Masum Billah
Do the teachers should teach only the subjects or they should play the role of leaders also? To ensure a successful teaching-learning situation a teacher must be a leader along with successfully conducting classes. It was the traditional idea that a teacher becomes leader or administrator only when he/she is promoted to the position of a departmental head or institutional head. Traditional leadership opportunities for teachers are extremely limited and generally serve an efficiency function rather than a leadership function. ( Wasley 1991 p4) . Current leadership roles are involving teachers as mentors, team leaders, curriculum developers, and staff development. I can remember my first year of teaching when I had to conduct classes of eleven and twelve grade students of about two hundred in one class which proved unmanageable for me sometimes. I then just blamed the principal and uttered with my colleagues these words, ‘ to maintain the discipline in the class was the responsibility of the principal, not mine. Now I remember why I thought so? I didn’t have any training or I held the traditional idea that the leadership and teaching were different ideas . But the role of a teacher has changed dramatically in the past three decades, and individual teacher can no longer simply ‘close the door and teach.” When a teacher plays the role of leaders can lead the way to a better future by stepping up to accept responsibility for the learning of each and every student, to act as models for their colleagues and to guide and support them in the continuous improvement of classrooms and schools. It is a new role requiring courage and commitment and it is imperative that these roles are filled in every school. If all the responsibility is left to administrators then the situation of an educational institution hardly improves.
When teachers are leaders they work to influence and support colleagues to improve teaching practices in their classrooms, serving as models for professional group learning and continuous individual improvement. All teacher leaders must also help create demand for changes in school, department and grade level policies that increase student success, even those that are at the expense of teacher-preferences, comfort and convenience. ‘It is not my job to make sure all the kids in my class are successful’-this comment is made by the teacher who is not successful nor is successful as a teacher-leader. Sometimes it is misunderstood that there are some influential teachers in the school/college but they are not good teachers. These teachers hold the quality of the negative kind of teachers, not good and effective leaders.
An effective teacher must have an extensive knowledge of curriculum, effective instructional practices, and student assessment. He/she stays on top of current research, and continuously provides intellectual stimulation for the team by sharing it with them, and or supporting the team in seeking out answers to tough questions about practices and polices when students’ learning is not improving. He possesses strong ideals and beliefs about teaching and learning and is not afraid to stand up for them with cynical colleagues. It usually happens when a teacher wants to do something extra and for the benefit of the students in a different way, he/she becomes the subject of criticism of his/she surrounding colleagues but the teacher who possesses the qualities of a leader does not get afraid of them. Rather he does his duties actively without fearing anybody.
Vision is a force that provides meaning and purpose to the work of an organization. So, a teacher leader must have a clear vision. Leaders of change are visionary leaders, and vision is the basis of their work. To actively change organization leaders must make decisions about the nature of the desired state. They begin with a personal vision to forge a shared vision wither coworkers. Their communication of the vision is such that it empowers people to act.
There lies a common belief that a teacher becomes leader only when he/she enjoys power. Actually, power and title cannot make a teacher a real leader. Enjoying power as supervisor, or boss does not automatically place a teacher on a pedestal as a leader. An effective teacher attains these things by virtue of his leadership quality. Leaders motivate their followers to set high, attainable standards that result in successful product outcomes. So, teachers must have leadership qualities to set an educational institution higher than the usual level of standard.
There are five important characteristics of leadership in education such as : (a)Understanding self, (b)Understanding Human nature (c)Communication (d) Clear , focused judgment and (e) Believe in people. Each and every day we are developing, maintaining and enriching relationships with people. Building relationship with peers, parents, students, teachers, maintenance staff, clerical staff and administrators are a part of everyday business for educators. Effective leaders have an honest understanding of who they are and what they represent. Knowing strengths and weaknesses of self helps leaders model methods in which they utilize their strengths and continually work to build their weaknesses. Good leaders share their strengths with their followers and they seek input and support from their followers by acknowledging their weaknesses. Good leaders seek responsibility and take responsibility .
Effective leaders must have a fundamental understanding of human nature. Education leaders must understand the needs , emotions, motivations, strengths and weaknesses of their followers , namely their entire building staff. Understanding human nature is not an easy task. Every teacher, like every student has a variety of needs depending upon the day and kaleidoscope of emotions. It is a misguided practice to ignore needs and emotions.
The receiver of the communication must clearly understand the exact information the sender is transmitting. Communication involves both verbal and non-verbal transmissions. Leaders communicating effectively get the same message to all other followers. When communicating effectively, leaders make consistent eye-contact and maintain a body posture that appears to be open to the message from the followers. Messages can become convoluted when the send is giving different messages regarding the same topic to a verity of receivers. This only breeds discontent and distrust. As teachers, we all need to be trained as team and communicated with as a team, were working together to create opportunities for our students to be successful. Leaders are those that truly understand themselves and understand the various elements of human nature. When teachers deal with the sophisticated phenomena and shoulder the responsibilities to bloom the latent talents of the future leaders of nation, they must try to build up leadership quality in them.
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The role of a teacher in a conversation class
Masum Billah
Conversation pertains to learning English practically as it is the second most important way of human communication. So, a teacher must arrange conversation sessions and classes based on the prescribed syllabus and related items. The following roles of a teacher may bring success to the students who learn English as a second language.
A teacher facilitating a conversation class must create a conducive atmosphere whose students feel free to express themselves. When the teachers knows the name the students, it makes them closer to each other and the students feel free to express themselves and along with it encouraging comments add extra benefit. The teacher should give a hearty laugh when situation demands. A smile generates warmth and response. The teacher should ensure that each student gets maximum opportunity to talk. Students should not be allowed to take notes during conversation class. They feel shy and stammer and ultimately want to surrender but the teacher must retain the interest and encourage them saying they have started speaking and it is getting good gradually. Students will try to shift from English to Bengali as it is very natural. The teacher should again divert their conversation in English When some are seen to become inattentive, the teacher may ask them some questions so that they become alert and can be back to the conversation. The teacher himself/herself can also ask one or two questions to other students and ask the inattentive ones to repeat the same questions.
Enthusiasm is infectious. The teacher should express enthusiasm to more actively engage the students in conversation. He should show much patience in the conversation class and put himself/herself in the place of the students remembering the struggle to express his/her ideas when he/she was first learning English. He/she should tell the students that they should be a critical listener without interrupting the students’ conversation because good listeners can be good speakers. Pronunciation or grammatical mistakes can be corrected by uttering the words/sentences the students have used without directly interrupting them.
The teacher is to remember when designing course that the students are the main target. He needs to find out what their needs are. Why do they want to learn English? What are some situations where they will use it? Have them bring topics that they wish to discuss. In this manner, you will be able to integrate the topics that they will need. Choose task based lessons so that students have a change to do meaningful tasks based on real life situations and on the target language. The main thing in conversation classes is to actually use a topic for your questions that the students are interested in talking about topics they would want to talk about in their native language will give them greater satisfaction and encourage them to develop their language skills to the point whether they can express themselves fluently.
The teacher in the conversation class must consider that some students remain timid in expressing their viewpoints because (i) students don’t have an opinion on the subject (ii) students have an opinion, but are worried about what the other students might say or think (iii)students have an opinion but don’t feel they can say exactly what they mean (iv)students begin giving their opinion but want to state it in the same eloquent manner that they are capable of in their native language (v)other more actively participating students, feel confident in their opinions and express them eloquently making the less confident students more timid. Having been assigned roles, opinions and point of view that they do not necessarily share, student are freed from having to express their own opinions. Therefore, they can focus on expressing themselves well in English. In this way students tend to concentrate more on production skills and less on factual content.
Short role play can make a conversation class more activated and interesting. Once students become comfortable with target structures and representing differing points of view, classes can move onto more elaborate exercises such as debates and group decision making activities. This approach bears fruit especially when debating opposing points of view. By representing opposing points of view student imaginations are activated by trying to focus on all the various points. One area that is easily overlooked by teachers of English conversation is the need to help student be aware of the learning process as it relates to language acquisition. First-time teachers need to keep this in mind as they face the arduous task of teaching language fluency in the short time allotted them. It is sometimes mistakenly assumed that after years of schooling, each student has already acquired the proper learning skills. Student may seem apathetic dejected belligerent and even unable to learn but these attitudes are the result of being confused and trusted. The root of the problem is not necessarily with methods or students’ attitudes but with the fact that too much is taken for granted, many times students simply don’t know what they are supposed to do and when they do, they don’t know how to go about doing it.
Many times the motivation exits and the teacher have good command of the various teachniques, but the students simply do not know how to go about learning the language. This is due to the fact that learning a language is often outside their experiences, first because learning one’s native language was simply a natural part of growing up and second because normally the study of English takes place only with the goal of passing entrance examination and hence the paper test phenomenon of concentrating on grammar.
To begin with students of English conversation must understand the fundamental difference between learning about the language and learning to use it for verbal communication. The common analogy of learning to drive a car or play a musical instrument is useful in demonstrating this point. We can learn all about the parts of a car or instrument, how they are made and what their functions are as they relate to the whole, but it does not necessarily follow that with this knowledge we will be able to get behind the steering wheel of a care or pick up an instrument for the first time and drive or play well. They only way to become a good driver is to practice driving. The only way to be able to play an instrument well is to practice playing it. Likewise, the only way to become a good English speaker is to practice speaking English.
Another important point to make is that English is not just a set of rule. It is not black and white, right or wrong as mathematics is with its equation and symbol which must calculate up every time. The initial goal then is not accuracy of use but is to communicate. Accuracy of use will aid ability to communicate but it should not be allowed to hinder the communication process. It is important to be realistic. Students are not going to be able to say all that is on their minds or even accurately express themselves from the start. A basic rule is not to dwell on simple mistakes in grammar or usage. Stemming directly from the previous point is the need to stress that learning a language is imaginative, creative and even artistic.
Each speaker is continually adding their idiosyncrasies as they use the language to express their unique ideas and views or simply to say things; the language is continually in a state of flux. English conversation class cannot be passive. The students need to be aggressive, putting in as much effort as they expect to get out of it. This means that students need to actively participate in the classroom by asking questions and joining in discussions and other communicative tasks or exercises. Since part of learning a language means taking that language and internalizes it, making it your own, it is important that the learners choose topics that are relevant to them. The students will find learning more enjoyable and, as a result, easier if they focus on the things that relate to their personal experiences and interests. Rote memorization is often ineffective as students cannot relate to the phrases and dialogues that have been spoon-fed them from a textbook.
Students should be cautioned against worrying over every unknown word or phrase or to get caught up in an overzealous attempt to pin down every expression with a dictionary meaning. Many things are restated when speaking and with certain amity of guessing, the gist of the conversation can be understood despite the unknown. Guessing is an important skill that needs to be developed and used often. It is useful and essential parts of comprehending what is being said, particularly in the early stages of conversational development. Guessing should be encouraged with the purpose of moving the students away from relying too heavily on their dictionaries and translating every meaning into their native tongues. Many times, translation has the effect of changing the meaning as much as an inaccurate guess. Various guessing games and pre-listening can be used to develop this concept. The more the student is exposed to the target language, the faster and easier it will be to assimilate the language. Like in all learning, the more time spent, the better the progress made. With language learning especially , it is important that the time spent be done on a daily or near-daily, basis as short sessions daily are much more effective than cramming all at once.
Many people think that they can be or should be fluent speaker in a short time but they must know that language learning on the road to fluency is a long process that cannot be hurried. Keeping a positive attitude and a steady schedule is more important than any immediate results. Students should learn from their mistakes by identifying the weaknesses and correcting them. Although progress often cannot be ‘seen ‘ or tested, students need to be assured that constant effort provides the necessary foundation which makes it possible to move on to the next stage and then only in hindsight is progress notices. There is no quick way to learn a language by skipping stages.
Students need to understand the idea that to be a good speaker, it is also necessary to be a good listener. Students should practice active listening by really turning in to what is being said and reading facial features and gestures, rising and falling intonations , speed and inflections, etc. all of which clued the listener in on the idea which is being communicated. The use of newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, movies , radio, TV etc. are easy ways to bring the real world into the classroom to increase interest. They also provide a change to expose the students to the cultural aspects of the language which further help the language take on ‘ character’ and make it more real. It is important to persevere and tackle the difficulties without losing one’s sense of enjoyment in the process. When enjoyment remains away or absent from the learning process, real learning hardly takes place.
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program and Vice-President: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA)
Cell: 01714-091431 Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Conversation pertains to learning English practically as it is the second most important way of human communication. So, a teacher must arrange conversation sessions and classes based on the prescribed syllabus and related items. The following roles of a teacher may bring success to the students who learn English as a second language.
A teacher facilitating a conversation class must create a conducive atmosphere whose students feel free to express themselves. When the teachers knows the name the students, it makes them closer to each other and the students feel free to express themselves and along with it encouraging comments add extra benefit. The teacher should give a hearty laugh when situation demands. A smile generates warmth and response. The teacher should ensure that each student gets maximum opportunity to talk. Students should not be allowed to take notes during conversation class. They feel shy and stammer and ultimately want to surrender but the teacher must retain the interest and encourage them saying they have started speaking and it is getting good gradually. Students will try to shift from English to Bengali as it is very natural. The teacher should again divert their conversation in English When some are seen to become inattentive, the teacher may ask them some questions so that they become alert and can be back to the conversation. The teacher himself/herself can also ask one or two questions to other students and ask the inattentive ones to repeat the same questions.
Enthusiasm is infectious. The teacher should express enthusiasm to more actively engage the students in conversation. He should show much patience in the conversation class and put himself/herself in the place of the students remembering the struggle to express his/her ideas when he/she was first learning English. He/she should tell the students that they should be a critical listener without interrupting the students’ conversation because good listeners can be good speakers. Pronunciation or grammatical mistakes can be corrected by uttering the words/sentences the students have used without directly interrupting them.
The teacher is to remember when designing course that the students are the main target. He needs to find out what their needs are. Why do they want to learn English? What are some situations where they will use it? Have them bring topics that they wish to discuss. In this manner, you will be able to integrate the topics that they will need. Choose task based lessons so that students have a change to do meaningful tasks based on real life situations and on the target language. The main thing in conversation classes is to actually use a topic for your questions that the students are interested in talking about topics they would want to talk about in their native language will give them greater satisfaction and encourage them to develop their language skills to the point whether they can express themselves fluently.
The teacher in the conversation class must consider that some students remain timid in expressing their viewpoints because (i) students don’t have an opinion on the subject (ii) students have an opinion, but are worried about what the other students might say or think (iii)students have an opinion but don’t feel they can say exactly what they mean (iv)students begin giving their opinion but want to state it in the same eloquent manner that they are capable of in their native language (v)other more actively participating students, feel confident in their opinions and express them eloquently making the less confident students more timid. Having been assigned roles, opinions and point of view that they do not necessarily share, student are freed from having to express their own opinions. Therefore, they can focus on expressing themselves well in English. In this way students tend to concentrate more on production skills and less on factual content.
Short role play can make a conversation class more activated and interesting. Once students become comfortable with target structures and representing differing points of view, classes can move onto more elaborate exercises such as debates and group decision making activities. This approach bears fruit especially when debating opposing points of view. By representing opposing points of view student imaginations are activated by trying to focus on all the various points. One area that is easily overlooked by teachers of English conversation is the need to help student be aware of the learning process as it relates to language acquisition. First-time teachers need to keep this in mind as they face the arduous task of teaching language fluency in the short time allotted them. It is sometimes mistakenly assumed that after years of schooling, each student has already acquired the proper learning skills. Student may seem apathetic dejected belligerent and even unable to learn but these attitudes are the result of being confused and trusted. The root of the problem is not necessarily with methods or students’ attitudes but with the fact that too much is taken for granted, many times students simply don’t know what they are supposed to do and when they do, they don’t know how to go about doing it.
Many times the motivation exits and the teacher have good command of the various teachniques, but the students simply do not know how to go about learning the language. This is due to the fact that learning a language is often outside their experiences, first because learning one’s native language was simply a natural part of growing up and second because normally the study of English takes place only with the goal of passing entrance examination and hence the paper test phenomenon of concentrating on grammar.
To begin with students of English conversation must understand the fundamental difference between learning about the language and learning to use it for verbal communication. The common analogy of learning to drive a car or play a musical instrument is useful in demonstrating this point. We can learn all about the parts of a car or instrument, how they are made and what their functions are as they relate to the whole, but it does not necessarily follow that with this knowledge we will be able to get behind the steering wheel of a care or pick up an instrument for the first time and drive or play well. They only way to become a good driver is to practice driving. The only way to be able to play an instrument well is to practice playing it. Likewise, the only way to become a good English speaker is to practice speaking English.
Another important point to make is that English is not just a set of rule. It is not black and white, right or wrong as mathematics is with its equation and symbol which must calculate up every time. The initial goal then is not accuracy of use but is to communicate. Accuracy of use will aid ability to communicate but it should not be allowed to hinder the communication process. It is important to be realistic. Students are not going to be able to say all that is on their minds or even accurately express themselves from the start. A basic rule is not to dwell on simple mistakes in grammar or usage. Stemming directly from the previous point is the need to stress that learning a language is imaginative, creative and even artistic.
Each speaker is continually adding their idiosyncrasies as they use the language to express their unique ideas and views or simply to say things; the language is continually in a state of flux. English conversation class cannot be passive. The students need to be aggressive, putting in as much effort as they expect to get out of it. This means that students need to actively participate in the classroom by asking questions and joining in discussions and other communicative tasks or exercises. Since part of learning a language means taking that language and internalizes it, making it your own, it is important that the learners choose topics that are relevant to them. The students will find learning more enjoyable and, as a result, easier if they focus on the things that relate to their personal experiences and interests. Rote memorization is often ineffective as students cannot relate to the phrases and dialogues that have been spoon-fed them from a textbook.
Students should be cautioned against worrying over every unknown word or phrase or to get caught up in an overzealous attempt to pin down every expression with a dictionary meaning. Many things are restated when speaking and with certain amity of guessing, the gist of the conversation can be understood despite the unknown. Guessing is an important skill that needs to be developed and used often. It is useful and essential parts of comprehending what is being said, particularly in the early stages of conversational development. Guessing should be encouraged with the purpose of moving the students away from relying too heavily on their dictionaries and translating every meaning into their native tongues. Many times, translation has the effect of changing the meaning as much as an inaccurate guess. Various guessing games and pre-listening can be used to develop this concept. The more the student is exposed to the target language, the faster and easier it will be to assimilate the language. Like in all learning, the more time spent, the better the progress made. With language learning especially , it is important that the time spent be done on a daily or near-daily, basis as short sessions daily are much more effective than cramming all at once.
Many people think that they can be or should be fluent speaker in a short time but they must know that language learning on the road to fluency is a long process that cannot be hurried. Keeping a positive attitude and a steady schedule is more important than any immediate results. Students should learn from their mistakes by identifying the weaknesses and correcting them. Although progress often cannot be ‘seen ‘ or tested, students need to be assured that constant effort provides the necessary foundation which makes it possible to move on to the next stage and then only in hindsight is progress notices. There is no quick way to learn a language by skipping stages.
Students need to understand the idea that to be a good speaker, it is also necessary to be a good listener. Students should practice active listening by really turning in to what is being said and reading facial features and gestures, rising and falling intonations , speed and inflections, etc. all of which clued the listener in on the idea which is being communicated. The use of newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, movies , radio, TV etc. are easy ways to bring the real world into the classroom to increase interest. They also provide a change to expose the students to the cultural aspects of the language which further help the language take on ‘ character’ and make it more real. It is important to persevere and tackle the difficulties without losing one’s sense of enjoyment in the process. When enjoyment remains away or absent from the learning process, real learning hardly takes place.
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program and Vice-President: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA)
Cell: 01714-091431 Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Monday, March 5, 2012
Now is the time to think of quality education and drop out
It looks strange that two contrasting phenomena exist side by side in our education system. One shows a competition to make the students pass whatever they write in the examination scripts. It is an obsession to increase the pass percentage without properly assessing the scripts of the students in the terminal, junior school certificate, secondary school certificate and higher secondary school certificate examinations. The introduction of creative questions on the other hand tends to convince us of imparting quality education by the authority. A Chinese proverb regarding education goes thus “ If you want to think one year ahead, plant rice. If you want to think ten years ahead, plant trees. But if you want to think hundred years ahead give education to people.” But education should be qualitative. Quality education means that the majority of the students, if not all, are able to meet the expectation of the Minimum Level of Learning.” It means stimulating creative thinking, developing problem-solving skills and life skills and laying emphasis on application of knowledge.
Alison King a researcher and educator in the college of Education at California State University in San Marcos back in 1993 said, “In most classrooms, the teacher lectures and the students listen and take notes. The teacher is the central figure, the ‘sage of the sage’. The teacher thinks that he has the knowledge which he will transmits to the students who simply memorize the information and later reproduce it in an examination, often without even thinking about it. This, Allision says is akin to the assumption that the students’ brain is like an empty container into which the teacher pours knowledge. The students are perceived to be passive learners rather than active ones and the individuals are never expected to think for themselves. This situation actually prevails in our educational institutions which we cannot definitely term as quality education.
Now is the time to think of quality education from very early schooling as ensure the full cycle of schooling of the students. It’s good news for us that pre-schooling for students above five years in all government schools has come into effect from this academic session. This initiative, taken under the national education policy, is aimed at achieving hundred percent enrolment and reducing dropout rate. Apart from 37 672 government schools, nearly 10, 000 registered non-government pry-schools have also introduced pre-primary education. Most of the schools got encouraging response from parents- “ Symal Kanti Ghosh, Director General – Directorate of Primary Education has said. In 2011 pre-primary schooling was introduced as a pilot project in 12000 schools although some private schools have been offering the facility for the past few years. BRAC stands champion in this line. It introduced pre-schooling since 2002. Guardians and parents in some remote rural areas and slums don’t send their kids to schools due to poverty and lack of knowledge. BRAC Education has extended education facilities to the un-reach. The present rate of enrolment is 99.43 percent. (Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics). As many as sixty percent students have been enrolled in the pre-primary class. Those who have got admitted come to schools every day, play with their peers and are receiving basic education. Classes under the pre-primary schooling are quite different from the usual ones. The National Education Policy 2010 says, “As a first step, pre-primary education will be introduced for children older than five years and later it would be introduced for children aged more than four years. This preparatory education will kindle an interest among children in education. Such schooling would make students disciplined and tolerant to others at a very early stage.” Definitely students start learning socialization through pre-schooling and it belongs to quality education. Real learning can occur at any given time or place as long as the environment provokes the person’s curiosity and drives him or her to find the truth under the surface.
Truth goes that the government of Bangladesh has made significant progress in recent years to increase primary-school age enrolment rates to cover eighty- nine per cent of boys and 94 percent girls. However, access to education remains a challenge for vulnerable groups, particularly working children, disabled children, indigenous children and those in remote areas or living in extreme poverty. Only half of all children living in slums attend school a rate eighteen percentage points lower than the national average. Dropout rates have made substantial progress where in 2006 the proportion of pupils starting grade one who reach grade 5 was 63.6 percent, in 2009 this has increased to 79.8 per cent. However, the room for progress is still required in this area. At least ten percent of primary school teaching posts are vacant. One third of staff at government schools teach without a certificate in Education .Promoting interactive and inclusive learning is difficult in the face of traditional teaching methods that require students to memorize facts. Students regularly fail to meet required curriculum competencies, so repetition rates are high. it currently takes an average of 8.5 years for a child to complete grades one through five. Ten per cent of primary school students are above primary school age eleven plus.
Mr Azim Premji , chairman of Wiplo Ltd in India thinks of critical component of the way of learning which he calls ‘ learning guarantee’. The concept of learning guarantee lies beyond the fragmented view of the education system as is generally understood. It is not just about the number and quality of teachers. It is not just about how the government is playing its role effectively or not. It is beyond the issues of a mid-day meal program or training of teachers or the kind of text books that are to be followed. Learning grantee consists ‘of more serious and deeper issues such as understanding of the pedagogical processes in the class room, clearer understanding by the teachers of what competencies are to be developed among the students, the class-room practices that bring out the best among the children in the most non-threatening and exciting manner., the competitive spirit that the school is able to create , the parents untiring interest in their children’s learning , the pressure created by an active and lively parent-teacher interaction for better delivery of learning in the school. It is a social process as well as a high quality management process.’ (Source: Internet)
Finally we can say to ensure quality education we cannot leave everything to the government as we have been doing for so long. If we have to make major headways, we have to start involving ourselves more deeply into the education of our children. Equally, we have to start thinking in terms of enthusiastic, highly motivated and more importantly, highly competent teachers and head teachers in reality, not in words or in seminar papers only.
Masum Billah :Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, .Email.mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Alison King a researcher and educator in the college of Education at California State University in San Marcos back in 1993 said, “In most classrooms, the teacher lectures and the students listen and take notes. The teacher is the central figure, the ‘sage of the sage’. The teacher thinks that he has the knowledge which he will transmits to the students who simply memorize the information and later reproduce it in an examination, often without even thinking about it. This, Allision says is akin to the assumption that the students’ brain is like an empty container into which the teacher pours knowledge. The students are perceived to be passive learners rather than active ones and the individuals are never expected to think for themselves. This situation actually prevails in our educational institutions which we cannot definitely term as quality education.
Now is the time to think of quality education from very early schooling as ensure the full cycle of schooling of the students. It’s good news for us that pre-schooling for students above five years in all government schools has come into effect from this academic session. This initiative, taken under the national education policy, is aimed at achieving hundred percent enrolment and reducing dropout rate. Apart from 37 672 government schools, nearly 10, 000 registered non-government pry-schools have also introduced pre-primary education. Most of the schools got encouraging response from parents- “ Symal Kanti Ghosh, Director General – Directorate of Primary Education has said. In 2011 pre-primary schooling was introduced as a pilot project in 12000 schools although some private schools have been offering the facility for the past few years. BRAC stands champion in this line. It introduced pre-schooling since 2002. Guardians and parents in some remote rural areas and slums don’t send their kids to schools due to poverty and lack of knowledge. BRAC Education has extended education facilities to the un-reach. The present rate of enrolment is 99.43 percent. (Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics). As many as sixty percent students have been enrolled in the pre-primary class. Those who have got admitted come to schools every day, play with their peers and are receiving basic education. Classes under the pre-primary schooling are quite different from the usual ones. The National Education Policy 2010 says, “As a first step, pre-primary education will be introduced for children older than five years and later it would be introduced for children aged more than four years. This preparatory education will kindle an interest among children in education. Such schooling would make students disciplined and tolerant to others at a very early stage.” Definitely students start learning socialization through pre-schooling and it belongs to quality education. Real learning can occur at any given time or place as long as the environment provokes the person’s curiosity and drives him or her to find the truth under the surface.
Truth goes that the government of Bangladesh has made significant progress in recent years to increase primary-school age enrolment rates to cover eighty- nine per cent of boys and 94 percent girls. However, access to education remains a challenge for vulnerable groups, particularly working children, disabled children, indigenous children and those in remote areas or living in extreme poverty. Only half of all children living in slums attend school a rate eighteen percentage points lower than the national average. Dropout rates have made substantial progress where in 2006 the proportion of pupils starting grade one who reach grade 5 was 63.6 percent, in 2009 this has increased to 79.8 per cent. However, the room for progress is still required in this area. At least ten percent of primary school teaching posts are vacant. One third of staff at government schools teach without a certificate in Education .Promoting interactive and inclusive learning is difficult in the face of traditional teaching methods that require students to memorize facts. Students regularly fail to meet required curriculum competencies, so repetition rates are high. it currently takes an average of 8.5 years for a child to complete grades one through five. Ten per cent of primary school students are above primary school age eleven plus.
Mr Azim Premji , chairman of Wiplo Ltd in India thinks of critical component of the way of learning which he calls ‘ learning guarantee’. The concept of learning guarantee lies beyond the fragmented view of the education system as is generally understood. It is not just about the number and quality of teachers. It is not just about how the government is playing its role effectively or not. It is beyond the issues of a mid-day meal program or training of teachers or the kind of text books that are to be followed. Learning grantee consists ‘of more serious and deeper issues such as understanding of the pedagogical processes in the class room, clearer understanding by the teachers of what competencies are to be developed among the students, the class-room practices that bring out the best among the children in the most non-threatening and exciting manner., the competitive spirit that the school is able to create , the parents untiring interest in their children’s learning , the pressure created by an active and lively parent-teacher interaction for better delivery of learning in the school. It is a social process as well as a high quality management process.’ (Source: Internet)
Finally we can say to ensure quality education we cannot leave everything to the government as we have been doing for so long. If we have to make major headways, we have to start involving ourselves more deeply into the education of our children. Equally, we have to start thinking in terms of enthusiastic, highly motivated and more importantly, highly competent teachers and head teachers in reality, not in words or in seminar papers only.
Masum Billah :Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, .Email.mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Subject based teacher in secondary schools
Secondary level education is the second important tier of education which experiences some anomalies and negligence from the authorities concerned for long. Many changes call for monetary involvement whereas many don’t need money but can bring some positive changes in this sector. The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education has recently sent a proposal to the Ministry of Education aiming at minimizing some anomalies which deserve appreciation. The ministry also entertains this idea. Let us see how quickly it takes place.
It is known to us that in this level subject based teachers are not employed and teacher of one subject teaches several other subjects inviting some problems and hampering actual teaching learning situation. It is a common practice that Bengali teachers conduct classes of mathematics or science or agricultural science which hampers sound teaching system. If classes can be distributed among the teachers subject -wise learners would be greatly benefited and the administration will also see smooth running of the schools.
Most teachers of secondary schools prefer to live in urban areas to rural ones. As there are no subject-based teachers they can easily get transferred to urban areas depriving the students of rural areas or upazlias. As a result urban schools see many teachers whereas the rural government schools find scarcity of teachers. Moreover, the teachers of important subjects are not available. Many teachers remain engaged in teaching English, mathematics and science subjects as private tuition are available in these subjects. So, a kind of greasing and lobbing also takes place as many teachers of other subjects take classes managing the authorities for boosting up their tuition business.
After a long time and actually for the first time a proposal to divide teachers subject -wise in the government secondary schools was sent to the Ministry of Education by the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education. The proposal says there will be 25 teachers in each government secondary school. In Bengali there will be four, English four, mathematics three, social science three, Islamiat two, Physical Science two, Biological Science two , Business Education one, Geography one, Agricultural Science one, Arts and crafts one, Physical Education one. Teachers of this level welcome this decision. If this can be implemented, uniform number of teachers can be employed in rural and urban schools. The anomalies and problems show through this picture. Dhanmondi government Laboratory School sees teachers mostly in mathematics and arts and crafts. But Physics , Chemistry and Biological Science teachers show very poor number. Sreemongol Government Boys’ High School sees no Social Science teacher .Teachers of other subjects teach these subjects. In Dhaka Government Science College Annex secondary school witnesses 13 teachers in social science though only two positions are available against these teachers. This situation prevails in all the 317 government schools. In Dhaka city there are 24 government high schools and in each school there are minimum ten extra teachers. Whereas, the schools outside Dhaka sees crisis of teachers and to teach important subjects, teachers are not available. Time has come to review the whole situation of this level do the needful. Another big factor remains unaddressed and untreated. We should not forget that there are about twenty thousand secondary schools in Bangladesh. Out of them only 317 are run by the government, the rest accommodates the lion’s share of our secondary levels students. The worse situation lies here in terms of subject base teachers. But no such step or plan has been heard from the authorities. They think only the government schools. Can we afford to do this discrimination?
This decision should have been taken minimum 15 years back. It has become overdue. It should happen in this age of specialization.In the secondary level subject based teachers were not employed. There might be several reasons behind it. The teachers of earlier times, might not know the modern way of teaching, had solid knowledge as notes and guidebooks were not available then. What they learnt was genuine. They had to obtain their grade by utilzing their own brain. One of my cadet college colleagues told me about the father of a cadet who obtained third class in his Masters but wrote very good English and spoke English nicely. He just asked me how it was possible. My answer was they did not read Ramji Lal or Tilak. They managed their grade/class by reading the original text. These kinds of teachers could teach any subject as they had to go deep into each subject. They had to critically analyze any subject. Finally, they were dedicated teachers. Their dedication cannot be compared with the teachers of this age.
Today’s graduates need not delve deep into the subject. They obtain high grades with superficial knowledge.Critical analysis and giving their own comments stand absent in the examination system. Just putting tick marks or writing true or false question, they bring very good grade. They need not write creative composition .Even if they have to write, they need not utilize their own thinking. Notes and guide books have occupied that place making our students’ thinking power crippled. So, it is the time to teach subjects by the graduates of Masters degree holders who have particular subject knowledge. Cadet college, cantonment college, industrial colleges, collegiate schools find subject-based teachers and the students of these institutions get the opportunity to learn some extra ordinary things from these teachers. The students of other institutions get deprived of receiving this benefit. Subject based teachers were not also available then. Subject based teachers received employment in colleges ( higher secondary and graduation). But now many Masters Degree holders come to secondary level teaching. So, the previous rules should be changed and in the greater interest of education, secondary level teaching must see subject based teachers.
Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE.Email:mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
It is known to us that in this level subject based teachers are not employed and teacher of one subject teaches several other subjects inviting some problems and hampering actual teaching learning situation. It is a common practice that Bengali teachers conduct classes of mathematics or science or agricultural science which hampers sound teaching system. If classes can be distributed among the teachers subject -wise learners would be greatly benefited and the administration will also see smooth running of the schools.
Most teachers of secondary schools prefer to live in urban areas to rural ones. As there are no subject-based teachers they can easily get transferred to urban areas depriving the students of rural areas or upazlias. As a result urban schools see many teachers whereas the rural government schools find scarcity of teachers. Moreover, the teachers of important subjects are not available. Many teachers remain engaged in teaching English, mathematics and science subjects as private tuition are available in these subjects. So, a kind of greasing and lobbing also takes place as many teachers of other subjects take classes managing the authorities for boosting up their tuition business.
After a long time and actually for the first time a proposal to divide teachers subject -wise in the government secondary schools was sent to the Ministry of Education by the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education. The proposal says there will be 25 teachers in each government secondary school. In Bengali there will be four, English four, mathematics three, social science three, Islamiat two, Physical Science two, Biological Science two , Business Education one, Geography one, Agricultural Science one, Arts and crafts one, Physical Education one. Teachers of this level welcome this decision. If this can be implemented, uniform number of teachers can be employed in rural and urban schools. The anomalies and problems show through this picture. Dhanmondi government Laboratory School sees teachers mostly in mathematics and arts and crafts. But Physics , Chemistry and Biological Science teachers show very poor number. Sreemongol Government Boys’ High School sees no Social Science teacher .Teachers of other subjects teach these subjects. In Dhaka Government Science College Annex secondary school witnesses 13 teachers in social science though only two positions are available against these teachers. This situation prevails in all the 317 government schools. In Dhaka city there are 24 government high schools and in each school there are minimum ten extra teachers. Whereas, the schools outside Dhaka sees crisis of teachers and to teach important subjects, teachers are not available. Time has come to review the whole situation of this level do the needful. Another big factor remains unaddressed and untreated. We should not forget that there are about twenty thousand secondary schools in Bangladesh. Out of them only 317 are run by the government, the rest accommodates the lion’s share of our secondary levels students. The worse situation lies here in terms of subject base teachers. But no such step or plan has been heard from the authorities. They think only the government schools. Can we afford to do this discrimination?
This decision should have been taken minimum 15 years back. It has become overdue. It should happen in this age of specialization.In the secondary level subject based teachers were not employed. There might be several reasons behind it. The teachers of earlier times, might not know the modern way of teaching, had solid knowledge as notes and guidebooks were not available then. What they learnt was genuine. They had to obtain their grade by utilzing their own brain. One of my cadet college colleagues told me about the father of a cadet who obtained third class in his Masters but wrote very good English and spoke English nicely. He just asked me how it was possible. My answer was they did not read Ramji Lal or Tilak. They managed their grade/class by reading the original text. These kinds of teachers could teach any subject as they had to go deep into each subject. They had to critically analyze any subject. Finally, they were dedicated teachers. Their dedication cannot be compared with the teachers of this age.
Today’s graduates need not delve deep into the subject. They obtain high grades with superficial knowledge.Critical analysis and giving their own comments stand absent in the examination system. Just putting tick marks or writing true or false question, they bring very good grade. They need not write creative composition .Even if they have to write, they need not utilize their own thinking. Notes and guide books have occupied that place making our students’ thinking power crippled. So, it is the time to teach subjects by the graduates of Masters degree holders who have particular subject knowledge. Cadet college, cantonment college, industrial colleges, collegiate schools find subject-based teachers and the students of these institutions get the opportunity to learn some extra ordinary things from these teachers. The students of other institutions get deprived of receiving this benefit. Subject based teachers were not also available then. Subject based teachers received employment in colleges ( higher secondary and graduation). But now many Masters Degree holders come to secondary level teaching. So, the previous rules should be changed and in the greater interest of education, secondary level teaching must see subject based teachers.
Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE.Email:mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Is CLT working in Bangladesh?
With a view to enabling our students to use English in their practical life situation Communicative Language Teaching was introduced in our education system in the year 1998-1999. Now ‘CLT has become a buzzword’ as has been said by Dr. Aria Rahman, professor of Dhaka University. All around us we hear the buzzing of ‘CLT’. It buzzes in the English classroom, with English teachers, ELT professionals , in the English departments of both private and public universities . Teacher training both in the private and government sectors talks about CLT provides training in CLT. CLT roams in and around educational vicinity. But how much change has it really brought for the learners to use English in real life remains a big question. Of course, authentic research in this regard is also not available. Our observation, guess and practical experience with the students offer not an encouraging picture.
Yes, it is true that the students particularly of urban areas have become smarter than before in terms of using English in their conversation, it is broken English, structurally wrong English even then they have started using it in their practical life. But there is every reason to ask is it the impact of introducing CLT in our education system? Without any research it can be said that it is the impact of their easy access to internet, easily available English movies and electronic and print Medias. In the classroom practical English or everyday use English is hardly practiced. The major concern of the students, teachers and guardians is to manage a good grade in English using a commercial or short-cut way which is tantamount to avoiding real learning. Understanding the pulse of the English stockholders and the loophole of examination system the commercial publishers are up and doing to satisfy their desired objectives and they are commercially successful. Real learning is still a far cry.
Professor Shahiddullah of Rajshahi University has been working in the line of CLT still he finds it difficult to deal with CLT comfortably. So he questions how is it possible to bring change giving only two-weeks or three weeks training to the teachers as government and non-government sectors do. Of course, ELTIP is not so active in the field of training now. Professor Shahidullah has said ‘CLT does not mean using wrong English rather fluency leading to accuracy.’ The point makes sense. A wrong notion has developed with CLT professionals that wrong English is most welcome. Actually, it is only for those who have not yet opened their mouth. Only two or three weeks training may not bring any significant change in the overall performance of the teachers but it definitely gives them some clues and tips to deal with EFT and teaching English. Any kind of training is just the beginning of a professional development, not the ending.
In the English For Today of class six out of 106 lessons there are 08 listening comprehension lessons, in seven EFT out of 80 lessons 10 listening, in class eight out of 75 lessons 11 listening comprehensions and nine-ten EFT out of 119 lessons 22 listening comprehensions. Again, in class six EFT 80 speaking focused lessons in seven EFT 74, in eight EFT 69-, nine-ten EFT 63, eleven-twelve EFT there are 133 lessons out of 158 which focus speaking skill. But these two important skills hardly receive any importance from the teachers in the classroom. A trained teacher can teach and practice all the four skills through a particular lesson as all the four skills are integrated in CLT approach. But teachers were not given enough training to develop their confidence up that level. However, some trained teachers try to practice all the skills in the classroom but they lose their motivation after a certain period as listening and speaking are not directly assessed in the public examinations and the students, guardians and the school authorities don’t encourage the point. Many don’t think that these two important skills directly and indirectly help develop the other two skills. It is very strange to think that 40 percent of our everyday communication we do through listening, 35 per cent speaking, 16 percent reading and only 9 percent through writing. But we put total emphasis on reading and writing which means we assess our students’ English performance only on 25 percent skills. It clandestinely proves that our assess in English is seriously faulty. The significant two skills remain ever neglected. A huge number of teachers were not trained well enough though under the umbrella of different government projects such as TQI, SEQAEP, SESIP, SESDP and non-government organization like BRAC conducted training for the teachers to use CLT in the classroom. To continue their development process in this subject remains absent.
CLT and even the existing assessment system could have produced some quality students if the same kind of questions had not been set year after year. It no way it can assess the real progress of the students in English. The vocabulary test in the form of passage with clues and without clues should have been quite new every year but year after year the same clues have been set. Those who have memorized them can do well in the examination. And those who did not meet them earlier cannot solve them. The question setters never think of this point. What they do just pick up the same passage from the Test Papers means in some schools and colleges these question were set. Students practiced them and if any new passage is given, they become puzzled. At this teachers’ own creativity is lost and no scope lies to raise the capacity of the students. In 2010 Junior School Certificate examination was introduced and the same year the reading comprehension question for 40 marks was set from the listening comprehension. Listening comprehension was not practiced in the class rather it was set as reading comprehension question in the public examination. I doubt whether the question setter had idea about it.
After 1998 the government is going to introduce the new books for English from 2013. The teaching community is in the dark about what kind of books or the same cut-copy-paste English text is going to be introduced. The existing books are not at all interesting, eye-catching or user-friendly. Languages used there are not so sound. It called for very expert teachers to make the contents interesting and lively highlighting the spirit of CLT which is actually not taking place. Besides, we don’t have subject based English teachers in the secondary level that means the teachers who graduated in English are engaged in secondary level teaching. In the higher secondary level it is okay. As a result whole attempt of CLT has witnessed a mismatched situation. The students neither learn correct English nor can they communicate soundly using broken English even. The highly liberal attitude of the government to make the students pass in English whatever they write in the script has further deteriorated the situation. The students have lost total interest to learn something new. They experience from their older brothers and sisters and learn from them that whatever they write in the scripts, they obtain high grade in English. It’s a highly de-motivating factor for the learners to learn good English. The NCTB authorities should look into the matters and take lessons through the present outcome of English and devise and introduce English For Today accordingly.
Masum Billah :Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE and Vice-President: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association ( BELTA). Email:mmbillah2000@yahoo.com)
Yes, it is true that the students particularly of urban areas have become smarter than before in terms of using English in their conversation, it is broken English, structurally wrong English even then they have started using it in their practical life. But there is every reason to ask is it the impact of introducing CLT in our education system? Without any research it can be said that it is the impact of their easy access to internet, easily available English movies and electronic and print Medias. In the classroom practical English or everyday use English is hardly practiced. The major concern of the students, teachers and guardians is to manage a good grade in English using a commercial or short-cut way which is tantamount to avoiding real learning. Understanding the pulse of the English stockholders and the loophole of examination system the commercial publishers are up and doing to satisfy their desired objectives and they are commercially successful. Real learning is still a far cry.
Professor Shahiddullah of Rajshahi University has been working in the line of CLT still he finds it difficult to deal with CLT comfortably. So he questions how is it possible to bring change giving only two-weeks or three weeks training to the teachers as government and non-government sectors do. Of course, ELTIP is not so active in the field of training now. Professor Shahidullah has said ‘CLT does not mean using wrong English rather fluency leading to accuracy.’ The point makes sense. A wrong notion has developed with CLT professionals that wrong English is most welcome. Actually, it is only for those who have not yet opened their mouth. Only two or three weeks training may not bring any significant change in the overall performance of the teachers but it definitely gives them some clues and tips to deal with EFT and teaching English. Any kind of training is just the beginning of a professional development, not the ending.
In the English For Today of class six out of 106 lessons there are 08 listening comprehension lessons, in seven EFT out of 80 lessons 10 listening, in class eight out of 75 lessons 11 listening comprehensions and nine-ten EFT out of 119 lessons 22 listening comprehensions. Again, in class six EFT 80 speaking focused lessons in seven EFT 74, in eight EFT 69-, nine-ten EFT 63, eleven-twelve EFT there are 133 lessons out of 158 which focus speaking skill. But these two important skills hardly receive any importance from the teachers in the classroom. A trained teacher can teach and practice all the four skills through a particular lesson as all the four skills are integrated in CLT approach. But teachers were not given enough training to develop their confidence up that level. However, some trained teachers try to practice all the skills in the classroom but they lose their motivation after a certain period as listening and speaking are not directly assessed in the public examinations and the students, guardians and the school authorities don’t encourage the point. Many don’t think that these two important skills directly and indirectly help develop the other two skills. It is very strange to think that 40 percent of our everyday communication we do through listening, 35 per cent speaking, 16 percent reading and only 9 percent through writing. But we put total emphasis on reading and writing which means we assess our students’ English performance only on 25 percent skills. It clandestinely proves that our assess in English is seriously faulty. The significant two skills remain ever neglected. A huge number of teachers were not trained well enough though under the umbrella of different government projects such as TQI, SEQAEP, SESIP, SESDP and non-government organization like BRAC conducted training for the teachers to use CLT in the classroom. To continue their development process in this subject remains absent.
CLT and even the existing assessment system could have produced some quality students if the same kind of questions had not been set year after year. It no way it can assess the real progress of the students in English. The vocabulary test in the form of passage with clues and without clues should have been quite new every year but year after year the same clues have been set. Those who have memorized them can do well in the examination. And those who did not meet them earlier cannot solve them. The question setters never think of this point. What they do just pick up the same passage from the Test Papers means in some schools and colleges these question were set. Students practiced them and if any new passage is given, they become puzzled. At this teachers’ own creativity is lost and no scope lies to raise the capacity of the students. In 2010 Junior School Certificate examination was introduced and the same year the reading comprehension question for 40 marks was set from the listening comprehension. Listening comprehension was not practiced in the class rather it was set as reading comprehension question in the public examination. I doubt whether the question setter had idea about it.
After 1998 the government is going to introduce the new books for English from 2013. The teaching community is in the dark about what kind of books or the same cut-copy-paste English text is going to be introduced. The existing books are not at all interesting, eye-catching or user-friendly. Languages used there are not so sound. It called for very expert teachers to make the contents interesting and lively highlighting the spirit of CLT which is actually not taking place. Besides, we don’t have subject based English teachers in the secondary level that means the teachers who graduated in English are engaged in secondary level teaching. In the higher secondary level it is okay. As a result whole attempt of CLT has witnessed a mismatched situation. The students neither learn correct English nor can they communicate soundly using broken English even. The highly liberal attitude of the government to make the students pass in English whatever they write in the script has further deteriorated the situation. The students have lost total interest to learn something new. They experience from their older brothers and sisters and learn from them that whatever they write in the scripts, they obtain high grade in English. It’s a highly de-motivating factor for the learners to learn good English. The NCTB authorities should look into the matters and take lessons through the present outcome of English and devise and introduce English For Today accordingly.
Masum Billah :Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE and Vice-President: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association ( BELTA). Email:mmbillah2000@yahoo.com)
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