Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education

Language for Literacy: Teaching English in India Today

Archived

Date and time: March 2, 2020 10:00AM - March 6, 2020 5:00PM

Venue: Educational Resource Centre (ERC), CEIAR, MNLU Building (1st Floor), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Naoroji Campus), V. N. Purav Marg, Deonar, Mumbai-400088

Workshop

Language for Literacy: Teaching English in India Today

Workshop Dates: 2nd to 6th March 2020

Last date for applying: 15th December 2019

About the workshop:

The Humanities and Social Sciences Group at the Centre for Education, Innovation and Action Research (CEIAR) invites participation from student-teachers of B.Ed. programs for a 5-day workshop on ‘Language for Literacy: Teaching English in India Today’.

What does literacy mean in today’s world? How can the language classroom be a space for building literacy?

Practices in teaching and learning languages are witnessing rapid changes today as an expanded understanding of literacy moves alongside studies in (second) language acquisition and learning. From direct, immersion and audio-lingual to postmethod approaches, the field of language studies is now drawing on diverse disciplines like ELT, sociology, philosophy, cultural studies and art to inform teaching-learning practises in the classroom. Our classrooms are also becoming increasingly multilingual and diverse in languages and competences of students. At the same time, we cannot discount the importance of English, as a lingua franca and an international language of commerce, culture and media, in our everyday lives. 

It is necessary, under these circumstances, to adopt and adapt authentic, learner-centric, constructivist practices in classrooms to empower learners, and make them creative, critical thinkers and communicators. It is also necessary to adapt classroom practices to address the changing nature and demands of Indian learners of English. 

Themes and Concepts:

This workshop re-envisions English language teaching in India today and will introduce participants to contemporary practices in language learning. Drawing on inter/national research on literacy and language education, the workshop will have discussions and hands-on sessions on a range of topics related to the teaching and learning of (English) language in the Indian classroom. The topics covered will include 

• Perspectives on Literacy: The New Literacy Studies - that discuss the key developments in literacy studies in recent years, which include discourse-based teaching in language education. 
• Language, Culture and Identity - where we look at the ways in which language connects to culture and identity formation, its relationship to power and the ideological underpinnings of the (English) language classroom. 
• Communicative (English) Language Teaching - that looks at communication and teaching communicative English in the light of new literacy studies, and the ideological and the discursive underpinnings of language as a medium of communication. 
• Language through Literature and the Teaching of Literature (Prose, Poetry and Drama) - where we look at the role of literature in the language classroom. Why do we teach literary texts in a language classroom? How do literary works enable critical literacy practices? These questions will be addressed through the exploration of close and deep reading techniques as meaning making exercises.
• Assessment and Evaluation in the Language Arts - the last session will emphasise the importance of assessments and evaluation as a learning tool and the need to nuance assessments to suit the requirements of new literacy studies in the language classroom. 

Who can apply: The workshop is currently open to student-teachers of B.Ed. programs.

No. of seats: 25 (preference will be given to student-teachers having (English) language specialisation)

To register, please visit: https://bit.ly/2BTtVTM 

Apply on or before: 15th December 2019

• Apply by clicking on the Google form link given above and filling in the details requested.
• Please upload an extended CV with your application on the registration form, with details of your
• educational background, institutions graduated from, work experience, skills etc.
• We will mail you by 24th December 2019 if your application has been shortlisted.
• You will be sent an invoice for the fees through email. Your seat will be confirmed once we receive
• payment from you.
• Details of the process of payment, account number and codes will be communicated to you through
• emails. Please ensure that you enter a valid, functional email ID in the form.

Note: You will have to carry your student  I-card to show at the workshop.

Fees: ₹1000, for 5 days (inclusive of GST) 

Certificates of participation will be given to participants on successful completion of the workshop.

For further queries, you can write to us at: language.literacy2020@gmail.com