AY 2007-2008 Projects - South Asia

Country                       India
City                              New Delhi
Host Institution           Bharti College Delhi University

Project Description
This position is for a regional EL Fellow who will be providing services to Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. This EL Fellow will travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan with New Delhi as the base as due to housing issues it is not possible to place an EL Fellow in the other 2 countries. There is a dire need to train teachers of English in Afghanistan in order to equip the youth with skills required for educational and job opportunities for their own development and that of the economic/political/social growth of Afghanistan. The English Language teaching context in Pakistan is similar to that of India where teachers need to be trained in a learner centered approach to teaching English. The goal is to build on the SATTP cadre of teacher trainers in Pakistan by getting the EL Fellow to provide them with on going support on training skills and at the same time extend the group by offering training to other potential trainers and working along with the national teachers association (SPETL) in providing support to other teacher training programs in Pakistan The EL Fellow will also contribute to the ACCESS programs held in both these countries. India is fast becoming the hub for tremendous economic growth with large numbers of international companies and call centers operating from here. In this context, the need to have employees with good communicative skills in English has become an urgent need in India to which government and private educational institutions are responding. In New Delhi, the EL Fellow will be attached to Delhi University and will be housed in Bharti College. In an educational context , particularly a the college level where English language teaching is done by literature teachers, Delhi University has been a pioneer university in bringing about changes in the English Language teaching curriculum. It instituted changes more than 15 years back and disseminated the information through local and national seminars. At present it is reviewing the courses once again in the light of the current urgent requirement of offering courses that are useful to students outside the confines of the curriculum. A new set of books have been brought out and the immediate need is to train all the Delhi college teachers to use them effectively and to be able to offer other remedial courses to students to be able to compete in the job market. With the EL Fellow placed at one of the key central universities resulting in more than 200 teachers and potential teacher-trainers trained in teaching English for communication it will have an impact on other universities and educational institutions, contributing a great deal towards the goal of providing quality teaching.  

Project Objectives
To conduct a three week intensive Refresher Course in ELT on the lines of UGC sanctioned Refresher courses run by CPDHE (Centre of Professional Development in Higher Education) for the University of Delhi. This can be repeated in Delhi at least more than once because the university has more than 7,000 English teachers. To run a one week training programme for teachers across college in the teaching of Conversation skills. Such one week training programmes could be replicated by local teachers trained by the EL Fellow in some colleges located in rural/semi-rural locations like Caire and Bawana villages so that both teachers and students are advantaged. To run courses to facilitate teachers to use the computer and its resources in language teaching which can later be extended to other colleges and schools in West Delhi. To assist in bringing out a set of Graded Question Papers for English A, B and C with a core group of teachers of Delhi University including Bharti College. With expert help, the sense of grading from higher intermediate to intermediate to post-beginner will be more apparent to teachers and learners than it is now is. To popularize and facilitate a better understanding of Language and Language Teaching issues, the EL Fellow can give talks and lectures in the North and South Campuses for post-graduate students and teachers. To provide professional ELT outreach to key programs in Pakistan and Afghanistan. To support the Access programs in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to provide continued training for the Pakistani ECA English teaching exchange participants.  

About the Host Institution
The University of Delhi is the premier university of the country and is known for its high standards in teaching and research and attracts eminent scholars to its faculty. The University of Delhi was established in 1922. The University has been awarded 6 Centers of Advanced Studies for its excellent contribution in teaching and research in their respective areas. In addition, a number of these and other University departments received grants under the Special Assistance Program of the University Grants Commission in recognition of their outstanding academic work. The University has 15 libraries. The University has just completed the implementation of fiber-optic networks on the North and South Campuses. Bharti College where the EL Fellow will be housed is one of the most forward looking colleges in Delhi University in the field of English Language teaching. They have been instrumental in raising awareness on key issues related to English Language teaching on which why have organized and held seminars and workshops. The new books that have been introduced this year have been written by two of their faculty along with a couple of other Delhi University teachers.