International Teachers of English Conference Abstracts

Tajikistan

Why Bother? Student Feedback in the Learner-Centered Class
Natalya Saltaeva - Dushanbe, Tajikistan

The purpose of the session is to introduce various techniques for gaining both formal and informal feedback from the students at different stages of the lesson and the course. I see student feedback as a useful and necessary way of gathering information on the effectiveness of our teaching as well as students’ learning.

The poster will include samples of the assessment tools that teachers can apply during the lesson – “Thumbs-up and thumbs-down” (students evaluating activities visually using their thumbs), “One-word circle” (students use one word to share their feelings); after the lesson – “A minute paper” or “Telegrams” (weekly notes to the teacher), at the end of the week – “Feelings graph” (students’ graph of impressions of the lessons) and “Suggestion box”; mid-term and final assessment tools such as questionnaires and others.

The poster will include samples of my students’ dialogue journals which I see as a means of collecting continuous feedback. Students were asked to write about any of their concerns about teaching-learning process. The presenter and the visitors to the poster session will discuss and analyze the feedback from this Intermediate level course. The other part of the poster will be devoted to the principles and general guidelines of gaining student feedback as well as responding it. These guidelines help teachers know how to design tools for collecting and processing student feedback.

E-Learning: Using the Internet and Multimedia Applications
Rustam Tajibaev - Kurgan-Tube, Tajikistan

Teachers, learners and schools are now exploring the ways that they can benefit from availability of computerized world and the Internet. Its accessibility and user-friendly nature with powerful graphic capabilities made it possible to carry traditional teaching practices to online environment. With its digitalized text, video, audio, animation, and virtual environments, online learning can offer a more motivating way of training than students might experience in a crowded classroom. It is also well used to support and provide guidance to the teachers in teaching methods and practices, including online courses and trainings. With the obvious advantage of flexibility of using the Internet and digitalized media, instructors should consider the enhancement of contemporary teaching practices. Therefore, the opportunities to use the Internet and multimedia computer applications at schools should be explored.

Self-Access Language Learning (SALL) and Learner Autonomy
Shodigul Aslamshoeva - Tajikistan, Dushanbe

Self-access activities allow students to experience responsibility for their learning. As a result of taking responsibility they gain a deeper sense of achievement in their learning. It will motivate them to continue self-access language learning, moving towards greater autonomy in their learning.

School English Club
Sultonova Rano – Kairakkum, Tajikistan

The idea of organizing the English speaking club was born much longer ago then it really was organized. But we (English teachers of our school) decided to gather volunteer pupils who were eager to develop and enrich their knowledge of English as two hours a week for learning English was too little.

This club is an essential course. It is based on all the work covered in the lessons. It gives pupils an opportunity to use what they have learned in their lessons in an unconscious way, and they use their knowledge in freer and more personal way with less control by the teacher. It provides an opportunity for all pupils to work at their own level; strong pupils will produce longer, more complex work as they fulfil the task, weaker pupils will produce shorter, simpler work. Club gives pupils an opportunity to communicate role-play and read and analyze articles, letters, stories and poems, and make posters and programs. They cut out and draw pictures, maps, and organize interviews, etc.

Another very important thing is the choice of the theme for learning. In the club pupils can choose the theme themselves. In 2003 Relief International Schools Online connected our school to Internet. And this gave us an opportunity to teach English online, to learn more information about English speaking countries, English and American literature and get other interested in material. Also pupils can use Internet to find material for their research work themes. In our school there is a tradition to hold an annual conference in English language. And it is the second year where the members of our club make impressive reports on different themes.

Creating Stories with Children and Students.
V.A. Yakubova - Dushanbe, Tajikistan

In this proposal I describe in detail one of the ways of developing speaking and writing skills in creating stories together with children and students. Creating stories is grounded in the student’s ability to create a story from their personal experience. In creating stories such problems are revealed: a) fluency, b) whether the students have enough language to create the story, and c) accuracy.

I describe and solve the problems in all the stages in creating stories: sudden ideas, questions, characteristics and peculiarities of all the characters of the story, give a short description of the project in creating stories, explain and show the differences and similarities of the characters, etc. In my proposal there are some examples of quick-time stories and long-time stories, such types of stories as Chain story, “If” stories,

Fortunately/unfortunately stories and others, such version as a story-dialogue “Buratino and Pinocchio’s meeting” and the version of the story of the advanced group of the students of Russian-Tajik Slavonic University, International Relations Department “Differences and similarities between the work of Foreign Office in England and US Department” which includes main facts in the work of two institutions.

Using Literary Texts with the Students at Intermediate Level
Zarrina Devonabekova - Khorog, Badakhshan, Tajikistan

By exposing students to the rich language awareness their overall knowledge of how words and grammar can be used .By presenting students with the complex themes in the literary text we can motivate them to reflect imaginatively on their own experience and on that of writers in different societies.

By gently encouraging students to make their own interpretation of a text we can develop their confidence in forming well-reasoned interpretations of the language that they read and hear. These texts were chosen not only for their relative linguistic simplicity but also because they embody themes that should appeal to students from different cultures around the world. The range of the texts reflects the rich variety of writing throughout the English -speaking world. We teachers should encourage students to try to guess the meaning of the words from context while reading and to use the notes in the panel only after having done so. Our students at the intermediate level need to feel to experience and enjoy the creative language of literature without being overloaded by literary language.

Teaching English through Songs
Zulaikho Mazorova - Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Teacher will be able to demonstrate techniques of using songs in different ways to teach grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and community building because the students like songs and they motivate the students to learn the English language in an interesting way. Teacher will elicit students’ ideas about the song through activities such as prediction, mind maps, word splashes, etc. Students discuss questions such as the feelings in the song, what will happen next, etc. and write responses to teacher’s dictation. Students write and present how the song makes them feel and then draw a picture of their feelings while listening to the song. Teacher leads discussion of how to choose songs and presents available resources such as internet sites. Teachers respond to this presentation and ask questions. Presenter elicits feedback from the group.

Teaching English for Specific Purposes: Reporting on Diplomacy
Barno Kosimova – Dushanbe, Tajikistan

The workshop offers some teaching ideas useful for ESP teachers. By the end of the workshop participants will understand that though there are important practical ways in which the work of General English teachers and ESP teachers differ (such as importance of needs analysis, syllabus design, adaptation or writing materials), ESP teachers deal with the same areas of language and skills that General English teachers do. Most of the skills and teaching techniques used at General English classes are adaptable to ESP. At the end participants discuss how the tasks can be adapted to suit the specific needs of their learners.

Internet and ELT: Using E-tools in ELT
Ibrahim Rustamov - Tajikistan

The Internet is a very useful tool for teaching English. Teachers can use it for gathering information for their classes, including teaching plans and materials for classroom use. They can subscribe to mailing lists or be members of forums related to TEFL where they can exchange with ideas and views, ask questions and learn from other teachers around the world. They can subscribe to electronic journals or newsletters either by e-mail or using the World Wide Web and keep up with new trends of English teaching, finding new or interesting publications and opportunities of different professional developing, as well as about partnering with other schools around the world.

Developing Students’ Speaking Skill and Individual Accountability through Working Cooperatively
Kimiyo Alibekova - Khorog, Tajikistan

Language is best learned through the close collaboration and communication among students. There are many cooperative learning approaches but as the time of presentation limited, I am going to talk about some approaches, which I think are relevant for students speaking skill and feeling accountability during cooperative working. These are “Numbered Heads”, “Round Table and Round Robin”, and “Inside/outside circles” that I want to make in power point presentation.

Project Lesson – Its Objectives, Organization and Results
Madhzidova Robiya - Kairakkum, Tajikistan

The project lesson is a new approach to teaching English in Tajikistan. I (I’m one of the authors of English textbook Highway to English) got introduced to this approach in one of authorship trainings I took part in and I decided to experiment this in my class. The results I’ve gained are wonderful. And I want to share with my colleagues my experiences (project work samples will be displayed).

Projects are longer activities. They give pupils an opportunity to use all the language they have learned during the unit (and other units.) in a free and creative way in longer stretches of communication. Projects are also a way of helping pupils to revise what they have learned – pupils can look back over the material to find the information and language they need. Besides linguistic aims, project work also teaches social and managerial skills. Pupils work in groups independently to complete their projects. This trains them to work cooperatively, to take responsibility, to organize and manage their time and their work. Projects cater for all abilities. Stronger pupils have the opportunity to use all the language they know. Weaker pupils can use the language introduced in the unit. Project activities can be noisy because groups must discuss what to do. Teachers are strongly advised to follow the steps for the project given in the detailed lesson plants. This will help to ensure the project word work goes smoothly.

In project work pupils produce posters and booklets in their groups. Pupils present their group work to the rest of the class, display it and talk about it. The pictures can be stuck on the blackboard, but sometimes this not convenient. Instead you can take a piece of string in the classroom. Fold the papers in half or pin them onto the string so that every pupil can see them. If it is possible to have a large for project papers, this is ideal. Keep the posters after the project to decorate your classroom and for school displays. As you know, every teacher must give a demonstration lesson, so you can use the project lesson and invite teachers to participate in the lesson.

Pupils learn to self-evaluate during project work. Pupils take pupils take notes during the presentations, assess each others’ work and then decide whose work is the best and award medals e.g. for the best oral presentation, best handwriting, etc.

Poetry Trail: Natural Environment through Poetry Writing
Maria Dolmatova - Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Since the dawn of time, the natural environment has inspired people to express their feelings in poetry. Poetry is also a creative outlet for expressing feelings about any aspect of the environment, including how people feel about environmental problems such as deforestation, air pollution, and population. Poetry can also help build language skills and the ability to express feelings through writing. Take the class outdoors. Designate four different writing stations within the area. It could be four spots within an evergreen forest, in a grassy field, under the willows, in a woodlot, or in a city park. Divide students into four groups and send each to a different writing station. At each location, have students use one specific sense (hearing, sight, touch, smell) to explore the area and develop a list of descriptive words, based on that sense. Encourage students to use a different sense and a different poetry style at each station. At set times, rotate the groups so they have a chance to write at all stations. Once all stations have been visited by all groups, share some of the poems as a class. Have your students pick at least five new words from a thesaurus and write a poem that summarizes the day’s experiences.

Out of Class Activities
Mirzokhonova Matluba – Khujand, Tajikistan

The quantity of the activities I perform with my pupils is exceedingly great and every time when we attempt to create any project or organize any club, we initially endeavor to assume about the shortcomings or errors the pupils do and have within expressing and showing their knowledge. Consequently, I would like to make a briefing on these things and share my experience with others. You know, every project and idea that I realize is based on the reality. As for instance, we have some subject clubs that are being studied by my followers in English and I am sure that we settled to have them, because we have some students who do not know the mentioned things on English. “Cleverest Student” and “English Vocabulary Staff” also denote essentially in the school-lives of the learners. The pupils can without problems learn some new information, data, word combinations, and expressions that are necessary in pupils’ daily use. However, the most interesting and attractive union, that differs from other ones, is “Leadership Club” that has an immense influence due to extraordinary methods and tactics that assist students for developing their outlook and sense of accountability. The idea or the basis of this club came at the result of students’ irresponsibility and lost feeling of duty that ought to be felt by every persona who was planning to reach something, since it is excessively important to push people to that. Therefore, when I felt the inconsistency of the students I decided to organize a union that would be able to work independently and precisely friendly like one team. On my way, I wanted methodically to contact pupils’ apprehension and give them needed things.

Error Correction
Musalama Hamidova, Mavjuda Hojieva, and Gulzira Karimova –
Rudaki region, Dushanbe, and Bohtar, Tajikistan

We want to do team-teaching based on error correction. It is one of the most essential topic of teaching and learning English in an involving way without any hurt and humiliation. During this session we are going to present some activities where students work in groups and in pairs. Those kinds of activities we are going to present include themselves several kinds of new techniques and types such as “Dictoglass, Peer correction, Self correction and dictations.” These activities will take place as games, where no one is hurt and no one humiliated or ashamed. Even week students can participate as active ones and they learned from each other helping one another correcting the errors of their .friends in general. Moreover we three teachers do our best to share our experiences on this topic, how we organize them in our classes with our students where the students do them with great pleasure without noticing the time finished. Because during the whole session they are very busy without any outside forcing or order. As you see the activities which we have chosen are based on student-centered ones as new methodology of teaching English language requires easy teaching and learning the language. Here the teacher feels himself to be a monitor and observer.

Collaborative Workshops: Local and Foreign Teacher-Trainers
Lori Fredricks - Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Many foreign EFL instructors also work as teacher trainers in collaboration with local English teaching professionals. This type of collaboration results in benefits for both types of educators. Foreign instructors generally share new teaching methods, such as CLT or Communicative Language Teaching methods while gaining insight into local instructors’ practices. The foreign instructors also gain valuable cultural knowledge when working with local colleagues who help them choose appropriate practices for the local learning environment. Thus, this collaboration often results in a shared eclectic approach to English education that is a blend of communicative methods and more traditional teaching methods.

This poster presentation will highlight examples from collaborative workshops with local and foreign EFL instructors in Tajikistan. The presenters have conducted a series of workshops at the Teacher Retraining Institute in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, which has weekly long-term training activities for Tajik teachers. The workshops were designed for new and experienced local primary and secondary English educators. The sessions involved discussing articles about new communicative practices and having trainers and teachers give mini-lessons to illustrate how they incorporate new methods into their teaching. The presenters will share handouts of materials used in the training workshops and discuss ideas for ongoing projects with local and foreign trainer partnerships.

Using an Interactive Approach to Teaching Reading
Lori Fredricks - Dushanbe, Tajikistan

This poster presentation will focus on the use of extensive reading in both EFL classes and reading clubs. Current extensive reading methodology focuses more on reading for meaning and less on analyzing the structural aspects of texts. Whenever possible, students select the texts themselves and the classroom environment is student-lead rather than teacher-centered. In addition, the instructor encourages students to view reading as an interactive rather than passive process.

Extensive reading courses involve reading numerous texts both in and outside of class. Though the main goals are increasing students’ interest in reading and overall comprehension of texts, the in-class activities may be designed to develop students writing and speaking skills as well. Extensive reading courses typically involve pair and group work and discussions about texts that go beyond simply retelling by delving into students’ personal reactions to texts. Though vocabulary building is included, during these courses, students often realize that they do not have to understand every word in the text to comprehend the overall meaning. Thus, students may gain confidence in tackling authentic texts. Teachers can design extensive reading courses and clubs that help students find and articulate various types of connections with texts, including text-text, text-self, and text-world connections. Further, instructors can provide a number of engaging activities such as writing author interview questions and dramatizing scenes from the texts.

The presentation will display examples of extensive reading activities and focus on how teachers can implement an interactive approach to teaching reading with English novels and short stories. The activities will include ways to approach vocabulary instruction through reading as well as ways to engage students in reading and promote student-lead discussions about texts. The presenter will provide copies of materials that can be used with any type of novel or longer texts, sample short stories, and handouts outlining criterion for text selection.

Encouraging EFL Students to Write: A Cross-cultural Pen Pal Program
Lori Fredricks - Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Of the four skills included in EFL courses, writing tends to be the most often neglected. Unlike speaking, listening, and reading, writing is often viewed as daunting by teachers and students and is thus overlooked. When included in the curricula, writing is generally presented in a very formal format such as a five-paragraph academic essay or a highly structured grammar activity. As a result, many students perceive writing as tedious and boring. Similarly, instructors may avoid teaching writing if they find it disinteresting or tire of the heavy load when grading.

Fortunately, there are various ways to encourage students to write that allow them to see writing as a tool for authentic communication. Many English teachers around the world have begun using pen pal networks as a way to motivate their students to write. Cross-cultural pen pal programs involve exchanges between English language learners and friends/pals in other, typically English-speaking, countries using email or other internet-based formats. Such authentic communication helps students understand the concept of writing for an audience and encourages them to use new words and idiomatic language in their writing. Students also learn to proof their writing for grammar mistakes in order to be understood. Thus, grammar is practiced in a meaningful way rather than through drills or decontextualized textbook activities.

The presenter will explain how teachers can set up a pen pal program with their students by sharing her experience with Tajik students and American e-pals. She will discuss the results of her students’ pen pal program and explain how she dealt with common limitations (such as lack of internet access and students with little computer experience). This poster presentation will further illustrate the benefits of a pen pals program and demonstrate how instructors can use pen pal interactions as a relevant and engaging course supplement.