Organize a teacher training camp

TESL Professional Development Workshop

Critical Language Project
3 years 5 months ago
TCLP 2015 alumna Zheng Meng was awarded a Critical Language Project grant in the amount of $2950 to conduct a TESL Professional Development Workshop at her home school in China. The full day workshop featured speakers from the Regional English Language Office (RELO) and two TCLP Alumni who shared best practices in student performance assessment and English teaching methodologies. The project was implemented in Chongqing Experimental Foreign Language School, where 40% of the teachers have been in the teaching profession for less than 5 years and needed improvement of their teaching practices. On the day of the workshop Ms. Zheng Meng together with Ms.Sun Liang (2009 alumna and Mr. Xia Zhi (2015 alumnus) did a TCLP program introduction, followed by a brief discussion on the differences between Chinese and American educations. This session was followed by four breakout sessions conducted by two RELO guest speakers and two TCLP alumni. Two of the hour-long sessions provided training on Multiple Intelligence and Cooperative Learning (conducted by Ms.Sun Liang) as well as Project-Based Learning (conducted by Mr.Xia Zhi). The workshop also include two 90 minute sessions on Formative Assessment and Rubrics (conducted by Mr.Ian Baecht) and Communicative Reading Activities and Reading Fluency (conducted by Mr.Kevin Sprague). 140 teachers attended and directly benefited from this highly successful workshop. Furthermore, the workshop materials were shared widely among the English teachers in the school who couldn't attend the event. As a result of the training over 9000 students will have better English learning experience , and with 3000 new students joining Chongqing Experimental Foreign Language School each year, the number of benefiting students will continue to grow.

4th Annual TCLP Virtual Alumni Training Conference

Conference
3 years 11 months ago
Alumni from China and Egypt met for a two-day virtual conference on Leadership in Education. Each day included dynamic round-table discussions on Educational Leadership. The sessions were facilitated by TCLP staff and featured alumni guests from China and Egypt who have achieved leadership positions in their schools, departments, and districts.   Thursday, December 15, 2016: Leading in Your Educational Community I TCLP alumni Yu Meihong (2008-2009), Samar Abdelfatah (2015-2016), Yu Yifang (2009-2010) and Mohamed Abdelsamad (2011-2012) discussed leading by example in your educational community, how to advocate for change in your school, and resources and best practices to cultivate leadership skills.   Friday, December 16, 2016: Leading in Your Educational Community II TCLP alumni Ezzat Gadelmola (2010-2011), Zhang Hong (2009-2010), Hanan Gawdet (2012-2013) and Cheng Ye (2011-2012) shared how they are using their international experiences as school leaders and best practices for effective leaders.   Each day, the sessions lasted for an hour starting at 3:00pm in Egypt, 9:00pm in China, and 8:00am (EST) in the U.S.   To watch each day of the conference click on the following links:     To access in China please use the following links: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTg3MzQ0NTU5Ng (Day One) http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTg3NDkxMDU0MA (Day Two)   Please view the attached flyer for further details about the conference and biographies for the presenters.   The Teachers of Critical Languages Program is funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and implemented by American Councils for International Education.

Americanized Professional Development

Critical Language Project
4 years 5 months ago
  Jia Lili (2015) was awarded a CLP grant to conduct a professional development program for teachers in Hebei Province in September 2016. Ms. Jia modeled the program after the professional development training sessions she attended through TCLP and her U.S. host school while teaching Mandarin at Walnut Elementary School in California. She conducted this project in collaboration with two other TCLP alumni: Chen Manman (2015) and Chen Jinyun (2013). The project was supported by the Institute of Education and Research in Shijiazhuang, which invited teachers from schools across the city to participate in the project. Two hundred and seventy-six teachers from twelve different schools ultimately attended the conference and workshops, which took place at No. One Senior High School. Teachers were able to choose training topics that interested them, including “Classroom Management”, “Helping At-risk Students and Class Size”, “English Reading and How to Foster Students’ Reading Ability”, and “How to Solve Your Problems in Teaching ”.

TESL Professional Development

Critical Language Project
4 years 9 months ago
Chen Jinyun, a 2013 Chinese alum from Nanjing Foreign Language School Xianlin Campus, in Nanjing, China, received a CLP grant to organize TESL professional development for ESL teachers at her home school. The project included school community conferences, regional conferences and national conferences, faculty visits to other schools for English class observations, presentations at regional teaching events, teaching competitions, school-based training sessions, and international video conferences with Dracut High School (Ms. Chen’s host school). The project allowed Ms. Chen to share fresh ideas from her experience of teaching in the U.S. and inspire teachers to reflect on existing teaching methods and change them to be more interactive and engaging. Workshops directly helped teachers in devising curricula, designing lesson plans, giving differentiated instruction, making SMART objectives and assessments, and learning more student-centered teaching methods and class management strategies. Moreover, launching international video conferences with her host school in the U.S. was a new communicative experience for teachers, which provided them with more opportunities to ask questions and learn from others. Research seminars provided more teachers with opportunities to learn different assessment methods.

TCLP Virtual Alumni Training Conference 2014 January

Conference
4 years 11 months ago
On January 14 and January 15, 2014 TCLP alumni from China and Egypt met for a Two-Day Virtual Conference about Student-Centered Teaching. Presentations lasted for 30 minutes and included group discussions. The following alumni gave overviews of effective student-centered strategies they have employed and more.   Ez Eldin Salem (2010) presented on how he benefited from participating in TCLP and discussed the best practices of student-centered instruction he learned at his U.S. host school. The presentation emphasized the importance of student-centered instruction and frankly reveals the difficulties which teachers face in the Egyptian classes when they want to make their classes student-centered. It also gives solutions and suggestions to overcome these difficulties. The presentation is supported by short video extracts from his classes in Plymouth, USA and Behera.   Zhang Juncheng (2012) presented on his experience of student-centered teaching in his elementary school in China. First, he talked about the differences of student-centered teaching between China and the U.S. Then he showed how to organize student-centered teaching in an elementary school class. The teaching plan and the learning materials gave the audience more suggestions and ideas on classroom activities and school based curriculum planning.   Marwa Elgezery (2012) presented on how movies offer an unbeatable combination of real-world language in context and cultural information integrated with text and image. In this session, alumni learned how to choose and evaluate films to use as assessments and learning activities in the classroom. Alumni also learned how to prepare and plan the film unit including choosing a good film and establishing the baseline for the unit aligned to learning objectives.  

Teachers of Arabic Language K-12 Meeting and Best Practices Workshop

Critical Language Project
4 years 11 months ago
TCLP mentor teacher alumni Steven Berbeco was awarded a CLP for his grant proposal to organize a meeting of The Teachers of Arabic Language K-12 network at the Northeast Conference on Teaching of Foreign Languages in Baltimore, MD. At this meeting, he hosted a best practices workshop and professional networking meeting with 20 teachers of Arabic who came from all over the United States. At that time there was no other national organization that provided support for Arabic classroom teachers to exchange curriculum ideas, develop teaching skills and share best practices, so the aim of this bi-annual meeting was to provide an opportunity for these 20 teachers to participate in a 3 hour hands-on workshop and share ideas with one another. CLP funding provided support for the meeting materials and resource books. This project was successful in its goal of exchanging curriculum ideas, developing teaching skills and other best practices, and supporting each other as professionals. As part of the workshop the teachers reviewed current curriculum materials, discussed best practices from their classroom experiences, and performed materials development exercises.

Best Practices Workshop for the New England Association of Arabic Teachers

Critical Language Project
4 years 11 months ago
Mentor Teacher, Dr. Steven Berbeco was awarded a grant to host a best practices workshop and professional networking meeting for the New England Association of Arabic Teachers (NEAAT), which is a network of elementary and secondary school teachers from public and private schools in the New England states. The best practices workshop and professional networking meeting was at the Massachusetts Foreign Languages Association in Sturbridge, MA, October 25th-27th. CLP funding allows NEAAT to offer these events as well as provide teacher-training materials for teachers from diverse schools. During the workshop, classroom teachers exchanged curriculum ideas, developed teaching skills and other best practices, and developed a stronger network to support each other as professionals.

Incorporating American Culture in Egyptian EFL classes

Critical Language Project
4 years 11 months ago
  TCLP alumnus Ahmed Mohamed received a CLP grant to offer a five-day professional development workshop for 40 English teachers from Etay El Baroud District in Egypt. The goal of the workshop was to help teachers incorporate American culture in their English classes and to improve their ability to do peer observations, give constructive feedback, and reflect on their teaching methods. Mr. Ahmed saw a need for students to move beyond language learning and to add depth to their studies by including American culture into their English classes to increase their intercultural communication skills. During the workshop, Mr. Ahmed and another TCLP alumnus, Ez Eldin, worked as trainers and discussed their experiences living and teaching in the U.S. for a year. Mr. Ahmed also invited other trainers who were well-informed in peer and reflective teaching to lead in-person sessions and 3 U.S. teachers to conduct virtual presentations over Skype. Funds from the grant were used to purchase materials and supplies for the workshop.   "Upon my return from my exchange program [with] TCLP I found that it is my duty to pass [on] my experience [with the] American Educational system and best practices in EFL teaching" said Mr. Ahmed. "I have a steadfast belief that this grant was given to the Egyptian people and not to me personally."