During the implementation of the 2019–2020 project, teachers expressed a desire for additional experts to join the CPD chain. Hornby’s decentering ELT concept advocates the guidance of such experts for teachers in the region, particularly in countries with a shortage of specialists. Professional development activities (CPD) that ELT specialists should oversee and facilitate include mentoring, organising conferences, seminars, and workshops, guiding classroom research, assisting teachers with reflective practices, and hosting other such events.
To this end, ELTS-CAMELTA North West recently organised a two-day workshop to upgrade the capacity of selected teachers in ELT. During this workshop, participants were edified on:
- Proposal writing and preparing a PowerPoint presentation.
- Presenting a paper during a conference or seminar.
- Reflective Teaching.
- Mentorship
- Classroom Research.
At the end of the workshop, the participants:
a) Embraced the culture of mentoring
b) Resolved to make classroom research an integral part of teaching and learning
c) Determined to make maximum use of ICTs
d) Revived interest in being more active and present regularly at local, regional, national, and international teacher associations
It is expected that a new wave of local experts will emerge (at the end of the project) who will continue to build the capacities of others for leadership in ELT in the North West Region.
The workshop was presided over by the Regional Delegate of Secondary Education for the North West Region, and facilitators were drawn from the STA leadership and the English Pedagogic Office.
