AY 2007-2008 Projects - Europe/Eurasia

Country                       Turkey
City                              Istanbul
Host Institution           Istanbul Technical University

Project Description
The EL Fellow will be based in the School of Foreign Languages of Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and work on program evaluation of the effectiveness of materials developed and the testing system.  The EL Fellow will implement changes in the curriculum made by the current EL Fellow, in which the grammar-based curriculum was changed to a more skills-based curriculum. The EL Fellow will also help with designing pre- and in-service orientation programs at ITU introducing such topics as peer observations and mentoring. The focus of the EL Fellow's work will be on how to best engage the teachers and expose them to current trends and best practices to improve their department rather than on classroom teaching. The EL Fellow will teach no more than 4 preps per semester (4 different courses) to total no more than 20 contact hours per week for the duration of the 10-month grant. Additional responsibilities may include working with the special dual degree SUNY (State University of New York) program. Having an EL Fellow working in this program could provide a link for broad reaching collaboration in other universities throughout Turkey which also host dual degree programs. The EL Fellow may also facilitate teacher training seminars for in-service teachers in the department on teaching academic writing and grammar, note-taking for students, material development, academic reading, and techniques in teaching vocabulary. 

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