ELC spearheads 4th ELTPD Workshop

Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Hamdan Al Balushi, Dhahira Municipal Council Member and Head of the Social Services Committee with Ms. Ghada Al Sarhan, Head of the General Foundation Program Committees- Ministry of Manpower and Mr. Younus Mohammed Saif Al Zaabi, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs-Ibri College of Technology, graced the said event.

Dr. Mohammed Sloum Al-Ghafri, Head of the English Department at Ibri College of Applied Sciences, delivered the keynote address and focused on “Beyond the Classroom and Within the Learners.” He said that the context-specific social acts in the classroom affect the outcomes of learning. Therefore, the teachers must be aware of the students’ culture and their learning styles when they plan their lesson.  Through this, the inputs will give teachers a better understanding of what they expect from the students, and how they can customize their teaching accordingly.

Lecturers from different universities and colleges shared their expertise through poster presentations, teaching tips, paper presentations and workshops.

Prior to the first concurrent sessions, two posters were presented from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Mr. Meethiyan Kunju and Mr. Mohammed Ali Thottoly, both part of ELC Research Committee of  Ibra College with more than 20 years of English language teaching experience presented “English for Empowerment”. They demonstrated the modest efforts of the ELC Research Committee in preparing a reader for the foundation students such as visual exhibits, invaluable books and videos, and short-stories written by Omani students.  Moreover, Ms. Rahma Al Alawi who holds an MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Newcastle, CELTA and Teaching Knowledge Test certificate certificates also explored the priorities in EFL writing skills. She believes that educators must find effective techniques in the teaching of writing since it has been identified as one of the most essential skills as the world becomes increasingly text-oriented. Therefore, the pyramid of writing that focuses on three types such as provisional writing, readable writing and polish writing is a typical strategy to overcome this challenge.

During the first concurrent sessions from 10:30 a.m. to 11:10 a.m, there were six workshops, two paper presentations and two teaching tips conducted and they are as follows:

Mr. Hilal Al Busaidi has been teaching English language for more than seven years. He has participated in many conferences and workshops locally and globally. Recently, he presented a paper at Higher College of Technology in Muscat and TESOL Arabia in Dubai. Mr. Al Busaidi explained that “video telling” is an effective technique to grab audience attention and deliver the message perfectly by maximizing the communicative elements of storytelling. The presenter discussed how teachers can use videos and short clips in teaching different lexis or language focus.

Mrs. Heba Qureshi has been engaged in English language teaching for 13 years. She is also the former head of QA-IbriCT. Since her areas of interest are to bring innovative methods into teaching and to deal with classroom challenges, she  shared her experiences in a challenging class and different methods that she used to overcome those challenges successfully. The workshop entitled “Managing Challenging Classroom Behavior” consisted of activities based on the challenging classroom situations. The participants proposed probable solutions at the end of the workshop.

Mr. Muhammad Amir Abbas is a PhD scholar in linguistics and currently teaching English at Ibri College of Technology. He has 27 years of teaching experience in English language, literature and linguistics. Mr. Abbas presented papers in various international conferences that were published on ELT discourse analysis, lexicography and electronic communication. His workshop entitled “Using Real Life Authentic Material in ELT” demonstrated how newspapers can be used as authentic teaching materials to teach reading, writing, speaking and grammar in ELT classes.

To signify that a picture is worth a thousand words, another interactive workshop on “Enhancing Vocabulary Retention through Pictures and Videos” proved that it can also be a valuable tool in teaching nowadays. The session demonstrated how teachers can use pictures and videos through varying stages of a lesson, to encourage, engage and educate students, in increasing their vocabulary and retention. Ms. Sharon Ruth Devaneson and Mr. Prabin Yesudhasan were the presenters of this workshop. Ms. Devaneson has been teaching English for the past 12 years and has acquired most of her tertiary experience in Oman. She has a master’s degree in English Language and Literature the University of Madras in Chennai, India. She also has a certificate in CELTA from the British Council, Oman. Mr. Yesudhasan, on the other hand, has been teaching English for 10 years. He has completed his master’s degree in English as well as in Philosophy in the field of English Literature respectively. He has published a book titled, “Biblical Symbols in Samuel Beckett’s play, Waiting for Godot”.

Ms. Fazilat Jahan is an ESL instructor at Ibri College of Technology. Her interests include technology in ESL classrooms and EAP. She enjoys teaching every skill but she is at her happiest when teaching listening and speaking. Her workshop entitled “The Right Questions at The Right Time” composed of two parts. The first part of the session discussed the common mistakes committed by teachers while asking whether their students understood what they taught and whether they understood the instructions their teachers gave for the task or not. The second part focused on creating effective concept checking questions (CCQs) and instruction checking questions (ICQs).

Mr. Joseph Vadakel  and Mr. Jose Chandapillai demonstrated “Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning in a Reading Lesson.” Both of them have been teaching English language for more than 20 years. They started their career in teaching ESL to students at tertiary level and later moved to teaching EFL after obtaining CELTA. At present, Mr. Vadakel is teaching Post Foundation Courses while Mr. Chandapillai is teaching Foundation Courses at IbriCT. The presenters demonstrated how to apply Bloom’s Taxonomy in a classroom context. With the help of a reading passage, the presenters explained how Bloom’s Taxonomy can be successfully implemented in teaching a reading lesson. They guided the participants to recognize challenging and engaging questions that will foster critical thinking.

Ms. Zahra Zohair Arab and Ms. Shaheena Zohair shared some teaching tips about the use of WhatsApp as a student-friendly approach. Ms. Zahra did her master’s in English Language and Literature and has a CELTA certificate while Ms. Shaheena has worked in the field of education for more than 32 years. She is also a motivational speaker. She has a master’s degree in English, Economics and PG diploma in English language teaching. They proposed to use WhatsApp in teaching to develop reading, writing, speaking and listening skills of the students.

Ms. Desiraja Nagaraja Kumari  has been in the field of ELT for 20 years. She worked in India for some time and later moved to Oman and worked in the Ministry of Education for four years. Currently, she is working as an EFL instructor at  Ibri College of Technology. She presented some warm up activities and icebreakers in teaching English to introduce a topic, to warm up and to have fun as part of motivating students.

The second concurrent sessions from 11:15 a.m. to 11:55 a.m. comprised of four workshops, three paper presentations and three teaching tips.

Mr. Kodhandaraman Chinnathambi is an EFL lecturer at Ibra College of Technology, editor of Oman Journal of ELT and the chairperson for the Website and Publications Committee. He is also a member of QA and Research and Consultancy committee. He has published his research papers in national and international journals. His workshop on “Employing Critical Pedagogy principles in Reading Skills” aims to help teachers to prepare a culturally suitable reading material, write description of the skill related tasks and design skill related tasks. This workshop also explored the importance of critical pedagogy (CP) and how it can be applied to ELT reading materials.

Ms. P. Bhuvaneswari has worked in India with 12 years of teaching experience in arts and science and technology colleges. She has been working in Al Buraimi Vocational College for about six years. According to her, learner autonomy means helping the students to learn by themselves, to take it upon themselves to develop their understanding without relying on the teacher. In her workshop entitled “Encouraging Learner Autonomy”, she stated that it is high time for the teachers to adapt different strategies in reaching students rather than teaching them.

Mrs. Keerti Shibu is an English instructor at Ibri Vocational Training College with master’s degree in English. She worked as an assistant professor in a technical college in India for eight years. Her primary areas of teaching were training students in communication skills for campus placements, and conducting personality development classes. Her workshop on “Participatory Teaching Methods” pointed out that participatory teaching actively involves and motivates learners by drawing their attention to solving problems they usually face in their classes. It also helped the teachers to know more about numerous ice breaking activities which can be implemented effectively in their classes.

“The Principle of Proximity and Teaching Reading” was delivered by three lecturers who are currently teaching at Ibra College of Technology. Dr. Elamparithy Selvarasu has been teaching English, linguistics, grammar and critical theories for the last ten years and has published and presented a number of research papers and in various national and international conferences. Mr. Mohemmed Fazil Biyabani is a highly experienced English teacher who worked in various countries before coming to Oman and a passionate researcher who devotes much of his time to enhancing teaching-learning process. Mr. Ayyaz Ahmed is a highly experienced teacher and very keen on coming up with innovative ideas to tackle classroom problems. The presenters introduced the principle of proximity with its theoretical underpinnings and explained how it helped professionals from different fields. Second, they demonstrated how the educationally sound theories like critical pedagogy are in tune with the hypothesis in hand. Next, they used a sample text from one of the textbooks used in CoTs and contrasted with the text that was prepared using the proximity principle. After that, the presenters discussed the feedback of students with regard to its relevance and appeal. Finally, they discussed the challenges after reinforcing the importance of a pedagogy that not only aims at skill-development but also empowers the students economically, socially and professionally.

Ms. Alla Hughes shared some teaching tips on the use of video lessons from Pathways 1. She integrated Pathways 1 video lessons with the development of the basic language skills. Ms. Hughes has worked as an English teacher for more than 20 years, 10 of which has been in Oman. She used to be part of ELC IbriCT but now she is currently teaching at Muscat Higher College of Technology.

With regard to teaching tips, Dr. Arturo G. Palaming tackled “Interactive and Innovative Teaching Strategies to Enhance Students’ Engagement. Aside from that, he presented “Student’s Learning Strategies and Styles: A Proposed Instructional Plan” that focused on the relationship between the learning styles, and language learning strategies of the students. He also established the significance of proficiency, learning styles, and strategies. An instructional design was also presented to improve the language learning styles and strategies of students. Dr. Palaming is a graduate of BSE, major in English. He finished his MA in Teaching (1991), MA in TESOL/TEFL (1996) and Doctorate Degree in Applied Linguistics (2004, USA). He is an assistant professor of GRU in the Department of English.

Ms. Taiba Hamed Salim Al-Waili works as a lecturer in the English Language Department at Ibri College of Applied Sciences. She received her BA degree in English Education from Sultan Qaboos University and her MA degree in Translation Studies from the same university. Before joining the Ministry of Higher Education, Ms. Al Waili worked in the Ministry of Education as a teacher. Her presentation on “Implementation of Opposite Approaches in Teaching Writing” focused on the value of incorporating the top-down and the bottom-up approaches in teaching writing. The presentation explained the difference between the two approaches in theory and practice. It then specified how these two approaches can be implemented in the process of teaching writing effectively.

Mr. Mahmood Al Hosni, graduated with a master’s degree in "Multilingual Education" from New Jersey, USA in 2014 and Deputy Director for ESL at Modern College of Business and Science. His main interests in education revolve around the use of technology to promote independent learning, use of authentic assessments and CALL applications in general. His workshop on “Creating a Shareable Online Folder to Foster Learner Autonomy” aims to achieve learner’s autonomy in today's FL classrooms through the use of available technology to create a relevant, contemporary, and shareable set of resources that motivates students can access on their own.  The use of LiveBinders website was encouraged in this workshop to enable teachers to create online folders around the students' needs that range from providing online remedial content, reference materials for students, course portfolios, and self-access center resources.

Mr. Mohammed G. Hadra is currently a lecturer at the Math & IT department of the Centre for Preparatory Studies (CPS) at Sultan Qaboos University. His presentation on the “Use of Computer Assisted Qualitative Analysis for Optimizing Curriculum Design” explored the software that is now successfully used for the qualitative analysis of information gathered in a nonnumeric form. Using the example of the meaningful and symbolic content analysis of the qualitative data of the Foundation Program English Language Curriculum Document developed at Sultan Qaboos University, the characteristics, processes and procedures of QDA software were examined ranging from the qualitative data that have been collected into some form of explanation, understanding or interpretation of the document. The presentation concluded with observations and recommendations on the ability of the software considered to address successful curriculum and syllabus design that involves principles and standards of general education.

Dr. Selwyn Cruz and Mr. Nasser Sulaiman Al Shabibi, both currently teaching at Ibra College of Technology, presented “The L2 self-existence: A case of ELT in Ibra.” Dr. Cruz has a PhD in Applied Linguistics and his research interests are psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and discourse analysis while Mr. Al Shabibi has an MA in TESOL from University of Malaya and his research interest is on second language acquisition. Their paper adapted Dornyei’s (2005) concept of L2 self as a self-motivation technique for English language learners at Ibra College of Technology (ICT). Using qualitative and quantitative analysis, it was found that L2 self, i.e. ideal and ought to self, are motivational instruments for the participants. His presentation centered on the results of a study conducted during the second semester of AY 2017-2018 to determine the existence of L2 self among the students of ICT.

During the final concurrent sessions, two workshops, four paper presentations and two teaching tips were conducted and they are as follows:

Dr. Sean Quinn presented a workshop about “Infusing Higher-Order Thinking Skills” (HOTS) in ESL curricula. He has ten years of teaching experience in various countries such as Korea, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Afghanistan and Oman where he taught technical, vocational and general English students, and tutored students for IELTS. Dr. Quinn has also presented and published his papers in various conferences. In his workshop, he presented a framework for the HOTS infusion process to highlight how to use a top-down approach to identify areas of curricula-lessons that would prove beneficial if HOTS is included. The session concluded with participants’ discussion of additional teaching-curriculum design techniques they have used to implement HOTS.
Ms. Azadeh Adibi has six years of experience of teaching English in Iran and Oman  and holds MA and BA degrees in English Language Teaching. Her presentation focused on teaching tips entitled “Teaching Writing in a Flipped Classroom: Results, Challenges and Suggestions.” She mentioned that Flipped Classroom is a pedagogical approach in which the students watch and listen to the lectures for homework, and then the precious class-time is used for practicing and tackling problems and answering questions. She further presented an action research conducted in a writing course at the University of Nizwa, the students received the presentation stage of the essay-writing lesson through Moodle before the class and the class time was dedicated to answering questions and practicing writing. Although the results were satisfying and the learners made a great stride in learning the structure of five paragraph essays, the teacher encountered some problems regarding the implementation of a flipped classroom. The challenges consisted of learners not doing their part at home and material preparation takes a great amount of the teacher’s time.

To enhance students’ motivation, Mr. Surya Narayana said that conducting team building for EFL classes can become essential for students who do not speak English as their native language. In an English speaking class, some students feel like outsiders. So, team-building activities like games can create a sense of belongingness in the classroom. These games that focused on LRSW skills were presented without talking to teach grammar concepts enable students to participate actively. The presenter has been teaching professional and management students for the past 20 years. He worked as a lecturer in Ethiopia in a university. He is currently working as an instructor in Al Buraimi Vocational College in Sultanate of Oman.
Ms. Hranush Ginosyan has been teaching English at the Center for Preparatory Studies, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman since 2009. Currently, she is the course leader for an exit-level foundation program course for science students. Her research interests include students’ transitional challenges, teaching collocations and e-learning. She has published in a number of educational journals and presented at international ELT conferences. Her presentation explored the possibility of engaging students in a video project related to campus activities to keep them engaged and help them attain the course-specific speaking learning outcomes. Through student-generated videos, the presenter showed how a video project in a listening/speaking course can be a richer experience for students, especially for new entrants who need to overcome a wide range of psychological and academic challenges.

Dr. Priya Mankara Vijayan, who has a doctorate degree in English Language and Literature and Ms. Anuradha Dorepally, who has a master's degree in English language and Literature currently pursuing PhD in Translation Studies. Both of them are currently teaching at Ibri College of Technology and hold a post graduate certificate and a diploma in teaching English from the English and Foreign Languages University, India. Their paper presentation on “The Role of Emotional Intelligence to Enhance English Language Teaching” focused on the use of approaches of emotional intelligence by EFL teachers to motivate themselves and learners. The approaches stressed on EFL teachers handling their emotions and emphasized how to facilitate the learners of English to overcome their inhibitions, to become confident and competent English language users. The presentation also shed light on the necessity for group dynamics and student interaction in the language classrooms.

Mr. Faisal Ibrahim Al Shamali, coordinator of IbriCT Professional Development Committee, headed this year’s  ELT Professional Development Workshop Organizing Committee.

Ms. Amal Ashour, ELC lecturer, concluded the event by wrapping up the whole sessions. A video of the day’s event was also displayed and gifts were distributed among the keynote speakers and presenters. The participants also received their certificates of participation.