In this third of three articles related to teacher training in the realm of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), we will look at the “nuts-and-bolts” of the IMPACT program and “look under the hood” at what makes this program “tick” (forgive me for mixing my metaphors!).
The IMPACT Teacher Training Program is a proven approach and methodology for raising the quality of English language instruction via raising the quality of teacher instruction. All of this comes from raising the quality of teacher training. The IMPACT Teacher Training Program contains the following session topics listed below:
1.Overview of Communicative Competence, Methods, and Cultural Influences
2.Roles of Teachers and Learners
3.Lesson Planning: Receptive Skill Lesson Plans and Presentation, Practice, and Production Plans
4.Teaching Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking
5.Teaching Grammar, Pronunciation, Functions, and Vocabulary
6.Giving Feedback: Error Correction
7.Testing and Evaluation
8.Task-Based Learning
9.Teacher Development and Appraisal
10. Managing a Class
11. Educational Technology: Using Computers and Videos/DVD
IMPACT is also built upon adult learning principles. Below are principles that were included in each lecture:
Concrete: objectives for each session are clearly stated.
Experience-based: trainees are drawn out to interact with the material and share from their own experience as it relates to effective teaching.
Participatory: trainees instead of simply listening to lectures gain insight through discovery tasks, kinesthetic learning, and problem solving.
Reality-based: authentic texts and situations are used
Many resources were used to develop the IMPACT curriculum. Much of the material was adapted from topics from the Trinity College of London’s CerTESOL course. Furthermore, the following books were also consulted during the training: Harmer, Jeremy, 2001. The Practice of English Language Teaching: Pearson Education Limited: Essex, England. Ur, Penny. “A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory.” Cambridge University Press; England, 1991. Vella, Jane. Learning to Listen Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2002.
The IMPACT Teacher Training Program encountered numerous problems over the years. The greatest of these was funding. At the end of the second year, the company who had financed the program had financial difficulties and informed the IMPACT coordinator that there would be no money to complete the program. Thankfully, IMPACT received another grant. It was also decided that trainees would be charged for materials: photocopies and printing of books. Unfortunately, the grant was able to only pay for training in 8 out of the 10 regions of Zhambul.
The logistical problems of doing trainings in eight villages at one time were many: requests to release teachers, transportation needs, hotel and food, coordinating with oblast and regional education departments, materials, lunches and tea breaks, etc. Even with excellent planning by the administrator, Zina, problems arouse. Sometimes trainees were not given the information. The IMPACT trainers working along with the regional educational department would attempt to locate the missing trainees. Sometimes, trips had to be made to further villages in order to find these teachers. Lack of electricity also posed a problem. Batteries were sent along in order to overcome this. The flexibility and patience of the trainers is to be commended, for it was these two qualities that helped all overcome and made the training so successful.
The trainers of IMPACT desire to take this training to other oblasts, regions within an oblast, and to the world via the internet. If you are interested in knowing more about IMPACT, please contact the Red Rock English Language Center.
Online English Teacher Training - Part Three of Three
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