When teachers are exposed to radically new methodology during training, they can often be reluctant to try it out in their own classrooms. They might feel that the trainers don’t understand their classrooms and contexts, and that methods being taught will never work with such a large/mixed ability/low level class.
British Council trainers working in Lang Son, in the far north-east of Vietnam have taken a novel approach to motivating and inspiring teachers – they’ve stepped into the secondary teachers’ classrooms and taught demonstration classes, with the teachers’ actual students, using communicative methodology and (as the trainers don’t speak much Vietnamese) no L1.
These lessons increase the trainers’ credibility with the teachers by clearly illustrating that:
- learner-centred approaches can be applied in large classes
- English can be taught without the use of Vietnamese
And most importantly:
- when students are given the opportunity to communicate and interact with each other in English, the language comes alive and student participation is increased.
Trainer, Davide Greene confirms the success of this approach:
"We can see some evidence that when we plan activities that are more student-centred, the students are doing more of the work. The students are producing more language or they’re interacting with each other and using English with one another."
Training in Lang Son province has taken a two-pronged approach, with some teachers taking the Methodology course and a second group taking a Language Development & Methodology course based on British Council’s ‘English for Teaching’. These teachers are amongst the 54% of English teachers in the province who haven’t met the language standards set by the Ministry of Education and Training, that all secondary teachers of English need a B2 level of English based on the CEFR.
Apart from poor language skills, another barrier to effective teaching in Lang Son has been a fixed mind-set where teachers believe that they must systematically work through the book, page by page, in order to achieve the learning outcomes, set out in the national curriculum. Despite support from English Language Teaching Specialists from within the local Department of Education and Training, changing this rigid way of thinking has been a real challenge. However, gradually, British Council Trainer, Marius Jackson’s mantra of ‘think differently’ has affected change.
Bui Van Phuc, a teacher from the Ethnic Minority Boarding School reflected the view of many of the teachers who took part in the training:
"I feel like a new person after this course. We have changed a lot, especially our way of thinking. This course has given us a more comprehensive view as we will need to think differently and operate differently to make our lessons and class activities more interesting and appealing to students."
These sentiments are supported by evidence collected during monitoring and evaluation where a group of teachers were observed in their local schools prior to the training, and again after the training. Each observed lesson focused on planning the lesson, managing the lesson and teaching the lesson.
Teachers demonstrated clear improvements in all criteria including a 43% increase in using English appropriate to the level of the learners; a 67% increase in applying appropriate techniques for introducing and practicing new language; a 52% increasing checking learners’ understanding and provide appropriate feedback; and a 73% increase in providing learners with the opportunity to use English for authentic communication.
During the end of course observations, overall the teachers provided good spoken models of English for the students and students seemed comfortable with this level of exposure to English in the classroom. Most students show a willingness to speak but it is important that further opportunities are provided for them to do this.
For more information about this project, please contact:
- Rebecca Hales, Senior Training Consultant, Rebecca.halesATbritishcouncil.org.vn
- or Nga Le, Business Development Manager, Nga.leATbritishcouncil.org.vn