It was great to catch up with everyone from Danang yesterday and I hear from Davide that day 1 in HCMC went well, too. We spent a lot of the day reflecting on the successes of the first 3 phases of the ToT course, and some of your concerns about how we can work together with our stakeholders to move the project forward.
For homework this evening, could you please write a journal entry outlining both the successes to date, and any concerns you may have.
You can post your journal entry on the forum if you would like to share it with the other ToTs, or if you prefer you can email it directly to Davide and me.
Many thanks,
Rebecca and Davide
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Successes:
- gain more confidence to be a trainer
- find out the meaning of 'teamwork'
- learn a great lesson of being flexible
- have more ideas of designing a workshop
- get more wonderful ideas to use in teaching
- have a lot of friends in Danang and Hanoi
Concerns:
How long will this project work effectively?
How many teachers will have a great chance like us to be trained by BC?
Successes
- Great belief in the innovative contribution of this project to Vietnam education system.
- turning point of my life and professional development.
- open whole new horizon of innovative teaching concepts and approaches.
- know how to pay attention to "tiny - detail" things affecting to the success of the W.S ex: the break-time in each school is different.
Concerns:
- lack of continuity both for the ToTs and teachers and the follow up feedback of how things are applied as well.
It is amazing to look back and realize how much we have done together from Phase 1 through Phase 3.
- We have been informed about new concepts, new approaches and new techniques in teaching English to primary students and given opportunities to practice them and try out our new ideas in training workshops.
- We have refreshed our set of beliefs, retaining the old fundamentals and adding the new elements.
- We have also enhanced our strong MIs and explore the others with the support from the MTs.
- We have learned the spirit of teamwork when we prepared ourselves and supported each other during the workshops. We have gone through the feelings of regret and satisfaction together.
Yet there are still some concerns left.
- There was a lack of continuity from workshop to workshop. We have worked with different groups of trainees from mixed background (levels of experience, language conpetence, motivation, …)
- It is hard for us now to get feedback on our trainees’ follow-up progress. We want to know how much they can apply what they have learned or whether any issues have arisen that we can look into.
- Could I apply the “80-20” Rule to say that 80% of trainers feel they are 20% confident if they work without any support from BC? Or 20% of the trainers feel they are 80% confident?
As far as I am concerned, I am quite happy with what I have learned from the course so far. I have become more confident of being a techer trainer. I am also more aware of the term " professional development" and willing to take new ideas on board.I just think that I am lucky enough even luckier than a lot of other teachers in terms of opportunity to work with professional, experienced, knowledgeable, flexible, supportive Master Trainers and enthusiastic colleagues. Therefore, I have been able to familiarize myself with concepts and frameworks which enable me to make sense of the methods/techniques appropriate to support children's learning at different ages and stages. Moreover, an understanding of the nature of communicative language teaching, the concept of ZDP, the techniques based on TPR, the variety of learning styles and MI has helped me a lot in applying some of the ideas concerning with feedback giving and on-going assessment in my own teaching context.
What has left an impression on me is the way our Master Trainers have trained us by scaffolding, giving clear instructions and lots of support, monitoring, facilitating us across and even after the course. Most of us-the key trainers have been encouraged, respected and given a sense of achievement thanks to our Master Trainers' devotion and commitment to the course. Additionaly, I have learned how to be flexible in designing a workshop plan by changing quite a lot as things never work the way we expect. The best laid plans of mice and men...
However, there are a few concerns about lack of continuity in participants from one workshop to the next, lack of opportunity to identify teacher's needs, lack of follow-up feedback to evaluate how far and how well the trainees have applied the new ideas in practice. Last but not least is the concern with getting more support from MoET, DoET , primary schools and universities to make the project a success.
Hi everybody in Danang and HCMC. It's nice to hear from some of you. Hope you all are well and having a good time with Davide and Rebecca.
We worked with them last week. There were 17 of us altogether. We worked out the topic for workshop 4 in July: Developing oral skills. (with 3 main subtopics for 3 days: presentation, controlled practice (focus on accuracy) and freer practice (focus on fluency). We had already divided into 3 groups, and worked more intensively on the theme of the assighned day. Unfortunately, many of us will not be able to take part in training Ts during the summer workshop. As a result, some of us (incl,. me) were asked to shift to another group, or to pair with another person, which meant that we would have to work for the new role!
What are you guys doing now? Doing the same procedures? My advice is to shape the topic for the workshop as quickly as possible.
I must stop now and I am sorry for not being able to talk to you often as I've been so busy at the moment. (Actually I hardly have time to look at the workshop plan this week!). Hope to hear from you and share ideas with you.
Successes:
- be more and more confident of being a trainer
- have chances to build up language skills and training skills
- learn to work cooperatively in teamwork
- be more careful in each stage of the plan or the workshop
- develop my profession
Concerns:
- What do we do to develop this project in other provinces?
- Do primary teachers have more chances to be trained by BC?
Successes:
- Informing about new concepts, new approaches and new techniques in teaching English to primary students and having opportunities to practice them and applying our new ideas in the training workshops.
- Understanding clearly about the spirit of teamwork when we prepared ourselves and supported each other during the workshops.
- Gaining confidence to be an effective trainer.
- Being aware of the importance of planning a workshop.
Concerns:
- It is difficult for us to get feedback from our trainees’ follow-up progress. We want to know how much they can apply what they have learned or the issues they have met.
- Do we have any more support after the project finished?
Successes and concerns
To say about my successes from phase 1 to phase 3, I don’t know how I say. I only know that I have achieved a lot of things from the BC workshops. And I’m very happy to share with you here
First of all, to the position of a teacher. I feel more pleasurable and confident to go for work with my students because thanks to the workshops, I have many experiences of warm-up, reading and writing activities. I feel interested in teaching grammar with MUF frame, teaching reading, telling stories….
Moreover, I realize some useful terms in teaching: child-friendly way, meaningful context, assessment for learning ….So at school I’m willing to share with my collegues any issues in teaching and I feel more flexible, active in making daily lessons
One thing I’d like to share here is that luckily I have been trained to be a trainer by excellent master trainers of BC. They’re very professional and supportive and nice to all trainees. I’ve learnt how to:
-decide aims and objectives for workshop plans based on teachers’ needs
-make good workshop plans with logical steps
-be flexible in training
-work in teams….
And at the end, thanks to all master trainers, any time you think we can be independent trainers, we always expect to have chances for working and learning experiences from our masters of BC
Successes and concerns
To say about my successes from phase 1 to phase 3, I don’t know how I say. I only know that I have achieved a lot of things from the BC workshops. And I’m very happy to share with you here
First of all, to the position of a teacher. I feel more pleasurable and confident to go for work with my students because thanks to the workshops, I have many experiences of warm-up, reading and writing activities. I feel interested in teaching grammar with MUF frame, teaching reading, telling stories….
Moreover, I realize some useful terms in teaching: child-friendly way, meaningful context, assessment for learning ….So at school I’m willing to share with my collegues any issues in teaching and I feel more flexible, active in making daily lessons
One thing I’d like to share here is that luckily I have been trained to be a trainer by excellent master trainers of BC. They’re very professional and supportive and nice to all trainees. I’ve learnt how to:
-decide aims and objectives for workshop plans based on teachers’ needs
-make good workshop plans with logical steps
-be flexible in training
-work in teams….
And at the end, thanks to all master trainers, any time you think we can be independent trainers, we always expect to have chances for working and learning experiences from our masters of BC
To work with native speakers is good for Vietnamese teachers of English. You can learn a lot from them both conversational and grammatical aspects. So, keep doing this I am sure you are a good teacher. Moreover, you can learn the up to date teaching English methodology that you can apply in some Vietnamese classes.
Good luck in your career.
Cheers
PPDung