After months of suspension amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Stepping Stones is very excited about resuming its Videolink Teacher Training program, providing training to a new cohort of 20 English teachers from Xin Gan County, Jiangxi Province.
Launched in 2016, this program aims to improve the quality of English education in rural schools and increase English teachers’ confidence to use English in class, as well as improve their teaching methodology for English practice activities.
The majority of our 20 new trainees are working as primary school teachers, from Grades 3-6. They range in experience, from teachers who are in their first year, up to 7 years teaching. According to our professional trainer, Carrie, they’re an enthusiastic and participative group. Carrie said:
We’ve met once so far for a Zoom class, and we discussed ways to use more English in their classrooms. Examples include greeting students, giving instructions, giving praise and error correction. The trainees are all very keen to get guidance and appreciate any ideas to improve their techniques and to try them out in their classrooms.
The program includes eight training sessions, and after each session, trainees will send a short video of themselves using the techniques discussed in the session. Our trainers will then give feedback and ask questions so trainees can all help each other and learn from each other.
Future training sessions will include: help with lesson planning, improving students’ fluency/reading/writing, as well as ideas to teach grammar in a more interactive way. In addition, we will discuss how to use games and songs in their classrooms to increase engagement and student excitement while learning English.
With the help of this program, we hope to inspire and excite our trainees to expand their teaching and create more opportunities for their students to learn, practice and improve their English.