Thursday, January 23, 2014

ELCE Program Open Lesson Week Materials

During the period of October 14 – November 22, 2013 ELCE Program organized the Open Lesson Weeks in seven regions of Georgia: Kakheti, Shida Kartli, Kvemo Kartli, Imereti, Guria, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and Adjara.

130 ELCE graduates from across the coutry whole-heartedly participated in the Open Lesson Weeks.  Attendance to the lessons was far greater than expected and disseminated ELCE principles well beyond the original program.  Concurrent open lessons were held in all major towns of the regions as well as many of the villages that were on the ELCE Program roster. Visitors included school directors and teachers from non-ELCE schools, as well as local NGOs, local media representatives, and Teachers’ Union officials.

ELCE topics used throughout the Open Lesson Weeks included: National symbols; Vocational and Life Choices; Holidays; Heroes; Civic Engagement; Diversity and Multiculturalism; Critical Literacy; and Political systems. The most popular were Vocational and Life Choices, though Diversity and Symbols were close seconds to these.  No teacher took an ELCE plan and materials directly verbatim from the Modules, but the teachers all took at least one item or activity from the materials shared throughout the ELCE course.  The majority of teachers were able to use ELCE materials, such as worksheets, questionnaires, and activities, according to learner needs and showed adept ability to alter, improve, or simplify ELCE materials in order to fit learner ability and their own objectives.  All the teachers have shown remarkable improvement over when they were first observed, and, more importantly, were able to exhibit key ELCE principles and strategies to the observers and visitors. 

ELCE Program Team collected all the lesson plans and other materials used by the participating teachers throughout the open lesson week and published the best of them in the Manual of the ELCE Program Open Lesson Week Materials, which you can find below. The Manual contains the lesson plans and handouts of 40 lessons held throughout the Open Lesson Weeks.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

ICTE Final Conference

Intensive Course for Teachers of English (ICTE) program is funded by the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi and is implemented by PH International in partnership with the World Learning SIT Graduate Institute.

ICTE’s goal is to enable teacher trainers to lead their peers in professional development, providing specialized training for experienced and skilled Georgian school teachers of English, enhancing their theoretical and practical knowledge and affecting a deep understanding of issues related to the teaching of English and relationships between the language and western culture and values.

In the ICTE Program Final Conference, held on November 30 - December 1, 2013 at the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel in Tbilisi, TTSC and TOTSI alumni showcased their learnings and the new teaching materials they have designed throughout their participation in the program. They had an opportunity to present their summer institute and summer camp experience as well as subsequent work undertaken throughout the follow-on period to the broader ELT community in Georgia in the micro-teaching and poster session formats.

  • ICTE Conference_Teacher Training Sessions [Youtube Playlist]