English Language Fellows Jennifer Roberts, Erica Balazs, and Janet Long presented pedagogy training and workshops at a conference in Indonesia. The Fellows provided training on pedagogy associated with teaching English as a foreign language in an academic university setting. Although the training was geared towards university teachers, the information presented was also useful for those pursuing careers in junior or senior high school.
The conference took place at Universitas Mataram (UNRAM), located in the capital city of the Indonesian island Lombok. Participants included current undergraduate or postgraduate students in UNRAM’s English teaching faculty and current university lecturers from UNRAM, other universities in Mataram, and Sumbawa.
On the first day, Roberts delivered two presentations, one on strategies for teaching speaking and pronunciation and one on classroom reflection and action research. The latter was aimed at encouraging teachers to do small-scale research in their own classrooms that can be utilized for personal growth, school-wide policy changes, and opportunities to present locally at conferences.
On the second day, Balazs presented on the importance of using the target language in the classroom, during which she demonstrated a sample lesson taught exclusively in Chinese. Her presentation illustrated the ability of teachers to control a classroom, present material, and recycle language using only the target language. In the afternoon of the same day, Long presented on “Modifying Textbook Activities: a way to engage and challenge your students.” This workshop was very interactive, as students participated in example activities and brainstormed ideas for adapting existing materials together.
The third day was led by professors from UNRAM and included guidance on how to publish in international and local journals. Participants heard from a local journal editor and were able to ask detailed questions about the publication process.