In August, English Language Fellow Katherine Carter and alumni from the Fulbright program facilitated a week-long training for secondary school English teachers in Otjiwarongo, Namibia. The teachers who attended the workshop represented six different regions in Namibia. Carter and Fulbright alumni trained the teachers in the following sessions:
- using the short story form to teach English
- practicing engaging techniques to teach descriptive and narrative writing
- collaborative learning
- teaching in large classes with limited resources
- contextualizing grammar
- harnessing the power of positive language in the classroom
- using conversation cards to supplement speaking activities
After each session, the participating teachers had the opportunity to role play the techniques they learned in a classroom setting. The teachers also received the following publications from the English Language Program: English Language Forum, American Themes: An anthology of young adult literature and Growing in courage: Stories for young readers.
One participant said, “The teaching techniques that I gained from this workshop were very important. I am surely going to use this workshop to train novice teachers in my region.”