TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Take nothing
for granted!
Sue Leather and Simon Smith recommend pre-emptive preparation for their trainer training.
t’s the first day of your trainer
I training course, but nobody told
you that the trainers you are
working with have never actually
trained in English before and feel very
lacking in confidence about the
prospect. It’s only now that you realise
that the question ‘Do the trainers know
that their regional education authority
expects them to run their training courses
almost exclusively in English?’ would
have been a good one to ask. It’s only
now that you realise that checking
assumptions is of vital importance.
Far fetched? Not really. It’s a
scenario that can happen to even the
most seasoned trainer trainer. As
independent trainer training consultants,
experience has taught us that it’s
essential to check our assumptions
before planning and delivering any
trainer training programme. For
example, finding out how trainers-in-
training are selected is vital, especially
if, as one trainer-in-training commented
to us after a course, the selection is less
than systematic. Or, as she put it: ‘If you
really want to know how we were selected
… the answer is simple: the Holy Spirit
came down from heaven on our heads in
the form of a letter at the end of April.’
And it’s not just questions about the
trainers. When we are dealing with
trainer training, we will want to ask
questions aimed at three levels of
impact: teacher trainers, teachers and
learners. If you don’t ask the right
questions at the crucial preparation
stages, then the chances are that you’ll
have a surprise, even a shock. But what
exactly are the right questions?
46 • Issue 62 May 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
A trainer training scenario questions, and compared them to a list
! This is a ‘right questions’ exercise
that you might try individually
with your trainer training group, or
we had already produced. On page 47
you will see a compilation of our own
questions and those suggested by the
participants.
with colleagues in the staffroom:

You have been asked to run a four-
week trainer training course in July
Obviously, some of these questions will
differ, according to the target groups at
2009 for a group of teachers. The only
all levels. Still, we feel that it’s a good
information you have at present from
‘template list’ for anyone involved in
the sponsors, a regional education
trainer training, either as an
authority, is that:
independent trainer trainer, or as a
‘We plan to begin an early-start trainer trainer in an organisation.
programme for teaching English to Contacting sponsors and organisers
young learners in September 2010. and pro-actively checking your
We would therefore like you to design assumptions will help you to plan your
a four-week trainer training course to
course effectively. And it just might help
help our 12 trainers begin work in
you to avoid that first day shock!
September 2009 to run courses for
If you feel we have missed any
teachers to help them to teach young
questions and would like to add them to
learners. The trainers will be expected
our list, please contact us at the email
to use English almost exclusively in
address below. ETp
their training sessions.’
To help you plan your course, what
questions would you like to ask the
education authority about:
a) the early-start programme it is
planning for young learners?
b) the teachers who will attend teacher
training courses from September
2009?
Sue Leather and Simon Smith are ELT trainers
c) the trainers who will attend the
and educational consultants. They have
trainer training course, and the worked in over 30 countries for the British
training programme which they will Council and other organisations. They work
with teacher trainers and teachers on
run from September? training, curriculum and capacity building
projects all over the world. One of their
current projects is consulting on a large
We asked a group of participants in regional project in Central and South Asia for
the British Council.
our presentation at IATEFL 2008 to do
this task. They came up with their own sue@sueleatherassociates.com
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
a) Questions about the early-start programme
1 What are the objectives of the early-start programme?
2 How old are the learners?
3 Is there a primary EFL syllabus?
4 Will it be a programme within which the young learners
(YLs) will be expected to read or write in English to any
great extent in the first two years of learning?
5 Is there any documentation you could send us about
questions 1–4?
6 Does the programme recommend or assume a particular
c) Questions about the trainers and the training
methodology for working with YLs?
7 Is the early-start programme a pilot, or is it fixed? Are
there plans to evaluate it?
8 Will the programme be implemented in the state sector,
the private sector or both?
9 Is it decided which year/age group the delivery of primary
EFL will start from?
10 Are there plans in place to effect a smooth transition from
primary to secondary for the teaching and learning of
English?
11 Will there be separate ‘English lessons’, or ‘sensitisation’
or ‘CLIL’ (Content and Language Integrated Learning), or
a flexible combination of these?
12 Is it envisaged that the teachers will use a coursebook?
If so, have any decisions about this been taken?
13 How many hours per week of teaching are planned to
focus on/include English? Will this figure stay the same
for each year-group?
14 What parameters are envisaged for class size? Will there
be a maximum?
15 Will other second/foreign languages be taught in parallel
or subsequently?
b) Questions about the teachers who will teach
young learners from September 2010
1 How many teachers will need to be trained?
2 Will the teachers to be trained/re-trained to provide the
English language classes in the early-start programme be:
● ‘early years’ specialists without previous EFL training?
● primary teachers with some existing EFL training?
● secondary EFL teachers with EFL training proposing to
transfer to primary?
● some combination of these?
3 Will the teachers be given some official certification as
well as the training?
4 What level of English will the teachers be expected to
have if they are to be asked to teach English at primary
level? Will they have to be of a defined level, have a
national or international certificate, or have passed a
specific course?
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 62 May 2009 •
5 Will the teachers be volunteers or will they be
selected/appointed?
6 Will the new teachers be specialists serving the needs of
a whole school community for English classes, or will the
ability to teach in English be a characteristic of all future
primary teachers?
7 Will there be additional funding to resource the teaching
of English in primary schools?
8 Will the teachers get additional pay for teaching English?
they will run
1 What will the trainers’ present background be? Will they
all be experienced trainers? Will they be familiar with the
special issues involved in teaching young learners?
2 What will the language level(s) of the trainers be?
3 Do the trainers know each other?
4 Do the trainers know that they are expected to run their
training almost exclusively in English?
5 How have the trainers been chosen for their new roles?
6 Will they be full-time trainers or will they have other
continuing roles as teachers?
7 How many of the trainers will have had specific primary
language teaching experience?
8 Is there a programme or syllabus in place for the teacher
training courses that they will start in September?
9 Are there materials in place for these teacher training
courses?
10 Will trainers have additional roles apart from those of
implementer of a training course? For example:
● Will they be required to design the training courses?
● Will they be expected to evaluate the training courses
they run?
● Will they have any pre- or post-course administrative
duties?
● Will they be expected to assess whether the teachers
they train have the necessary skills/attitudes/knowledge
for working with young learners?
11 Will their training duties include lesson observation and
school visits?
12 How will the provision of training be organised – will they
have to do blocks of training, train teachers who are on
‘day release’, provide distance training, do weekend
courses, or some combination of these?
13 Will the trainers be working mainly as individuals or in
small teams when they start their work? What institutions
will they work with?
14 Do support networks and resources exist to provide
longer-term resourcing and follow-up support for the
trainers once they have started their work?
47