Hyderabad, January 21:The British Council and the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, will be co-hosting their first-ever international conference for English language teacher educators from January 22 to 24, at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Novotel and HICC Complex, near Hi Tech City, here.
Speaking to the media here on Thursday, Prof. Maya Pandit, ELT, School of Distance Education, EFL-U, said that the objectives of the conference are to provide an opportunity for English language pre and in-service teacher educators from across South Asia to meet and share best practice and experiences; provide English language pre and in-service teacher educators an opportunity for professional development and updating which will enable them to become more effective and to establish and build a sustainable community and network of English language teacher educators.
“A majority of States in the country now provide English as a subject to classes from grade I. Teachers often lack skills, language proficiency and knowledge required to teach English effectively and more and more training programmes are being designed to support them. But studies show that the role of the teacher educator is neglected and in order to provide high quality training programmes and support, they themselves need to be empowered and provided with access to professional development opportunities”, Prof. Maya observed.
Prof. Maya said that a number of experts and renowned scholars from the UK, India and all over the world would speak at the conference, as well as practicing teacher educators from India and the region. The conference was being supported by the English Language Teachers Association of India and the YL Special Interest Group and Teacher Training and Education Special Interest Group of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.
Prof. Alison Barrett, Head, State Partnerships, Project English, British Council and Mr Rajeevan Karal, head of Hyderabad Chapter, Cambridge University, also spoke. (NSS)