Proficiency in English Course for Teachers

Course Document

AZIM PREMJI FOUNDATION

ENGLISH CO –DEVELOPMENT
Course Title Proficiency in English Course for Teachers
Level Certificate of participation
Target Audience Teachers teaching English or interested in acquiring a basic proficiency in
English

Mode of Delivery Face to Face

Grading Nil ( Workshop effectiveness assessed through reflection/ self-
assessment sheets of teachers )
Language of English
Transaction
Course Designers Lokesh Thakur, Nivedita Bedadur, Pallavi Chaturvedi, Paresh Pandya,
Ranjay, Ravikumar, Ravishekhar Verma, Rima, Shree
Course Instructors Whosoever has good command of English and understanding of
andragogy

1. Rationale
English is perceived as a language of people’s aspiration across the country for various
reasons. One of the reasons is the general perception that it enhances opportunities of
upward mobility as there is a great demand in many sectors for the people who can function
through this language. Ironically, despite a huge demand and the aspiration for it, only a
limited number of people end up acquiring basic proficiency in English, which means, out of
millions of children who spend 10 to 12 years learning English, very few are actually able to
use it for various purposes in their professional and social life. The situation is even worse in
the rural areas which account for a large number of learners. As a result, their efforts at
learning this language seem to go wasted.
Unfortunately, both the English teachers’ and other subject teachers’ competence in this
area - in most of the cases - is seriously limited. They have serious issues with their own
proficiency. They find it extremely difficult to communicate effectively through English in
both oral and written forms and face serious challenge in making sense of a slightly complex
or academic text. It is pertinent to note here that teachers’ ability (and not just of those who
teach English) to create English-rich environment in the classroom becomes extremely
crucial when the target language is not present in children’s environment. In fact, the case
of English is really complex in India. It is taught as a second language all over the country but
the presence of this language is so very limited in many parts that it is as good as a foreign
language. Hence, the challenge before the teachers and children is to learn English with the
help of extremely little input.
Needless to say, such teachers, who form the majority in the government as well as private
school systems in villages and small towns of India cannot create the environment and

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opportunities in their classrooms-which have both challenge and joy required for learning-
unless they get some support.
We believe that we should create such platforms for them where they can work on their
own proficiency in English in a relaxed and anxiety-free atmosphere; where their efforts are
supported and encouraged; and they are helped to shed their anxiety, hesitation and self-
consciousness which, generally, get associated with English thanks to its colonial legacy, and
the social perception of its status.
This will create positivity and enthusiasm among the teachers, as each step they take in the
desired direction will boost their confidence and will, to become active learners. Needless to
say, this will resonate in their classrooms as well. This platform can be called “Proficiency in
English Course for Teachers”. The course will focus on helping them develop basic
proficiency in English- of the kind that gives them confidence to use English for general
purposes through speaking and writing and ability to make sense of general
conversation/written material.
The course designers believe that in order to acquire basic proficiency in any language it is
necessary for the learner to take a deep dive in the language, it also demands time and
engagement. The entire course has been visualized as a course of three months having
three levels-beginner, developing, and advanced-of one month each. Under each level, as
many classes can be conducted as are possible at the given location/for the facilitator. The
duration of each level is not a fixed thing. It depends on the quality and time participants get
to familiarize themselves with and later immerse themselves in this language.
2. Guiding Principles
The course design is based on the following postulates:
1. A new language is learnt only when the learner has a variety of meaningful and
authentic language experiences with that language. These experiences make the
learner gradually gain familiarity with the sounds and contexts of that language in an
anxiety-free environment.
2. The production of the target language happens only after a silent period during
which the mental processing of this new language continues but very little comes out
in the form of utterances.
3. The production of the language acquired thus happens naturally and automatically
as an unconscious process, provided the learner has got enough meaningful
exposure to and opportunity to use that language.
4. Language learning is a social process. Therefore, an experience becomes a language
experience only when it is rooted in a social situation. Thus, practice with artificially
constructed language doesn’t serve the purpose and a contextual connect is
imperative.
5. In case of English, these experiences may include authentic interaction in the
classroom around an issue/topic/task etc., or movies, video/audio clips of authentic
conversation/interaction/play/narration, printed texts of stories /accounts etc. For
anything to become a language experience for the learners, it is not at all necessary

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 that learners happen to be producing target language in some form. It is completely
fine for them that they take interest, listen to and enjoy the target language, esp. in
the initial stages of learning.
Levels as defined for this course
Participants won’t have to do all levels. They can join levels according to their felt need or
our assessment of their need. Putting below how we define each level:
Level 1- it is meant to help the beginners acquire familiarity and comfort with English. The
objective at this stage will not be to prepare them for production of the language but to
help them develop sense of ease with the language, confidence and hope to continue their
involvement with it. This will be done by providing them with exposure to simple English of
everyday use and involving them in a lot of meaning making with the help of multiple kinds
of clues- basically, visual and contextual. So those who have had extremely limited exposure
to English and struggle even in making global meaning (main idea/storyline) of the input will
be asked to join this level.
Level 2- it’s meant for those who have some exposure to English and are able to make
global meaning of the text/input but struggle in understanding the details of even a simple
text. They are familiar with the sounds of English and even feel that sentences are in their
mind but fail to put them together in oral or written form. Such participants will be
encouraged to deal with a little complex text (in terms of the vocabulary and sentence
structures, not necessarily of ideas), and also to share their thoughts in English/ mixed
language.
Level 3- this level is meant for those who are quite comfortable with English but do not have
any experience of reading/listening to academic or cognitively demanding material in
English. They are able to use English for very brief introductory conversation but find it
difficult to express their more profound views using English. So they have basic
interpersonal communication skills and need to develop cognitively advanced language
proficiency.
Targets for each of the three levels
The participants should be able to do the following by the end of each level. The duration of
each level may vary from batch to batch.
Level 1- beginner
1. Ability to understand the global meaning (gist) of the input ( mostly oral) with the
help of visual and contextual clues-during the proficiency class
2. Ability to focus on material in English-story, song, feature etc.. Now my attention
does not waver so often when I happen to be watching/listening to or reading
something in English
3. Interest to find the tasks in English-listening, watching, reading, conversation etc.-
engaging and doable

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 4. Make efforts to find material in English- audio/printed stories, cartoon serials, chat
shows news items, articles etc. when at home or at leisure time
5. The goal of attaining proficiency in English looks more real now
6. Now I consult the dictionary more often-also try and check a good one like, Oxford
advanced learner dictionary
7. Have developed the habit of making guesses about the possible meaning of
something and don’t leave a thing until get to know what is being said
8. Feel like making extra efforts to learn this language
9. Enjoy reading short English text aloud with my students or when at home/alone
Level 2- developing
1. Can make sense of all the details of the text-oral or written input with the help of
clues-visual/contextual
2. Don’t feel tired or bored while struggling to make sense of something
unfamiliar/complex
3. Now I need no support/help in understanding relatively simple text-children’s
stories, front page news items etc.
4. Now I try to read English newspaper articles apart from the stories-at least twice a
week
5. Have developed interest in watching English
songs/stories/serials/news/documentaries etc. and can also share its content with
my friends with confidence- do so every day
6. My English vocabulary has improved significantly. Now I don’t have to consult
dictionary every now and then. I have started making more accurate guesses about
the meaning of unfamiliar words
7. Don’t mind the mistakes I make in understanding something or communicating
something in English- make use of every single opportunity coming my way ( with
fellow teachers/my students/in proficiency class)
8. Have overcome the hesitation in using it/fear of English
9. I am able to read out English stories before my students with expressions and voice
modulation-do so at least 2-3 times every week
10. Use English more often in communicating with my students-in the form of
instructions, brief conversation, classroom interactions-asking questions etc.
Level 3- advanced
1. I feel more confident in making sense of more complex text in English-
documentaries, talks, articles etc. – deliberately create such opportunities for myself
everyday ( even though I have just 15 minutes or so)
2. I prepare myself every day to be able to use English in my class-by writing down
everything I am planning to say or do in my class using English
3. Now, in place of reading out stories to my students, I narrate them- at least twice in
a week
4. I have started reading English newspaper every day. Also try and watch English news
channels every now and then

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 5. Now I use google search engine more often for getting information about anything-
content pages in English on new recipes, beauty tips, dresses, films or understanding
my own psyche etc..
6. I enjoy watching the shows where conversation/debate/discussion is conducted in
English
7. Have also developed interest in reading English novels/ longish non-fiction etc.
8. I think now I don’t need support for developing proficiency in English
9. I have my own plans for improving my English further

3. Participants Profile
The participants will mostly be Government Teachers of elementary, secondary and higher
secondary schools. For most of them, English is a second language to which they have very
little exposure and even lesser opportunity for acquiring it. The majority of them are
estimated to be from the age group of 25 to 45 years with teaching experience ranging from
2 years to 20 years.
Our experiences with most of them tell us that they are able to understand common
greetings, commonly used phrases, and have limited vocabulary. In terms of expression,
most of them face problems with basic conversation and are not comfortable in reading and
writing in English. They struggle while teaching English in the classrooms across grades.
4. Operationalization
 This will be an open course meant for teachers from any stream. Those interested will
enroll themselves in advance and commit their time. Commitment of time is imperative
for the course to be of any help and will also emphasize the seriousness of the activity.
 At the end of every level, there will be feedback sessions during which discussions
regarding participants’ progress will be held. They will include self- reflections,
facilitators’ observations and feed-back. The facilitators’ will have to maintain regular
observation record about each learner.
 Certificate of participation may be awarded on the completion of the course.
 Each engagement may be of one and a half –two hours’ duration, and may be conducted
4-5 times in a week.
 The mood of these engagements will remain light and fun-filled so that learners can
overcome their self-consciousness when they try to speak. The objectives of the course
can be achieved only if the participants are completely engaged and involved in doing
tasks which provide both joy and challenge to them.

5. Pedagogical processes
The course will be transacted through regular classes of one and a half hours during which
learners will experience the use of English in a variety of situations and forms-ranging from
normal classroom conversation (largely from the facilitator’s side for the first few months)
to samples of its use in a variety of real life situations.

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In the first few weeks, the focus will be on giving them a lot of exposure to English as used in
a variety of real life situations and then they will be involved in talking about that in the
language they are comfortable using, which means there won’t be any pressure on them for
early production of the language. They will be encouraged to basically absorb and make
sense of the input they are exposed to.
In the next few weeks, authentic and life like opportunities will be created where the
participants will be motivated to share their thoughts, make efforts to talk and write using
English, in areas which they are comfortable and have had maximum exposure.
In the next stage, there will be greater use of what learners bring to the class, their language
experiences- in terms of what they watched, read, created or listened to during the
day/week passed by.
Sample session plans for three levels of the course
The areas in focus for each level-
Level 1-the focus in this level will be on a lot of listening and watching of English short films,
stories, conversation, animations, documentaries, shows etc.. The idea here is to familiarize
the participants with English as used in a variety of ways and situations through a lot of
audio-visual inputs. So, discussions/activities around some audio-visual material will form
the largest part of the sessions in the first level. As for reading inputs, very short stories,
descriptions, recipes etc. will be used for the purpose of involving them in comprehension
and conversation around the input.
Level 2-in this level, the focus will slowly start shifting to conversation practice and short
films will slowly give way to documentaries and news reports. Similarly, in case of reading
input, apart from the stories, short news summaries and articles will be used for generating
the discussion.
Level 3- in this level, they will be made to listen to and watch more group discussions and
talks. There will also be the inclusion of academic articles, editorials etc. at this stage. In
addition to all this, they will also be encouraged to make presentations on what they read or
watch outside the class which will be done individually or in pairs.
Apart from the above, there are suggestions that apply to all levels. For instance, the
component of loud reading will form the part of all levels. Since all twenty participants can’t
read aloud every day, four to five persons will get this opportunity on a day and this will go
on in rotation.
Similarly, in order to ensure that each one of the twenty participants takes part in the
conversation/discussion, permanent groups may be formed. Each one of them will take the
collective responsibility of the participation of every member of their respective group.
In all levels, participants will be required to spare time to watch some English programmes
and read a brief text of English every day which they will have to share in class next day.
Since every day all of them may not get time for sharing, they will do that in rotation-four
persons each day will share what they have done through the week.

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Each day will begin with a language game/ song or poem based activity.
Each session will begin with the sharing of their language experiences over the last few days.
Sample session plan for level one:
Step 1- a brief talk around a short English film/audio-visual story. They will watch a 5-10
minutes movie (preferably from Indian context) and respond to that after a brief discussion
within the group. There will be no insistence on their speaking in English when they are
responding. The focus here will be on comprehension of the dialogues by each one of them.
Step 2- they will be made to hear narration of a story. Post the narration, the groups will be
asked to retell it (as far as possible in English) with a twist in the tale. The groups will first
discuss the story within their group, think of the twist and then present it before the large
group.
Step 3- they will be made to hear a brief conversation twice. Next, they will be asked to
recreate the conversation putting it in their own context.
Step 4- Loud reading of a story by two groups in which each member will participate.
Sample session plan for level 2:
Step 1- the class will be shown a documentary movie which will be followed by a few
comprehension questions (to be asked orally) to check their understanding of the film.
Step 2- audio of a brief talk around a theme will be played in class twice. Next, one group
will be asked to share with all the main points of the talk, next group will summarize that
and the rest of the two groups will be asked to recreate the talk in their own words.
Step 3- the groups will be given a newspaper to pick a couple of news item/articles etc. to
read silently. Ten minutes later, they will be asked to share with all what they have read in
English.
Step 4- next, two groups will be given a chance to read aloud an article from the day’s
English Newspaper. Members in the small groups will read that one by one in parts.
Sample session plan for level 3:
Step 1-the class will be made to listen to/watch a longer talk on some academic/pedagogical
or social issue. Post the talk, the groups will be asked to create their own talk on the issue
and present it before the large group. The groups are expected to brain storm on the issue,
organize the ideas and then help one of the members of their group present the talk. (This
may go on for two consecutive weeks as there is limited time available in class-only for two
groups to present their respective talk).
Step 2- the participants will be first made to listen to a group discussion which will be
followed by a brief discussion on it within the small groups. Post the discussion, they will be
asked to prepare a brief group discussion on some other topic/similar issue and present it.
(This may go on for 2-3 consecutive weeks).

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Step 3- the participants will be given an academic article to read divided in four parts. Each
group will be given one part to read and analyze. Post the reading, the groups will share
with the large group their understanding of the content of the part of the article assigned to
them.
Note: in this level, loud reading will be done only on every alternate day.

Suggestions about the themes and session processes:

Theme 1- how to greet each other
Suggested activities-
1. A discussion (this will be bilingual/multilingual) about the different kinds of people one
meets and interactions one has during the course of a day. These meetings could be
personal, professional or of any other kind. The participants will share experiences and they
will be noted down on the board. As most of this can be pre-anticipated, we can have
pictorial depictions of these interactions. For instance, meeting a friend in the market, going
to the bank, meeting an Education Officer, meeting someone we like, meeting someone we
do not like etc. Cards with common words like ‘Hello, Lovely, Excellent, Really, Oh No, Long
time etc. will be distributed.
2. Participants can be divided into small groups. They can choose a situation from ones
discussed earlier and create a situation of their liking where they can simulate meetings and
carry out a conversation. As this is the first level, they can carry out conversations in any
language they are comfortable with. Once they are comfortable with the role play, each
group can present it to the larger group. These simulations can include the words on the cue
cards.
3. Participants will be given situations where greetings are an integral part and they will
create simple sentences in English which are used in the daily lives. These sentences may
also have a sprinkling of Hindi words. These sentences will be written and shared in the
large group.
4. Role plays may be done again. This time with new and slightly more complex situations
like how will you meet someone you don’t really like or how will you greet a rude bank
officer responsible for sanctioning a loan?
5. Writing out a list of commonly used greeting words or sentences and creating a pool of
such expressions
6. Listening to various videos (You tube or Fluent language.com) which clearly state various
forms of greetings in various situations.
Theme 2- Making and registering complaints
Suggested activities-

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 1. Discussion about what is a complaint and where all can we come across the concept
of complaints.
Why are complaints important?
What is the way of acknowledging and registering a complaint?
What is the difference between complaining when things go wrong and the habit of a
complainer?
2. Participants can be divided into groups and each group can be given a name like family,
school, Electricity department, Circle of friends etc. Each group has to come up with a few
complaints, how to voice it in the best manner and how to address the complaint. This can
be presented in the large group. Each group will use as many English words as they are
familiar with. During presentation, the large group will ask relevant questions in simple
English as to why was a complaint made in the first place etc.?
4. Divide the participants into groups. Each group will be role playing as children in a class,
home, market place etc. They have to come up with common complaints, who they will go
to with the complaints, how will they present the problem/complaint and the possible
solutions. This should generate practical discussions with the help of the facilitator. Again,
participants should be encouraged to use as many English words as they are familiar and
comfortable.
5. Watch ‘Stanley Ka Dubba’.
Generate a discussion on Grievance Complex
Give the following task to the participants – if you were a husband/wife, what complaints
will you have against your spouse? List them down.
Theme 3- Story Gala-Books, Books and Books
Suggested activities-
1, Lots of story books will be brought to the class room. Choosing various story books for
reading. Saying why you liked them.
3. A game involving sequencing a story: First Picture story, then a story with pictures and
paragraphs
4. Stories e.g. where is Grandmother? How I taught my grandmother to read. Choose a
book, go through it and use any mode of expression for telling the story, drawing, and
writing, speaking or acting. Read and share with friends, read together, share together.
5. Selecting/ describing words or words related to emotions from stories and finding several
synonyms of the words. Game: Arranging the synonyms from strong to weak.
6. Reading simple rhythmic poems/ nursery rhymes and doing actions. Noticing rhyme and
playing a game with rhymes. Changing the rhyme in a poem. Changing onsets in a poem.
Theme 4- The World of Pictures

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Suggested activities-
1. Pictures from different sources. Silent films and films in other Languages. Comic
strips of different kinds: Calvin, Garbage Bin, Chacha Choudhary, Phantom
2. Understanding and interpreting pictures and talking about them
3. Filling in dialogues in the empty clouds of comic strips using both questions and
statements. Making funny excuses.
4. Reading jokes and identifying the words which create humour. Designing a theme
wall of words and categorizing them .Word play: Four pictures one word or Two
pictures one word
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