Getting Focus

So I’ve defined my project – an English course for teachers – except the instructor will only use and highlight the best teaching practices. The teachers will see what a difference these teaching methods take and will want to go back to the classroom right away and try them out for themselves. Well, it may not be that easy, but I’m including elements that will make the teachers take the classes seriously

I always underestimate the amount of time it will take for me to get things done. I was really hoping that by now I would have at least identified who would be helping me with the teacher assessments. I’ve been eyeing two organizations. One, I can’t find the contact information for � and the person who may have it has yet to respond to my email. I’ve been talking to a few people in the other organization. Initially we were trying to figure out who the right person for me to talk to is. We figured that out. But unfortunately, this person has been in and out of the office lately. So, I guess this goal spills over into next week.

In other project-related stuff, I’ve started working on job descriptions for a few of the positions I need to fill. I thought Jhunjhunu would be a viable option for English instructors. I went to a spoken English class, though, and was really shocked by the quality of these schools. The instructors themselves are not fluent in English. I wonder if any of my language teachers were not fluent in the language I was teaching and I was not aware of it. Anyway, the head of one of the schools acknowledged that people do not complete the course knowing much English. BUT he blamed it entirely on the students – they only want to speak Marwari or they don’t come to class daily. Anyway, finding English instructors of the quality for which I am looking is going to be harder than I thought.

Also, Lakshmi found a book that we had lying around the house that is supposed to be a training manual for English teachers. It is not exactly what I am doing, but it has given me a great place to start. I have a better idea of content I want to include in the training as well as how I can incorporate best teaching practices into the English course! So now, rather than feeling like a deer in headlights, I have a better idea of how I need to approach this. Good find, Lux!