Workshop on CPD begins - The Hindu

Workshop on CPD begins - The Hindu

One of the significant workshops run by me - significant not just because it was a CPD workshop sponsored by the British Council but because it was held in a college in a rural area, and all the participants, who were teachers of English from schools, colleges and a university, were from institutions in rural areas. They showed remarkable interest in learning about the procedures available for continuing professional development (CPD) on the Reflective Model, worked hard, drew up action plans for their CPD with great enthusiasm , and gave me enough indications that they would implement the plans in their institutions.

The workshop was organised by my former student, Kalyan Sharma, who has recently won an ELT Research Partnership (ELTRP 2013) award from the British Council. The workshop was organised as part of the ELTRP project.

An interview in the New Indian Express (14 December 2013)

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/2063001

Global meet on English studies gets under way - The Hindu

For about two months, ever since I started my new job as Director (Training) at Vignan University, I have been away from conferences, seminars and workshops and been busy running a series of training programmes, even on Sundays, to raise the employability potentials of students of engineering and technology.  It’s a Pygmalion-like situation. In Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, Professor Higgins picks up a Cockney flower-girl and struggles to train her in the finer graces of English speech. During these two months, I have often reflected on the struggles of Higgins. Teaching our students employability skills is as formidable a task as turning Eliza Doolittle into a Duchess with a Wardour Street tongue.  At the same time, but for such inspiring fairy-tales (Bernard Shaw, I can hear you gnashing your teeth at the suggestion that your play is a fairy tale, but, sorry, that's how it reads in this 21st century), it will be difficult for trainers like me to undertake to do what we are indeed doing with a faith which can outmatch that of a missionary. 

Well, against this background, it was indeed quite a break to be at an international conference to talk about issues which have been some of my concerns for over a quarter century. Use the link below to read about what happened at the conference:

Global meet on English studies gets under way - The Hindu

Peer feedback in ESL (English as a second language) writing

Here is a brief article on a massive experiment I conducted with significant results at the Loyola ELT Centre, which I headed till 31 May 2013. Please click on the link below to read the article. (The article was published in IATEFL Voices, UK)

http://origin.misc.pagesuite.com/pdfdownload/83f46f82-ee6d-471c-9e6d-bb587757fefd.pdf

The Hindu : Cities / Vijayawada : ‘Turn adversity into advantage’

The Hindu : Cities / Vijayawada : ‘Turn adversity into advantage’

The Hindu : Cities / Vijayawada : “ELT should be specific to the student’s needs”

The Hindu : Cities / Vijayawada : “ELT should be specific to the student’s needs”

The Hindu : NATIONAL / ANDHRA PRADESH : ‘Turn adversity into advantage’

The Hindu : NATIONAL / ANDHRA PRADESH : ‘Turn adversity into advantage’