Teacher Training

Regional Elta Seminar in Kolubara District ˝Motivation Makes The Class Go Round˝

Lingva Language School – Valjevo, 15 April 2006

by Mirjana Ljiljak-Vukajlovic

The aim of the first regional ELTA seminar in the District of Kolubara was to present different types of resources that ELT teachers can easily integrate with any topic, skill or grammar & vocabulary segment(s) of the set syllabus. Diversity of resources from the Internet, comics, songs, poems and quizzes, which boosts the motivation of students for active participation and leads to a remarkable achievement of planned outcomes were presented to the participants. They were also shown and trained how to use Hot Potatoes authoring programs for creating interactive cross-curricular quizzes or grammar and vocabulary exercises.

The seminar was attended by 20 participants, as planned. There were 15 teachers from both private and state primary and secodary schools from Valjevo, and one teacher from each of the following places: Lajkovac, Ub, Osečina, Pecka, Brankovina and Stave. Most of them hold a degree in English Language and Literature (16), two are graduate French teachers and two are undergraduates (Spanish Language & Literature and General Literature & Theory of Literature).

Activities

The seminar consisted of two parts:

PART 1: FOR TEACHERS FROM TEACHERS (two 60 minute sessions)

Integrated Internet in ELT (presented by Mirjana Ljiljak-Vukajlović)

Web Dictionaries/Encyclopaedias
Creating Interactive Quizes

PART 2: ELT PRESENTATION DEBUTS (four 30 minute sessions)

3. Comics in the Classroom (presented by Irena Brkljač)
4. Using Songs in the Classroom (presented by Anita Novosel)
5. Poetry on the Spot (presented by Danijela Bojanić)
6. Competitive Activities in ELT Classroom (presented by Božidar Nikić)

Participants were provided with a large number of ready-made materials (44 pages of handouts per person) that they will be able to use immediately in their primary or secondary classrooms. They will also
receive a Certificate accredited by the Ministry of Education for the first part of the seminar.

Evaluation

The seminar was evaluated on a five point scale (excellent, very good, good, bad, very bad). Its content was rated as excellent by 14 participants (70%), very good by 5 (25%). and good by 1 participant (5%). 15 participants (75%) thought that the seminar organisation was excellent and 5 (25%) that it was very good. Presenters’ performance was marked as excellent by 16 participants (80%), and very good by 4 (20%).

In the specific comments, most teachers expressed their satisfaction with the opportunity to attend the seminar. Here are some of the most typical remarks:

‘Everything was very useful, funny and gave me a lot of good ideas.’
‘The presenters were quite open and willing to act on the spot.’
‘It was very interesting, especially those competitive activities.’
‘I wish we could make them regular, frequent and as good as this one.’
‘Highly informative and refreshing. It is what I suppose all ELT need. It gives us a proof that we are already doing well and caters for additional ideas and solutions.’
The participants also remarked that some sessions were too short for the content to be fully grasped, and suggested that they should last longer. Other suggestions included an e-mail exchange of ideas and organising additional workshops based on the use of music, CALL, Quizzes, as well as grammar activities.

Conclusion

It can be stated that the above stated aims were fully met, ie. the participants were presented and instructed how to integrate a variety of attractive resources and techniques with their regular syllabus in order to increase students’ motivation and improve class effectiveness. The participants were also given plenty of ready-made lesson plans and useful Internet links for their own research.

Recommendations

Since the four 30-minute sessions of the ‘Motivation Makes the Class Go Round’ seminar, dedicated to using comisc, songs, poetry and competitive activities, have been prepared, rehearsed and presented in a highly professional way, which was confirmed by excellent evaluation results, they should be considered for inclusion in one of the current programmes accredited by ELTA, BC and/or Ministry of Education and Sports, and thus given the opportunity to be presented to a larger audience of English language teachers.

Student Tools

English For Special Purposes

Teacher Tools

General