English Mindset! – Teacher Training

During the first quarter of 2020, Joshua was invited by the initiative of the Russian Parliament member to conduct teacher training seminars and workshops in Dagestan, located in southern Russia. The following state secondary schools and gymnasiums (specialised schools)  (including many others) participated:

  • Aknadinskaya secondary school
  • Gadarinskaya secondary school
  • Zubutli-Miatlinskaya secondary school
  • Kirovaulskaya secondary school
  • Kulzebskaya secondary school
  • Nechaevskaya secondary school â„– 1
  • Stalskaya secondary school â„– 2
  • Stalskaya secondary school â„– 3
  • Stalskaya Gymnasium
  • Komsomolskaya secondary school
  • Sultanyangiyurt secondary school named after Yusup Akayev

In particular, the focus areas were – Kizilyurt, Makhachala, Kaspiysk and Derbent. The workshop was titled “English Mindset” which was designed to provide cognitive reasoning and methodological approach to English Language, based on UK school curriculum and framework. Joshua designed the workshop in an interactive manner, whereby teachers were divided in groups and asked to conduct exercises based on reading, writing, listening and speaking, with the primary emphasis being on developing the reading skill. 

  1. “Spoon-feeding” system and not encouraging learning
  2. Teaching “Rules” as opposed to overall meaning and structure
  3. Low student / teacher motivation
  4. Not teaching skills / but completing “books”
  5. Focusing on result rather than process
  6. Not encouraging active learning
  7. Not questioning “why” for everything
  8. Begging the student / no discipline 

During the 3-day workshop, the following aspects where covered:

Additionally, a key element was understanding the education culture, which was discussed using 8 topics

  1. Introduction / Reading / Writing
  2. Grammar / Punctuation
  3. Listening / Speaking

Every day, a question & answer session was held, to ensure full gasp and comprehension of learnt topics.