English is my mother tongue?

The reason is that a two-week teacher-training workshop is just about coming to an end. The aim of the game is very clear – to train grade 1 teachers in delivering grade 1 English using the new grade 1 text books. The teachers’ final task is to demonstrate sample lessons that they prepared in groups using the new books and we, the trainers – one BEP volunteer and one VSO volunteer – participate, observe and give feedback.

This all began when we were requested by the Karen Refugee Committee Education Entity to write new English text books for grades 1 – 6. The idea is to bring the curriculum more in line with the Thai curriculum, and to improve the English language teaching in the camps by introducing a more communicative, less teacher-centred approach and to move away from the familiar techniques of rote learning, repetition and drilling.

Looking at the grade 1 students and teachers books in print in front of all the teachers, we could feel satisfied that a large part of our job here has been done, at least for grade 1, but unless the teachers can understand and use the materials, and the students are learning, then these books just take up office space. So we begin with training.

As a teacher, I have attended many a career-development seminar or workshop, and come away armed with bundles of tips and ideas – often brilliant, some totally accessible to me, others did not appeal. I am also familiar with the feeling of intimidation that can come with observations, relief when the feedback is kind and gratitude when it’s constructive.

Now, I try to imagine that the trainer or observer comes from a different country, culture, speaks another language and we need an interpreter to communicate with each other; that those observers are observing me teaching their language, demonstrating lessons from materials that they, themselves designed; that I am expected to take on a whole new style of teaching in two weeks, through an interpreter!

It might just be daunting enough to make me change my job!

But if that is how the teachers here feel, it does not show. As I witness demonstrations of various activities using flashcards, charts and realia, and listen to instructions and praise given in English, I feel a sense of achievement for both the teachers and ourselves at how much they have come on in two weeks. For some, this leap towards a more communicative style of teaching seems incredibly natural and enthusiastically undertaken, for others it is more challenging, or less appealing but in all cases, I can see progress.

Two weeks is not enough. We know that from last year’s piloting of the book in two demonstration schools. That is why, in the coming academic year, a team of BEP trainers will work in the camp to support the teachers in the implementation of the new materials. We will spend time in the classroom with each of the teachers, and have weekly group sessions to reflect and plan for the following week’s work. We found this to be really helpful for the pilot teachers.

So as we round off the training and exchange feedback, it is clear that despite our different roles, we and the teachers share a sentiment of excitement for the coming academic year, a healthy dose of apprehension, and we are happy to be in it together. Beyond that, step by step, we still have a way to go, but we all feel more confident than we did two weeks ago.

Katharine May

This year TEFL.com is sponsoring The Burma Education Partnership's Mobile Teaching Programme on the Thai/Burma border.  You can learn more about BEP here.