P4T Teachers Training Program... What a wonderful experience!

P4T2008 Teachers Training Program.
What a wonderful experience!
By: Hicham Sadiki
Email: sadhicham@yahoo.com
Blog: sadhicham.blogspot.com

The Partnership for Teaching (P4T) program is a teachers training program which was incepted in 2004 at the University of Delaware, funded by the US Department of State – Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs, and administered by the University of Delaware – English Language Institute (ELI). The aim of this program is to support the efforts of the ministries of Education in Morocco, Egypt, Syria and Jordan to enhance and strengthen the English Language capacity in these countries and to support the development and implementation of an English as a Foreign Language curriculum that emphasizes new teaching methods and delivery mechanism at the Junior High School level. Since 2004, The Moroccan Ministry of National Education announces every year the selection for P4T program. In 2008, nearly all Moroccan teachers of EFL (about 2000 teachers) sent their applications. A pre-selection was launched and twenty six (26) teachers were called for an interview on April 23 in Rabat. The final selection was made by a jury which consisted of Mr. Dawoud Casewit (MACECE Executive Secretary), Mr. Mohamed Chrayah (MACECE Deputy Executive Secretary), Mr. Mitchell Cohn (Cultural affairs officer, the American Embassy) and Mr. Ali Slitine Alaoui (Training Projects Supervisor, Ministry of National Education). Finally, only eight teachers were retained to participate in the pre-departure orientation session. This session took place at MACECE and was animated by three teachers who took part in P4T2007. During this meeting, we discussed the program’s overall objectives in detail, we shared many ideas about the training program and we were given some useful tips and information which helped us prepare for our trip and during our stay in America.

On the academic level, we were exposed to the latest innovations concerning methodologies of teaching EFL. Adept teachers introduced us to interesting teaching techniques which we can use in our classrooms to develop our students’ communicative competence and which are especially useful in improving their four skills. To my mind, all the workshops I attended were interesting, but the workshop conducted by Dr. Scott Stevens and in which he introduced the use of PUPPETS to teach English as a Second / Foreign Language was the most benevolent and beneficial. I always have students who are afraid to speak or act in front of the class, but thanks to this technique they will enthusiastically emote in the characters of the puppets and will certainly forget to be self conscious. I am impatiently waiting to meet my students and use this technique with them. They will definitely enjoy using the puppets with their classmates.

The class observations and the two days we spent in Dover with a number of American teachers of English as a Second Language allowed me to liken teaching in America to teaching in Morocco. All Moroccan teachers would agree with me when I say that the methodologies and approaches our American colleagues adopt in their classrooms are the same as those practiced by most Moroccan teachers. This is not an overstatement, believe me.

The program also allowed me to learn how to overcome fear of Public Speaking. All the story telling and the warm-ups we practiced were a great opportunity to acquire how to get my attention off myself, how to build self-confidence and how to train myself before facing an audience.

Designing and conducting a workshop is another worthful thing that I learned. It’s true that I conducted many workshops before, but the program was an opportunity to find out about the four phases of the process of designing and conducting an effective and successful workshop: planning, preparation, implementation and follow up.

On the cultural side, this training program enabled me to attain a better understanding of the American Culture. It gave me the chance to get involved in many activities and be exposed to different events and people over the six weeks which has really led to an increase in my knowledge and skill.

Living with a host family in America for two weeks truly authenticated my experience. I, like all the other participants, was received warmly by my host family. Through this homestay, I was given the opportunity to know more about the American way of life. I was able to realize what living in America might be like. The experience has really destroyed all the stereotypes about the American daily life that I previously held. In addition, it gave me the opportunity to experience first-hand the real similarities and differences between American and Moroccan lifestyles. Moreover, the homestay helped me to improve my English and to learn the American accent.

The trips to Philadelphia, New York, Washington and Rehoboth Beach were very pleasant and enjoyable. They were tremendous opportunities for fun and discovery. Our visits to these cities gave us a better understanding of the people living there. We discovered the similarities they have with us as well as their differences from us. The journeys explained to me why America is referred to as a “pot of stew”.

The excursion to the Amish community allowed me to know about some Americans who are different from most Americans. The Amish or the “Plain People” have long preferred crafting and farming as a way of life. They feel their life style and their families can best be maintained in a rural environment. In the most developed country in terms of technology, the Amish do permit the use of tractors in their fields. Instead, they still use horses and mules. It’s really implausible.

The People to People dinner was very exciting. The Moroccan and Jordanian teachers had the pleasure to have dinner with members of PTPDE. Some Koreans also were there. It was a very enriching meeting as it gave me the chance to know, chat and exchange ideas and experiences directly with people from different countries and diverse cultures. In addition, we were given valuable books that can enhance our students’ learning and improve their English.

Going to the Church with my host family was another extraordinarily good experience. I never imagined myself in the building where Christians gather for religious purposes. It allowed me to know how they worship. I was amazingly surprised when I found a group of musicians playing music and singing. In fact, I had a particular image of what a church is, but it turned out that it is not what I imagined. People there are very nice. They welcomed us warmly and delightfully. It was another event which proved to me that the Americans are very courteous and gracious.

On the human level, it’s no wonder that the P4T Teachers Training Program was beneficial. It was an opportunity to break out of my shell, to discover a lot about myself and to enjoy life like never before. In addition, it allowed me to make new friends from different parts of the globe, from Jordan, Egypt, America, Haiti, Mexico, etc… and also from my country, Morocco. Moreover, it helped me recharge my batteries and enabled me to handle better the stress I experienced at work. After these six weeks in America, I really feel energized and vigorously active.

The P4T Teachers Training Program is not over. It’s true we have left the University of Delaware and we are now in our countries, but we should always remember that there is something called P4T yahoo group which we have to manipulate and exploit to the greatest possible extent. It will undoubtedly help us to exchange our ideas, deepen our knowledge and consequently better our classroom performances. Furthermore, we all know that the main focus of the P4T Teachers Training Program is on its multiplier effect. Therefore, we are considered pioneers and we are expected to transfer our knowledge, our experiences and all what we have learned to our colleagues in Morocco, Jordan and Egypt.

In the end, I would like to thank all my dear colleagues from Morocco, Jordan and Egypt for the love, kindness and charity they showed to each other. My heartfelt thanks to the teachers and the program coordinators who treated us with consideration and respect, provided us with all types of help and support and answered all our questions. I also want to give my sincerest thanks to the program manager Ms. BAERBEL SCHUMACHER for her loyalty and all the time and energy she devoted to this program to make it a success.
I am very grateful to all of you for the wonderful time you gave to me.

The People to People dinner.

People to People International was originally founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 to foster contact, communication, and the exchange of ideas between citizens of the United States and other lands; to improve individual understanding, to bridge international barriers; and to establish a force for friendship to assist mankind in his quest for peace.

The purpose of Delaware Chapter of People to People International is to enhance international understanding and friendship through educational, cultural and humanitarian activities involving the exchange of ideas and experiences directly among people of different countries and diverse cultures.

Today, the Moroccan and Jordanian teachers had the pleasure to have dinner with members of PTPDE. Some Koreans also were there. It was a very enriching meeting as it gave me the chance to know, chat and exchange information with friends of the world, members of the People to People association, and taught me that whatever our country or nationality is, we can share the same interests and worries about the world.

16- In a nutshell / Digital storytelling

What is Digital Storytelling?
Digital Storytelling refers to using new digital tools to help students to tell their own real-life stories in a compelling and emotionally engaging form. It's a fantastic way to engage students and motivate them to use English. It's an extremely important oppurtunity for students to combine the longstanding art of telling stories with any variety of available multimedia tools, including graphics, audio, video animation and web publishing.
For Daniel Meadows, an academic photographer and storyteller, digital stories are "stories, personal multimedia tales told from the heart. (...) They can be created by people everywhere, on any subject, and shared electronically all over the world.

What are the benefits of Digital Storytelling?
Digital Storyytelling has a lot of benefits:
1- It helps students learn to use the Internet to research rich, deep content while analyzing a wide range of content.
2- It increases the students' computer skills.
3- It helps students learn to use the Internet to research rich, deep content while analyzing a wide range of content.
What are the elements of a Digital Story?
If we check The literature related to Digital Storytelling, we will find that the elements of Digital Storytelling can be summarized as follows:
1- Overall purpose of the story.
2- Narrator's point of view.
3- A dramatis question(s).
4- Choice of content.
5- Clarity of voice.
6- Pacing of voice.
7- Meaningful soundtrack.
8- Quality of the images.
9- Economy of the story's detail.
10- Good grammar and language usage.

15- In a nutshell / Using PUPPETS in EFL classrooms

Most teachers do their efforts to keep children quiet in the classroom. Nevertheless, we must remember that children do learn by talking, both to the teacher and to each other. When our students talk about their ideas, they clarify their thinking and develop their reasoning skills. Such skills are required for the analysis of data, interpretation of results and conceptual development. Unfortunately, this type of talk is frequently absent in lessons and time is limited for discussions. Various reasons may account for the lack of time devoted to our students talking, including our limited knowledge of appropriate teaching methods. So, how can we bring reticent and shy students out of their shells? Actually, there are many ways to do that but Dr. Scott Stevens suggests using PUPPETS in EFL classrooms to reach yhis objective.
For Dr. Scott Stevens, the PUPPETS Project has been set up to help teachers develop teaching methods that generate learning conversations amongst students. He says that he uses puppets a great deal in his drama classes as they help his students become more expressive.
Students who are afraid to speak or act in front of the class will often enthusiastically emote in the character of a puppet. When a student operates a puppet, the focus is on the puppet, rather than on the puppeteer, and the student forgets to be self conscious. If you watch a student operating a puppet, you see that every emotion and every movement of the puppet is mirrored in the puppeteer. The student really is "acting." The puppet simply provides a safety net--an extra level of reality between the performer and the audience. Even the shyest students will perform loudly and boldly when using puppets. We can get puppets from a variety of sources, toy stores, book stores. However, often the best puppet experiences come when students make their own puppets. That way the puppet characters are personal to their operators, and the sense of ownership that comes from making the puppets invests their manipulation with added importance. Plus, by introducing "arts and crafts" into the drama classroom the teacher begin to explore the connected nature of all the arts, and he gives his students another way to excel. Sometimes the most creative puppet comes from a surprising source--that student we have been worried about all semester, who seems so unsure. Puppets in the classroom are a great way to boost self esteem and to bring the class to a better sense of unity and cooperation.

14- In a nutshell / Workshop: BaFa BaFa

Workshop: BaFa BaFa

Materials used to teach cross-cultural awareness typically fall into one of several categories: texts on theory, case studies, role plays and simulations. In the category of simulation by far the best-known is BaFa BaFa designed by R. Garry Shirts. BaFA BaFa was originally designed for the American Navy to increase the cultural awareness of the sailers in hope of reducing the number of often diplomatic incidents between US sailers and the local population.
Two fundamentally differing cultures, Alpha and Beta, are established and then members of each are exchanged on a 'tourist-like' basis for very brief periods of time. It is not allowed to explain the rules of either culture to visitors. the only means of understanding is observation and trial and error participation. the resulting stereotypes, misperception and misunderstanding becomes the grist for debriefing.
The basic approach of BaFa BaFa is to create a problem for everyone in the simulation. we were required to 'live' in another culture. Then, we were asked how we felt in that culture. The answers were: we felt lost, confused, etc.
The next step was to identify the rules of the two different cultures. Then, the we talked about how we solved the problems that we faced during the activity and how we can apply what had had learned from the activity to our real life acculturation.

What makes BaFa BaFa so powerful?

Among the different objectives of this workshop I can mention the following:

• Build awareness of how cultural differences can impact people in an organization.
• Motivate us to think about our behaviour and attitude toward others.
• Identify diversity issue within the organization that must be addressed.

13- In a nutshell / Teaching Grammar through Video.

During the last decades, the use of technical innovations, such as television, computers, and audio-tapes, have become widespread in professional fields, and of course, education has not been an exception. One of these innovations is video, which facilitates many aspects of foreign/second language teaching. Video has been proved to be an effective method in teaching English as a foreign/second language (EFL/ESL) for both young and adult learners. Video can be used in a variety of instructional settings—in classrooms, in distance learning sites where information is broadcast from a central point of learners who interact with the facilitator via video or computer, and in self-study and evaluation situations. It also can be used in teacher’s self and professional development or with students as a way of presenting content, initiating conversations, and providing illustrations for various concepts.
According to Mr. Grant S. Wolf, videos should be used in EFL/ESL classrooms for many reasons:
Learners can easily remember grammar rules and patterns when 'anchored' in a rich, engaging and memorable context.
Video provide learners with shared experience to communicate about and concequently practice grammar.
Video give students an ideal basis for using the language in an engaging and meaningful context.
Entire movies should not be shown in class. It may be a waste of time. Nevertheless, carefully selected films with a strong cultural and/or historical content can be watched by students for homework or as an extra-curriculum activity. It can also be accompanied by "movie notetaking" diaries in which students take notes about what they have learned, both content and language wise. Films should have English subtitles. Student "movie diaries" and carefully edited extracts from the films can be the basis for class activities.
How to use video in the classroom?
Mr. Grant S. Wolf gave us important teaching tips for the use of video in EFL / ESL classrooms.
- We should choose excerpts from movies which most students have seen and liked.
- We should spread the activities out, over many days to provide repetition over a period of time.
- We can use subtitles to help students understand the scenes.
- We should choose scenes which have a lot of action in order to componsate for the difficulty of the language.
Mr.Grant S. wolf gave us many other suggestions to solve the problem of difficult language:
- We should choose scenes where the characters are speaking slowly and clearly.
- We can develop a viewing guide which will help students figure out the story.
- We can also explain the scene in English, or even Arabic, before showing it.
In the practical part of his presentation, Mr. Grant S. Wolf showed us a sampling of some materials that he has developped to teach some grammar structures through video. I really enjoyed it and I will certainly use this technique with my students.

In New York