The Nuwara Eliya Outreach Pilot Community English Programme was the Tea Leaf Trust's first teaching project, and a pilot for the much larger Maskeliya Outreach English Programme, which started in Februaury 2010.
Teacher training
The initial stage of
the Nuwara Eliya Outreach Pilot Programme, was an intense one-month weekend
teacher-training course. This course, approved by the Sri
Lankan Education Department, focused on key teaching skills, including teaching
methods to gain/keep attention, disciplining through non-aggressive means and
maximising the learning of the children through active participation. It was
impressed upon the students that shouting, ritual humiliation of the children,
and using fear as a means of control, something that is often practiced in
Government Schools throughout
Evaluation of the
teacher-training course
Quotes:
"This
is a really good programme. It is very practical. It has helped me learn so
many things about teaching"
"This is a great opportunity to me and my community"
"I
am happy. You are doing a great job. Definitely, this will help us to be
confident in ourselves"
" You have done a good job for us. It is a great opportunity to improve our knowledge. Thank you for helping us"
"This is a golden opportunity we have got in our lifetime. From this I learned about so many things. Please continue"
"I
think you are doing a great job, so keep it up. I wish you all the best for
your
At the end of the 4-week programme, students were asked to evaluate the course by means of a graded questionnaire. Thirty-three students completed the 4-week course. The quotes above are from the evaluation sheets. The rest of the results are shown in the link below.
Changes as a result
of feedback
From the evaluation
feedback, we have implemented the following changes to the teacher-training course used for the Maskeliya Community English Programme:
- Increase the training time. Future English teacher training courses will now run for a minimum of 8 weeks
Based on the current feedback, we thought it fair to give extra training sessions. Students undergoing the training for the Maskeliya Community English Programme now have a two month training course, followed by a weekly class where they review and practice their lesson plans (mock classes) with the Tea Leaf Vision staff and their tutor group, prior to teaching the lesson at the various venues across the Maskeliya district.
- Spend more time on lesson planning, reviewing lesson plans, and delivery
Based on feedback from this pilot programme, the students that will be teaching the Maskeliya Basic English Programme will have a teacher training session that specifically focuses on lesson plan and delivery (see above). This will be based on the British council recommendations for an English language curriculum for ages 7-12.
Based on the current feedback, the students that that will be teaching the Maskeliya Basic English Programme will have seperate teacher training sessions that specifically focuses on this.
Summary of outreach pilot programme outcomes
With the programme now complete, you can find a summary report below on how the project was received and important lessons learned.