Educating young learners

SLELTA - 7th International Conference:

K S Sivakumaran

Most teachers of English Language and English Literature all over the country might have been associating with SLELTA ( Sri Lanka English Language Teachers’ Association) as evidenced by their presence at the three-day international conference held at the SLF (Sri Lanka Foundation) recently (Sept 7-9, 2012).

These men and women, women outnumbering the men, young and old, filled the main hall with their presence at the opening ceremony and later found themselves in four smaller halls for the presentations delivered by academics, both local and international. Those present included fulltime primary, secondary and tertiary teachers and a few freelancers like this columnist.

This year’s Conference theme was ‘Changing Paradigms in English Language Teaching’ which is relevant in our country too because the student population now in Lanka, like in most parts of the world, are changing their mode of study. Likewise the conventional method of imparting knowledge has to inevitably change.

It is useful to know what main topics were intended to cover at this tightly scheduled programme. To spell out-

- Assessment, Pedagogy and Innovation in Learning and Teaching
- English Teaching and Learning in Post-Conflict Times
- Engaging the young Learner

* Language, Culture and Identity
* English and Discredit Language Communication
* Call and its challenges
* Literature in the Language classes
* Negotiating (English) varieties in the classroom
* English Language Teaching and Learning in the Universities
* English for Special Literature

The SLELTA Executive Committee consists many university teachers in the caliber of Dilini Walisundara, Shyamani Hettiarachchi, Mirelelle Jayawardene, Vishara Perera, Anton Pushparj, Jennifer Gunasekera, Prof.Siromi Fernando, Dr Saravanapawa Iyer, Wimansha Abeywickrema, Sumedha Jayaweera, Christine Jayasinghe and Lakshani Godade.

It must be recalled that the SLELTA’s Founding Chair is Professor Thiru Kandiah while Prof Ryhana Raheem, Prof.Mamique Gunasekea, Dr Henamala Ratwatte and Prof Arjuna Parakrama have also been at the helm. They are all leading and renowned linguists and academics in the field of teaching English.

At this Conference three leading international scholars participated: David Nunan with many coveted credentials, George Pickering, Michael J Baynham.

While Prof David Nunan pointedly explained educating young learners for the 21st century, and highlighted that ‘Literacy is fundamental’, among many useful statistics and suggestions, Prof George Pickering with his characteristic British humour ‘eduentetained’ (meaning education and entertainment) the teachers on the topic of ‘Changing Ourselves in Changing Times.’

He touched on the Changing Role of the Teacher, New Teaching Methodologies, Educational Reforms, New Learning Technologies, International Englishes, and Globalization. Prof Michael J Baynham explained his topic lucidly. His subject was ‘Identity Work: Narrative as a Means of Researching Language Teacher and Learner Identity’

Besides these highly qualified professionals and teaching there was another Business professional from Lanka. Indika de Zoysa addressed his subject – Transforming Education: Global Trends and Learning. Dian Gomes was also a Featured Speaker at the Conference.

In this short article, we could cover mentioning only the Presentations made. But they were interesting subjects and cramped in lot of facts and analysis. Some of the topics are:

Monsoons and Potholes: A Self-Family-Nation Analogy (Riophilla Alfred), Exploring Short-Stories for Language teaching (Yusar Anwar), Strategies to Retain Pearls Picked from the Literary Ocean (Sanjay Arora), Creating Stories: A Tool for Spontaneous Language Use (Ayesha Uzma Aslam), Supporting Women in ESL Curriculum ( Jake Barber and M A M Sameem) The Impact of Instruction on Rhetorical Structure in Summary Writing Performance of ESL Students ( Imali Bogamuwa), A Study of English Writing Difficulties of Undergraduates with Low Proficiency Levels of English (P L Muditha Cooray), Language Games: Techniques for Engaging Young Learners to Developing Skills (Dolon Champa Das), Revisiting The Waste Land and Associating it with the Post-Conflict Situation in Jaffna ( Canistaarthie Denicius), Exchanging the English knowledge of the academic and Non-Academic Staff of the University of Colombo Using the Neuro-Linguistic Approach in Teaching (Savitri Dias), Integrating Computer-Assisted Language Learning in Undergraduate ESL Courses in Sri Lanka ( Sumadu Embogama), Engaging the Young Learner (Nimnaaz Fouzik), Aiyo teacher, course book very boring( Cathy Glover and Norma Swyngedaaw), Teaching Business English in the University: Learner Motivation to Proficiency Level ( W G J P Lakshani Godage), Documenting the Trajectory of Phoneme and Phonology Development in English-Speaking Children in Sri Lanka ( Manique Gunasekera, Shyamani Hettiarachchi and Cori Williams), Literature in the Language Classroom (Janakie Gunathilaka)

Next week let us continue with some notes on the SLELTA Conference concluded last Sunday.

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