ELT Summer Schools attract professionals from across the region
Over the course of two weeks we held four workshops including over 80 people from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay.
We kick-started the Summer Schools with two ICT-focussed week-long courses running simultaneously at the Universidad de San Andres.
Directed by Pete Sharma from the UK and Nicky Hockly from South Africa, and supported by locally-based facilitators Silvia Rettaroli and Liliana Simon, these workshops drew on participants’ own knowledge and experience and looked at case studies on the incorporation of ICT in ELT in the region and the UK, as well as a host of online tools to apply in the classroom. The participants furthered their knowledge of principles and methodology by looking at areas such as blended learning, social networking platforms and the evaluation of digital materials, as well as analysing the British Council’s online products for ELT.
Asunción-based delegate Ana Merlo, who is responsible for the nationwide incorporation of ELT into the first year of primary schools in Paraguay, considers her time in Buenos Aires to have been highly valuable: ‘I came here to learn about new technologies and software that could be used for Paraguay’s new generation of students, and I’m pleased to say that this workshop has surpassed my expectations’.
We then ran a shorter two-day course directed by Gabriela Lopez Lopez of Asociación Argentina de Cultura Inglesa for representatives of Culturas Inglesas from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay to look at the British Council’s face-to-face and on-line materials for TKT.
The final week-long workshop was aimed at English teachers in Argentina whose schools have received netbooks under the 1 laptop per child programme “Conectar Igualdad”, run by British Council Colombia’s Andrei Tarassov and supported by local facilitator Ana Cendoya. The Argentine Ministry of Education’s educational portal “Educ.Ar” has pre-loaded 1.5 million of these laptops with British Council Learn English content and this workshop was aimed at training teachers in the use of these materials. Participants practised creating lessons using our preloaded content and developed plans on how to cascade this training to their colleagues.
As well as benefitting from the expertise of the course leaders, the participants’ experience was enriched by input sessions from guest speakers such as top English language referent at the Ministry of Education, Leonor Corradi, and Barcelona-based British Council staff member and social media consultant Graham Stanley.
Through these four workshops we were able to create opportunities for ELT professionals share experiences and perspectives of the incorporation of ICT in education and showcase British Council online products to key stakeholders across the region.
Out thanks go to the Universidad de San Andres and the Asociación Argentina de Cultura Inglesa for allowing us to use their excellent facilities for these workshops.
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