A Celebration of the - CBBSL

A Celebration of theCBB Teacher TrainingProject: 2005-2020Case Studies fromacross the countryby the Council forBusiness with Britainand the British Council

Edited by Lesley Dick

A Celebration of the CBB Teacher Training Project: 20052020 :Case Stud

ies from

Across the Cou

ntry by the Cou

ncil for Business with

Britain and

the British Cou

ncil

A Celebration of theCBB Teacher TrainingProject: 2005-2020Case Studies fromacross the countryby the Council forBusiness with Britainand the British Council


Published by the British Council, Sri Lanka

© British Council, Sri Lanka.


First published 2020

ISBN 978-955-9055-50-1

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or

by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,

or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher.

The content in this publication record the personal views of the

contributors and should not be taken as expressing the official

views of either the publisher, the editors, or the organisations

for which the contributors work.

Designed by Sampath Senanayake

Contents

Message by President, Council for Business with Britain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Message by British Council, Country Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Message by Secretary to Minister of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Message by CEO of HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives and Principal Sponsor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Introduction to the CBB Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

1 Trinco Kalith 2 Tangalle Nurasha 3 Kurunegala Amali 4 Matale Vindya 5 Matara Nilanthi 6 Bandarawela Harshi 7 Anuradapura Maheshi 8 Ampara Kingsely 9 Hanwella Wathsala 10 Hangurangketha Sanjeevani 11 Hatton Vinothini 12 Yakarawatha Vishna 13 Jaffna Sureshkumar 14 Bolawalana Bhakthi 15 Chilaw Swanra 16 Galle Sanath 17 Kegalle Nilushi 18 Kalutara Amali 19 Nuwara Eliya Sumithra 20 Eheliyagoda Mufliya 21 Badulla Thilani 22 Kandy Bimalka 23 Monaragala Chandana 24 Nahiyanggana Sanjeeva 25 Gampaha Deepika 26 Vavuniya_Jeyamani 27 Kahawatha Janakie 28 Balapitiya Shirani 29 Batticaloa Thangeshkumar 30 Hambatota Malsha 31 Polonaruwa Eranga

Introduction to the RESC messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Ampara SherineAnuradapura ShamilaBandarawella AmarasiriChilaw RasikaHangaranketha DevikaHanwella ThushitaHatton ThenmoliJaffna ThayaharanKahawatta LankeshKalutara ChampaMonaragala LeelaPolonaruwa GajanayakeTangalle GayatriVavuniya Jayanthi

Employability Skills Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

A Celebration of the CBB Teacher Training Project- 2005-2020 - 1

Message from thePresident of the Council for Business with Britain (CBB)Roshanie Jayasundera MoraesPresident - Council for Business with Britain

The Council for Business with Britain was established inJuly 2000 with the main objective of promoting two-waytrade and investment between Sri Lanka and the UK and tomaintain and foster a harmonious business relationshipbetween the two countries. At present CBB has over 160member companies with business links to the UK.

Given that the English language is the universal languageof business, it was important that CBB had one of itsinitiatives in that area. Therefore, CBB launched the EnglishLanguage Teacher training programme (ELT) 15 years agoas a skills building initiative to support local businesses intheir quest to becoming world class companies. Thisprogramme, conducted in collaboration with the BritishCouncil and the Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka hasyielded the desired results.

Today, we are proud and happy to have funded thetraining of over 2300 teachers and positively impactedover 300,000 students in the country.

I take this opportunity to place on record our gratitude toour sponsors who made this programme possible over theyears.

We hope that these teachers and students will now makethe best of the opportunity they have received, continueto enhance their English language skills and contributetowards society in a positive manner.

I congratulate all those who completed the programmeand wish them the very best.

2 - A Celebration of the CBB Teacher Training Project- 2005-2020

Message fromCountry Director British Council

This project to support teachers of English in their professional development has reached more than 2000teachers across the island, over its lifetime – more than 15years. It has been a wonderful journey generouslysupported by CBB - with a significant contribution fromHSBC, and this booklet has been created to celebrate theachievements of all involved. Not least, it gives us anopportunity to look back and understand the impact that theprogramme has had on individual lives, and to reflect on thelasting effect. As we know, enhancing the skills and ability ofa teacher leads to better learning in the classroom, with aconsequential lifetime impact on the hundreds of studentseach individual teacher reaches during their career. Betterteaching and learning of English is key to improving the lifechances, the educational and career opportunities of youngpeople, and is a cornerstone for this society as it aims tobuild economic resilience and global trade links for a betterand brighter future for all Sri Lankans.

I would like to thank our partners CBB and HSBC, mycolleagues at the British Council who have sustained theprogramme through many challenging times, and especiallyour delivery partners without whom it would not have beenpossible. Special acknowledgement goes to the Ministry ofEducation and the RESCs for their openness and willingnessto facilitate the programme. And a note of gratitude to thementors at the RESCs who have supported teachers in theirdevelopment journeys. A final word for the many teachersinvolved – it is because of your passion and professionalismand your willingness to put in those extra hours to achievethe goals, that we can proudly talk about the success of thisprogramme.


Message from theMinistry of Education

Professor K Kapila C K PereraSecretary to the Minister of Education

The Ministry of Education has supported the Council forBusiness with Britain Teacher Training Project from itsinception in 2005 to its closure this year. In-service Englishteacher training and development is key to maintainingstandards in the schools islandwide. This project hasdelivered on its aim to upgrade the English skills of pupilswhich is achieved through improving the quality of theteaching practice in their schools. Teachers use the newknowledge and inspiration gained from the training todeliver more motivating lessons with a communicative focusso that pupils’ real language skills are improved. The projecthas trained a cadre of mentors from the Ministry ofEducation’s Regional English Support Centres (RESCs)ensuring a wide geographical coverage across Sri Lanka.The mentors have delivered in-service teacher training toover 2000 teachers in their areas using a distance learningcourse which leads to the internationally recognisedUniversity of Cambridge Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT). TheMinistry of Education is delighted to be able to support thisCase Study Publication which celebrates the success of thisproject through profiling the teachers and mentors andallowing them to tell their own stories through the casestudies. This publication contributes to the narrative ofsuccessful English language teacher instruction which theMinistry whole heartedly supports.


Message from the CEO of HSBC Sri Lankaand Maldives andprincipal sponsor

Mark Prothero, CEO of HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldivescommented, “Education is a forerunner of developmentand continued prosperity of any nation. That’s why atHSBC, we believe in empowering our employees and ourcommunities with the skills and knowledge needed tothrive in a global economy that connects all corners of theworld to each other. The English Language TeacherTraining programme of the Council for Business withBritain (CBB) was an ideal fit for what we aspire to achievewith our projects focussed on community empowermentthrough education. The programme develops the coreskills required of a person for employability such ascooperation, collaboration, critical thinking skills alongwith fluency in the English language. Dynamic skillsdevelopment of this nature gives our youth an increasedawareness of their own employment choices and how theyneed to groom themselves to grasp the opportunitiesavailable.”

Mr Prothero, who is the immediate past President of theCouncil for Business with Britain (CBB) further elaborated,“ The importance of developing English literacy skills is a highly-topical and important national debate. Through thisproject the CBB aligned itself to what the country requiresto build a stronger economy and a more able workforce.It is important for the learning community, in particular theteachers, to foster a generation of students who can usethe language as a base in their future careers. We feel thatthis project specifically helps bridge the urban and ruraldivide in education and has a wide geographical spreadacross Sri Lanka allowing CBB members to ‘give back’ tothe wider community.”


Acknowledgements

The ELT Project Team of the British Council would like to acknowledgethe Council for Business with Britain and the main funder HSBC for theircontinuing funding and support for the project over the last fifteenyears and the Ministry of Education for their continuing approvals andprovision of resource people and venues for the project.

We would also like to acknowledge the RESC mentors without whom theimplementation of the project would never have happened and the over2000 English teachers whose hard work on and commitment to theproject is displayed in the case studies themselves. We would also liketo thank the teachers who took the time to be part of the questionnaireand interviews that were conducted to compile the case studies.Through their stories and reflections, we can better understand how theproject has made an impact on each of their learners. The project hasalso inspired teachers to continue their professional development. Wealso thank the RESC mentors who took time to share their projectmemories. Ultimately, the impact of the project can be seen in theclassroom practice of the teachers and in the increasing proficiency ofthe pupils; both can be witnessed in the stories provided by theteachers in this publication.

A special mention must be made to acknowledge the work of JenniferGnanamuttu, Manisha Ruwanpathirana and Shane Martenstyn for theircommunication and coordination with the RESCs and for the BritishCouncil trainers (too many to mention) who contributed to the projectover the last fifteen years.

We would also like to acknowledge the hard work and skills of SampathSenanayake for designing the case study publication within a very shorttime scale. Without his talent for design, the publication would not lookso impressive and professional.

The ELT Projects Team Lesley Dick, Norma Swyngedauw, Sharon Martinesz and Rizley Dawood


The CBB Teacher Training Project ran from 2005to 2020. It grew out of 6 weekend workshopsround the country and developed into the annualdelivery of English language teacher training toapproximately 200 English language teachersnationwide. Over 2000 teachers were trainedthrough this project. To celebrate the end of theproject, the British Council and the Council forBusiness with Britain is presenting the CBBTeacher Training Project Case Study publication.The aim of this publication is firstly to describethe work of the project here in the introductionfrom its inception to the present day. Secondly ithighlights the work of the 31 Regional EnglishSupport Centres (RESCs) in the delivery of theproject through the stories of the mentors andthe teachers involved over the years. Each casestudy presents the story of a teacher from thearea of the 31 RESCs to illustrate the impact theproject had on their lives. Mentors’ case studieshave also been collected and are presented here.hirdly the products from the Employability Projectin 2019 are included. Employability skills wereadded into the project in 2019. A competitionwas held in schools to find the best posterproduced by classes to illustrate the theme ofemployability. Teachers worked with their classesto produce posters using the employability skillsof cooperation, communication and criticalthinking among others. The winners of thecompetition are included here. We hope that thispublication will showcase the impact the projecthad on so many teachers and mentors round thecountry over its 15 year lifespan.

Since 2005 the Council for Business with Britain(CBB) worked through the British Council todeliver the well-regarded English LanguageTeacher Training Project. The project comes toan end this year after fifteen very successfulyears. The overall goal of the programme was toupgrade the English skills of pupils and this wasachieved through improving the quality of theteaching practice in their schools. Teachers usedthe new knowledge and inspiration gained fromthe training to deliver more motivating lessonswith a communicative focus so that pupils’ reallanguage skills are improved.

The project trained a cadre of mentors from theMinistry of Education’s RESCs ensuring a widegeographical coverage across Sri Lanka. (For amap showing the RESCs’ locations, please seeAppendix 1 The mentors delivered in-serviceteacher training to teachers in their areas using adistance learning course (branded as ‘the CBBdistance training course’) which led to theinternationally recognised University ofCambridge Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT).Teachers following the training also received aCBB / British Council Certificate.

The project therefore functioned on two levels:

a) training mentors to facilitate the CBB distance training course;

b) training teachers through the CBB distance training course.

Introduction: The Council for Business withBritain English Language Teacher Training Project

1

1 Resource and Development Branch, Department of Examinations, 20032 Lanka Business Online, 3 January, 2007


One additional objective of the project in 2019-20 was to address the perceived need for skillsfor employability: 21st century skills as well asthe project’s prior focus on the English language.This was in part achieved through an additionalmodule in the training course to and in partthrough a portfolio of classroom-based tasksthrough which teachers developed their ability tofoster employability skills in their learners. Theproject participants demonstrated theirunderstanding of the skills for employability andhow to help their pupils develop them. That thepupils developed them was demonstratedthrough a class project that every teachercoordinated. This project was evaluated andjudged by a team made up of British Council staffand CBB members. A sample of the winningprojects are displayed in this publication.

The need for English teacher training and employability skills

The EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) isincreasingly cited as an authoritative and globallywell-recognized source by journalists, educators,officials, and business leaders for ranking ofcountries by English skills. The EF EPI places thesurveyed countries and territories into fiveproficiency bands, from Very High to Very Low.The bands make it easier to identify countriesand regions with similar skill levels and to drawcomparisons between and within regions.According to the 2019 report, Sri Lanka has ‘VeryLow’ proficiency of EF EPI score 47.10 ranking 78out of 100 countries. This index reflects a -2.29score change from the previous year.

In addition, pupils in rural areas of Sri Lankaperform far less well at GCE English ‘O’ level than

those in Colombo (English ‘O’ level pass rates2003: national average 30%, Colombo 68%, restof Sri Lanka 24%1 ), which has a correspondinglynegative impact on their employability once theyleave school. In the ex-conflict affected areas ofthe North and East and the predominantly IndianTamil hill country areas, the situation is worse.This English language proficiency skills gap ishaving a detrimental effect on Sri Lanka’s long-term national and international economicdevelopment and the workforce’s ability toparticipate in the domestic and globaleconomies. A key factor in enhancing theperformance of pupils learning English at schoolis the teacher’s level of English and confidence inusing English in the classroom. In 2007 SriLanka’s Ministry of Education said that more than60% of teachers in Sri Lanka lack the computerand English literacy skills that are needed in amodern teaching environment.’2

In 2005 the CBB’s vision of “Prosperity ThroughEnglish” led to the establishment of theirpartnership with the British Council Sri Lanka andthe launch of the CBB ELT Project to address thekey factors of English teacher confidence andclassroom teaching ability and the need to targetspecifically teachers in rural areas unable toaccess the training opportunities and resourcesof their Colombo peers.

The link with Future Skills

Research completed by Lancaster Universityhighlights the skills requirement identified byemployers in Sri Lanka. These include English,21st century skills, confidence and resilience. Theproject worked in three ways: (1) improvingteacher performance has the knock-on effect of

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 5 Phase 6 Phase 7 Phase 8 Phase 9 Phase 10 Phase 11

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Aug-Oct 2005 2006-2007 2007 - 2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019- 2020

IMPACTWork-shops CBB ELT

ProjectCBB ELT Project

CBB ELT Project

CBB ELT Project

CBB ELT Project

CBB ELT Project

CBB ELT Project

CBB ELT Project

CBB ELT Project

CBB ELT Project

CBB ELT Project

CBB ELT project

RESCs 6 8 26 27 28 28 29 29 29 29 30 31 31

New Mentors trained

0 16 40 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 7 0 0

Teachers trained

150 48 378 155 168 200 168 205 207 204 153 180 136

Pupils reached

12,000 3,840 30,240 28,603 13,440 35,106 13440 (est.) 33,554 35,338 37,267 29,303 30,770 20,945

Phase 4

Project Development Overview

The project developed over the years in separatephases depending on needs of the teachers, thefunding available and the reach desired.

Phase 1 In 2005 the pilot stage of the project delivered aseries of teacher training workshops in Jaffna,Badulla, Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Ratnapura,and Matara. The workshops, attended by 150English and English medium teachers, focussedon upgrading teacher skills in teaching Englishfor the Workplace. The pilot impacted onapproximately 12,000 pupils.

Phase 2

In 2006 16 mentors from 8 districts(Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Matale,Hunguranketha, Hanwella, Balapitiya, Eheliyagodaand Hatton) followed the University of CambridgeTeaching Knowledge Test (TKT) preparationcourse at the British Council in Kandy andColombo and gained the TKT qualification. Inaddition, the mentors received mentoringtraining to equip them with the skills andknowledge needed to deliver the CBB course asa distance-training product to other teachers.Subsequently, 48 teachers from the 8 districtscompleted the CBB distance training course andgained a TKT Certificate. Phase 2 impacted onapproximately 3,840 pupils.


improving learners’ performance. This shift inpedagogy also builds core skills required byemployers as it encourages cooperation,collaboration and critical thinking skills.

(2) teachers use content focusing onemployability skills thus increasing studentknowledge in turn (3) delivery is in English, one ofthe key employability skills, therefore theypractice the skills in English. The combination ofthese leads to the activation of studentknowledge of employability issues and skills andan increased awareness of their own employmentchoices.

Through working with the RESCs which arestrategically positioned in these rural areas, theproject could target the people with the mostneed for both English language proficiencyimprovement and employability skills. By trainingthe teachers the project had a wider reach over alonger period of time thus making it moresustainable. Evidence from past phases of thisproject suggests that the teachers participatingin it have had a positive impact on their pupilsand helped them develop their mastery of theEnglish language. In turn, this may enhance thepupils’ employability and their prospects ofearning a higher salary.

The Project Phases

1

3Ampara, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Balapitiya, Batticaloa, Bolawalana, Chilaw, Eheliyagoda, Galle, Gampaha, Hunguranketha, Hanwella, Hatton, Jaffna, Kahawatte, Kalutara, Kandy, Kurunegala, Mahiyangana, Matale, Matara, Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya, Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee

4 This conservative estimate assumes that each teacher has two classes of 40 students.5 Data collected from teacher applications. They were asked for the number of pupils they were teaching that year.


Phase 3

This phase culminated in March 2010 with a TKTawards ceremony at the Ministry of Education.This phase saw the expansion of the project toinclude 26 RESCs3 with 40 new mentorscompleting the TKT preparation course at the BC,passing the TKT exam and receiving mentortraining. The mentors cascaded the training toover 378 teachers who passed TKT in January2010. These RESCs included Jaffna where theTKT exam was delivered for the first time duringthe conflict. Phase 3 impacted on over 30,240pupils4.

Phase 4

2010 to 2013 saw 3 stages of Phase 4 beingdelivered. This stage culminated in May 2011 witha TKT awards ceremony at the British Council.Stage One saw the expansion of the project toinclude putting a trainer in the RESC in Vavuniyathrough the course by attending study sessionsin Jaffna. She passed the TKT exam and receivedmentor training in Stage Two. All the mentorscascaded the training to over 155 teachers whopassed TKT in January 2011. Phase 4 Stage Oneimpacted on 28,603 pupils5. Stage Twoculminated in October 2012 with a TKT awardsceremony. This phase saw the expansion of theproject to 28 RESCs in the country including thenew Vavuniya RESC. The mentors cascaded thetraining to 168 teachers who sat the TKT exam inJuly 2012. Stage Three saw the consolidation ofthe project to 28 RESCs with all experiencedmentors supervising the distance teachertraining course between July 2012 and January

2013. 200 teachers were involved. Sponsorstargeted specific areas and increased numbersof teachers in some areas. This meant that inHatton, Baddegama and Jaffna there were morethan 6 teachers being trained by the RESCs: 15,25 and 10 respectively. Most of the teachers satthe TKT exam in January 2013. The remaindereither sat the exam in April or in July or October.They impacted on an estimated 35,106 pupils

Phase 5

The project continued to grow. This stage sawthe expansion of the project to 29 RESCs. 1 newmentor from Tangalle completed the Universityof Cambridge TKT course over two terms at theBritish Council in Colombo from August toDecember 2013. This extended the coverage ofthe project to all but one RESC in the country. Allexperienced mentors supervised the distanceteacher training course between October 2013and March 2014. 168 teachers were involved.They sat the TKT exam in April 2014. Theyimpacted on an estimate of over15,200 pupils.An impact evaluation was carried out of theproject by an international consultant. Resultswere positive.

Phases 6 to 11

These phases saw annual delivery of the projectmaintained at similar levels from 2014 to 2020.See the Project Phases table for statistical detail.2014 saw the inclusion of teachers from Tangalle.Valuable feedback from the RESC audit was alsoreceived which pointed out gaps in the coveragewhich were then filled. 2018 saw the addition ofone Provincial English Support Center at

Thissa Hewavithana, said in early 2018;“Education is the key to the development ofemployability skills in our country’s youngpeople…With its focus on training Englishteachers in practical classroom based skills, thisproject impacts nationally on the future youthand job market of Sri Lanka.” He also praised theoverall objectives of the programme, adding: “Iwould like to pay tribute to the Council forBusiness with Britain for recognising that in-service teacher training is at the heart ofimproving students’ performance in languagelearning and in terms of language skills for theworkplace.”

c. The British Council

The British Council in Sri Lanka is the UK’sinternational organisation for educational andcultural relations. Its purpose is to enhance thereputation of the UK, to strengthen Sri Lankan-British co-operation in education and culture andto support educational reform in Sri Lanka. Itswork is based on partnerships, and the creationof opportunity for people to develop themselves.Through its work in Sri Lanka it aims to enhancethe UK’s reputation as a source of expertise anda partner for skills development and increase theuse of English as a tool for interculturalunderstanding. With 70 years of experience inSri Lanka, the British Council is uniquely placed tounderstand the context and develop aprogramme of study that draws on and developslocal expertise to ensure that the project issustainable. In addition, British Council is workingin close collaboration with the Ministry ofEducation and Ministry of Higher Education tosupport the education reform agenda of theGovernment of Sri Lanka in the areas ofprofessionalisation, systemic reform andtransition from education to employment under

Yakarawatta in the North Western province beingused to deliver the project. The final stage of theproject ran until March 2020 and was completedjust before the pandemic hit. In total the projecttrained 67 mentors, 2352 teachers and reachedapproximately 323,846 pupils over its 15 yearhistory.

Factors of success of the project

a. Project Features

The project was successful because it sought todevelop the human resource capacity within theeducation system, equipping teachers with theskills they need to deliver high-quality Englishteaching in their real-life low-resourceclassrooms. The skills gained are thereforerealistic and meaningful in the teachers’ workingcontexts. Additionally, the project sought toredress the imbalance between the quality ofrural and urban English education with its designas a distance-learning training project that couldbenefit teachers in rural areas as much as, if notmore than their urban counterparts. Importantly,from the Ministry of Education’s perspective, theproject worked within existing school structuresand curricula and focused on long-term,sustainable development rather than short-term,expensive, resource-based inputs. In 2018-2019,the British Council focused on strengthening theproject’s longer-term sustainability, in line withMinistry of Education objectives, by fosteringautonomy of project participants. In 2019-2020,the project added a focus on employability skills.

b. The TKT qualification

The TKT certificate is recognised by the Ministryof Education as a benchmark of excellence. TheState Secretary to the Education Ministry Mr



the TRANSFORM programme. The CBB Projectwas aligned to both the professionalizationstrand and the transition from education toemployment strand.

The teacher training programme funded by CBBis based on several core principles, whichrepresent the British Council’s basic beliefs abouttraining:

Trainees become motivated and develop•a positive attitude to learning when thetraining relates to a purpose appropriateto the trainees’ needs and interests andteaching context; for example, theresources, syllabus, learners’ assessmentprocedures.

Collaboration through group work has•positive effects on learning, generatingmore discussion and allowing forpurposeful learning. Group work alsoprovides participants with valuablefeedback from their colleagues.

Trainees need to become autonomous.•Given the appropriate level of support,each person can manage their ownlearning and set their own goals.

Through the use of carefully selected•documents and well-designed tasks andactivities, trainees can develop skills thattransfer directly to their classrooms.

Mentors are exposed to and acquire•skills necessary for the autonomousrunning of the project (administration,training new mentors, monitoring andevaluation, etc.) through theirengagement with British Council

consultants. When these skills aretransferred, the project gains a crucialelement of long-term sustainability.

Secondary school pupils will become•more independent and confident byparticipating in well managed projectwork developed to encourage thepractice of employability skills.

The Benefits for the Council for Businesswith Britain

The area of English language skills developmentand employability skills in young people was anatural fit for the CBB’s CSR agenda. CBB’smembers were uniquely placed to recognise theimportance and growth of English as a tool fordomestic and international business success andto experience the disadvantages of having aworkforce lacking in these essential skills. Englishliteracy can:

create access to education, information•and technologycreate social equality and cohesion•promote local and international•communication provide a better employability profile•

The project also enabled CBB to continue to alignitself to what is now a key and highly-topicalnational debate on both the importance ofdeveloping English education and of improvingthe transition from education to employment.

The partnership between CBB and the BritishCouncil was a natural one. As a British non-profitmaking body, with extensive and highly valuedexperience in the field of English LanguageTeaching in Sri Lanka and a wide brand-recognition


across the island, the British Council was uniquelyplaced to deliver a project that achieves itsobjectives through its close relationships withboth high-level and grassroots educators. Inaddition, its goal of ensuring ‘mutually beneficial’relationships between Britain and Sri Lankaensures that aspects of the programme carry auniquely British flavour from the design andquality of training materials used through to theadoption of the TKT qualification, aninternationally recognised UK product. Thisproject helped bridge the urban and rural dividein education and had a wide geographical spreadacross Sri Lanka such that it allowed CBBmembers to ‘give back’ in areas where theiroperations were based. It also produced pupilswho possess more of the employability skills thatemployers currently need.

Main Project Activities

Pre-Training Course

The British Council every year applied forMinistry of Education approval for the continueddelivery of the project. The British Council alsochecked on the availability of the mentors overthe period of the project. Teachers wererecruited annually through marketing at theRESCs. Applications were reviewed andappropriate teachers were selected. Theselection took place at the British Council andeach teacher had to meet specific criteriarelating to qualifications, grades taught, level ofEnglish and length of service remaining to ensurethey and the country would benefit fully from thecourse. Selectors also strove to ensure abalance of gender, ethnicity, school size andurban-rural schools. Mentors were then refreshedat a briefing and training meeting. They thenreturned to their RESC to support the delivery ofthe course.

CBB Distance Training Course

Approximately 6 teachers from the 31 RESCswere typically selected to study the CBB Distancetraining course. At the beginning of the course,teachers were observed in the classroom bymentors and this provided baseline data fromwhich progress could be measured. Theobservations also provided mentors with anopportunity to give formative feedback to theteachers.

The teachers then completed 22 units of study athome designed by the British Council tointroduce a learner-centred, activity-basedmethodology embodying recent approaches toteaching English to young learners. They alsocompleted a portfolio of tasks which provide abridge from the training material to theclassroom; the tasks required teachers to trythings out in the classroom and reflected on theresults.

For the duration of the course teachers metregularly at the RESC for Study Group sessions(SGs) with the mentor to discuss news ideas andhow they were applying them in the classroomand of course the results. They also discussedcurrent TKT units being covered. When required,mentors provided further input on problematicTKT syllabus items during the sessions. Towardsthe end of the course the teachers wereobserved a second time and the data collectedwas used to measure progress and developmentover the course. Once again mentors providedformative feedback to teachers, who producedan action plan for continuing professionaldevelopment to carry out once the course wasfinished. The teachers also sat the TKT exam atthe end of the course. This was very motivatingfor teachers as it is an internationally recognised


UK qualification. Three months after the coursewas completed the teachers were observed athird time by the mentor to determine more long-term impact of the training.

Post training

At the end of the course there was an AwardsCeremony held in Colombo. All participants wereinvited to receive certificates of achievement andTKT certificates. Chief guests typically includedthe Honourable Minister of Education and HisExcellency the British High Commissioner. Thiswas also an opportunity for members of CBB toraise awareness of the project to the media andwider community as well as meeting thebeneficiaries directly.

Project Evaluation

Mentors

RESC moderation visits were organised for eachCBB distance training course that ran. Thesewere carried out by training consultants from theBritish Council. The visit ensured that all courseswere run to a high standard and that mentorsprovided adequate support for teachers. InPhase 4 Stage One experienced mentors weretrained to carry out peer moderation duringthese visits. This helped to ensure thesustainability of the programme. In Phase 4 StageTwo RESC visits were combined through peermoderation with visits from BC trainingconsultants to both monitor progress andcompare feedback. In Phase 4 Stage Threementors carried out peer moderation visits andwith extra ODA funding BC training consultantsalso completed monitoring visits of 18 out of the30 RESCs in the project. In Phase 5 five BCtraining consultants with grant fundingcompleted monitoring visits of all RESCs. In

Phase 6, BC training consultants conductedmonitoring visits to 30 RESCs. In Phases 7 to 11,BC training consultants conducted monitoringvisits to 30 RESCs and 1 PESC. For a sample ofthe feedback on the project’s impact on pupilsand teachers gathered during the 2019-2020monitoring and evaluation visits, see appendix 2.

Teachers

Teachers were evaluated in three ways.

They sat the TKT examination to evaluate theirknowledge of the input for the CBB distancetraining course. They were then awarded a TKTcertificate from the University of Cambridge withtheir scores.

They were observed by mentors in the classroomto gauge how the course impacted on theirclassroom practice. They were observed twiceduring the course. The first observation tookplace in the very early stages on the course andprovided baseline data. The second observationtook place near the end of the course andallowed the mentor to measure change. In PhaseFour Stage Two and Three a third observationwas introduced and this was done three monthsafter the course finished to measure settledbehaviour in the classroom.

They submitted a portfolio of work to the BritishCouncil at the end of their studies in order toevaluate how successfully they were applying thenew ideas on the course in the classroom andhow they were developing as reflectivepractitioners. This was graded by British Councilconsultants and participants received a BritishCouncil teaching certificate on submission andsuccessful completion of the portfolio.

Pupils

During Phase 3, The Ministry of Educationcooperated with the British Council to obtaindata on pupil examination performance beforeand after teachers have followed training anddetermine whether there was an improvement inaverage pupil performance between the twodates. The assumption was that any noticeableimprovement in the average marks could beattributed at least in part to the training and itseffect on teachers’ ability to teach Englisheffectively. The exercise analysed exam resultsof pupils in classes taught by teachers who havefollowed the CBB distance training course. Twosets of results for each class were compared, oneset for December exams taken before theteacher followed training, the second forDecember exams taken after the teacherfollowed the training. The results were analysedto look at the change in average pupil scoresbetween the two periods. Conclusions weredrawn depending on an analysis of the results. Itwas tentatively concluded from the analysis thatfollowing the CBB ELT Programme leads to apositive effect on examination performance bypupils in Grade 9 and Grade 10. However, itshould be pointed out that the data we weresupplied with has led to a small sample sizewhich means that conclusions can only betentative.

In Phase 4 Stage Two, an alternative method ofevaluating pupils was used. Mentors andteachers tested two parallel classes in each of 10schools supervised by different RESCs at thebeginning and end of the course. The results ofthe tests carried out in Phase 4 Stage 2 wereanalysed. There was evidence to demonstrate anincrease in the speaking ability of classes taughtby TKT teachers as compared to classes taught

by non TKT teachers. The following year’s resultsalso showed a perceptible improvement inspeaking skills.

Detailed information was collected about theclassroom performances of students whoseteachers participated in the project at eightRESCs in 2018-2019, the results analysed and areport written. The combined results of speakingand writing tests showed stronger overallimprovement in the TKT teacher taught classes.While the rate of improvement in writing washigher in the control group, the overallpercentage increase of scores in speaking wassubstantially more significant in the TKT teachertaught groups.

Impact evaluation

From February to April 2014, an externalconsultant funded by the British Council carriedout an impact evaluation of the project from itsinception. The impact evaluation usedobservational data from pre and post course andfrom blind observations. Of 24 indicators forclassroom performance every one showedimprovements (50% in 4, 20% within 20 of the24) affecting lesson planning, classroommanagement and increased student involvement.Blind observation of 3 cohorts of teachers (notdone the course; recently done the course; donethe course over 3 years ago) verified the findingsand demonstrated the project’s sustainableimpact as the teachers completing the courseover 3 years ago showed the greatest classroomachievement.

Public Relations and media coverage

Communications and visibility contributed toraising the profile of the project with the widerpublic. The annual TKT awards have enjoyedcontinued and robust support of the Ministry of


Case StudiesThe above information presents the facts of theproject. This case study publication though aimsto present the human interest and impact storiesbehind the facts. Teachers were selected toreflect the whole time span and geographicreach of the project. The case studies are basedon in depth interviews carried out over threemonths in 2020. RESC mentors were also askedto contribute stories for the publication. Startingas it did from a series of weekend workshops, theproject grew to gain islandwide impact andleaves a powerful legacy. The collaboration of theCouncil for Business with Britain, the Ministry ofEducation and the British Council demonstratesthe potential of state and private organisations topositively impact on education and is a rolemodel for future collaboration.

Education since the beginning of the projectthrough the use of the Ministry auditorium for theannual ceremonies and the presence of their keyofficials in these events. This is a recognition ofthe project’s important contribution to teachertraining and to improving professionalization ineducation in the country.

The awards ceremony for the 2018-2019 projectthat was held in October 2019 was graced by: MrMark Prothero, President, Council for Businesswith Britain, Ms Gill Caldicott, Country Director,British Council Sri Lanka, Ms Hasini Thalagala,Director, English and Foreign Language Branch,Ministry of Education and Mr B D C Biyanwila,Chief Commissioner – Teacher Education,Ministry of Education.

Every year, the CBB and the British Councilvisited a RESC to meet the RESC mentors,participating local teachers and students. TheCBB officials held informal focus groups with theteachers and students to get an insight into theparticipants’ perception of the impact of theteacher training programme on their professionaldevelopment and learning. These visitsdemonstrated the commitment of the CBB to theprogramme. In 2018 CBB Members visitedHanwella RESC in May and were givenpresentations by the pupils and teachers. Theyalso conducted focus groups with the pupilswhich allowed them to speak directly to thepupils and teachers. These events attractedmedia coverage and enhanced the reputation ofthe British business community in Sri Lanka andthe profile of the CBB.



Appendix One: RESC geography


Appendix Two: Evidence of Impact – Sample comments and feedback from Monitoring andEvaluation visit reports about the project’s impact on teachers and pupils in Phase 11 2019-2020:RESC Impact on teachers Impact on pupils

Anuradhapura Teachers appreciated their increased awareness ofemployability skills through the course.

“The techniques we use to promoteemployability skills have resulted in studentsshowing more interest in lessons, moreconfidence in using English even if they makemistakes… more motivation and creativity inactivities.” Techniques they’ve used includeranking activities, group and pair work,activities that engage students in deeperthinking, e.g. Asking questions like “if youwere in their situation, what would you do?”According to one teacher, her students hadsaid they liked the employability activities.

Batticaloa Teachers said that the course was confidence-building,(improving) student motivation in class. Teachers were “enjoyingdifferent new methods, e.g. techniques in reading, more student-centred practice…making teacher work easier, less TTT.” “Makingmistakes – realized that this is part of learning.” “(We are learningto) extend the coursebook materials, promote group work.”

Teachers felt that their students aredeveloping critical thinking- they requirestudents to use their imaginations inactivities, e.g. activities that make them thinkdeeper, problem-solving activities.

Bolawalana “The course is enjoyable and developing our teachingstrategies.” “Portfolios encourage teachers to be innovative intasks.

“Students show more confidence andmotivation given the opportunity for creativework.”

Polonnaruwa Teachers said that they were developing in “lesson planning,managing the class and giving instructions. We always thinkabout increasing student participation by reducing TTT, usingmore games for language practice and using motivationaltechniques. I’m using more English and less L1 in my classes.”

Students are “increasingly becoming moreconfident in working in groups. They aremaking more effort to speak in English.”

Nuwara Eliya Teachers said they were improving in their “lesson planning,classroom management, English language knowledge, timemanagement and staging lessons.”

Teachers said that group work was helping inmaximizing class participation. “Studentslearning self-development – making notes,writing answers).

Chilaw The mentors said: “The teachers are enthusiastic about thisproject. They were in the process of planning out their project,having already decided on the title and type of project.”

“Students are enthusiastic and are excitedabout the project as a result of the manner inwhich the teachers have approached thestudents.”

Yakarawaththa The teachers said that the course was benefitting them becauseit was very different from Sri Lankan teacher training. They werelearning a lot of new teaching styles and methods, which wasmaking teaching easier for them – e.g. simplifying texts,changing questions, etc. They also feel they are learning moreabout lesson planning, especially planning for all four skills. Theylike the integrated skills approach – before, a reading lessonwould really just be about reading, but now they can involveother skills too. Finally, they feel a little more aware of theimportance of English for employability.

“Students are more interested in what theyare teaching now, e.g. they like the integrationof skills.” “They enjoyed the portfolio taskthat had to be done in the classroom. “Thestudents are more motivated – the input onmotivation helped the teachers to achievethis. Also, they seem more confident, e.g.when the teacher tells them to use onlyEnglish during an activity.”

Hatton “Improving (our) English knowledge and teaching. Learning newterminology from TKT course work. Better awareness ofemployability skills and how (we) can integrate development inlessons. Improving (our) lesson planning, ability to usesupplementary materials.

“More active student participation because ofnew types of activities (we) are using from thecourse. More interest shown.”

Jaffna “Now (I am) using more pair work, group work, eliciting topromote collaboration.”“Enhancing teacher ability in lesson planning.”

“Students demonstrate more interest. Theyare becoming more responsive, moreconfident to use English and correct eachother’s mistakes.”

Kandy Teachers said that improving their abilities in developingspeaking stood out as important benefit from the course. They were learning a lot of activities revolving around this goal.

“Students are more interested and confident,overcoming fear of speaking, are working inpairs more. They use critical thinking incollaborative and creative games. All getinvolved when (teachers) get students to givepresentations.”


Kalith ThurjaoonRESC Trincomalee 2012

Trincomalee RESC mentor Chulani goes to theschools in her district for lesson observations. Inan observation of one of Kalith’s lessons, she feltthat Kalith would benefit from a deeper dive intothe communicative approach in languageteaching, so she told Kalith about the CBB TKTcourse at the RESC. Kalith was just in his 4thyear of teaching and keen on continuing hisprofessional development. He had done a coupleof short training courses organized by the Zonaland Provincial offices as well as the RESC, but nota more extensive one like the TKT course. Thetraining course was a rare opportunity, and moreimportantly, he valued his mentor’s advice, so heapplied for the course.

Coming for the study group sessions during theworking week was a challenge for a lot ofteachers on the CBB Training courses, and it wasno different for Kalith having to travel 30 kilometresfrom his school in Kinniya to the RESC inTrincomalee town, then doing another 17kilometres stretch to reach home from the RESCat times on foot. He welcomed the occasionalextra sessions at the weekends as this was moremanageable. Kalith did however look forward tothe “very friendly [environment] with a lot ofsharing with the 6 other teachers, on and offlectures, some microteaching, [looking atteaching] skills and grammar,” and he wouldsoon forget the arduous journey to and from theRESC.

His sacrifice didn’t end there. Back home, heneeded to work on his TKT homework. Herecalled feeling a lot of pressure at that time:“During that period…loads of school work…[I] hadto study [for my course]..portfolio work -I had todo it after every lesson…and prepare schoolexams.“ Kalith needed a lot of determination tocope with the overlapping demands of thetraining, his job, the travel, and his family life!And determination, he had.

Kalith feels now that he took full advantage of thetraining. He had his ups and downs but he says“then I could accomplish what I had to do.” Headded that “the portfolio provided material thatcould be applied.” Kalith felt that he developed agood grounding in theory from thecomprehensive syllabus of the TKT course, whileat the same time, he was able to apply himself inhis classroom straight away. “When teachingtenses, I used to teach the structures alone.After following certain teaching techniques, Iknew how to apply real life situations and theywere very effective when implementing in theclassroom…. Students extremely enjoyed games…FSW [Find someone who], Back to the board…without knowing, they were learning andpractising [their English].”

After his TKT course, Kalith followed andcompleted a Bachelor of Education in English.He recalls a time when he delivered an observedlesson. “I was doing ICQs [instruction checking]and CCQs [concept checking] and games.” Whenit was time for feedback, his mentor said, “Haveyou followed the TKT course?” Clearly, he provedhimself right when he had described the courseas “ …. a significant course that provideseverything that a teacher should bear (in mind) inhis or her instructional process.”


Kalith is currently pursuing a Masters in TEFL.Over the years, he has also taken on academicleadership in his school as Coordinator of theEnglish faculty. He organizes quality circles forEnglish teachers once or twice a month.Through the discussions and sharing in thesecollaborative events, the other teachers havevicariously benefited from Kalith’s TKT knowledgeand experience.

The benefits have naturally trickled down to thestudents. “[In the past], our students were notvery keen to learn English, even in this urbanarea… but this interest has increased.” Out of 67schools in his region, Kalith’s school now garnersthe leading results in English at O and A levels.Kaleth believes this is thanks to his CBB TKTtraining. He sets a prime example of how tomake the CBB training project sustainable. Hesurely makes his RESC mentor Chulani proud.

Nurasha SanjeewaniSenanayake RESC Tangalle 2018

Nurasha is a denizen of the Hambantota district.She initially worked in a rural school there foraround 8 years then transferred to an urbanschool in Tangalle in 2018. No sooner had shesettled into her new school life than she foundout from the RESC Tangalle about the CBBTraining course. It was an opportunity, rareduring her earlier teaching years, not to bemissed. She joined the course in the same year.

Although the RESC was not far from her school,Nurasha occasionally found it hard to juggleafter-school extra classes and attending studygroup sessions on the weekdays. Coping with the

pace of the course became challenging becauseof her teaching workload, having to teach grades6 to 11 with no parallel classes, but she receivedsupport from her RESC mentors and peers on thecourse. When she could, she would come half anhour earlier and stay half an hour after studygroup sessions and her mentors, Ms Gayathri orMs Laksna, would be there to help her. She alsocontacted her mentors and peers on other dayswhen she needed help.

Nurasha felt that the course syllabus wascomprehensive and quite lengthy. There were alot of new approaches to learn, and she foundthat the model activities and lesson plansprovided in the workbook served well to showhow these were applied, for example, in teachingreading and speaking, lesson planning, andgiving feedback on writing and speaking. Shewished there was more time in her course formicroteaching but there were a lot of topics tocover in 6 months. The portfolio tasks providedthe practice. Nurasha recalls a reading lessonshe had planned for her portfolio, which sheimproved based on her mentor’s comments.When she delivered the lesson in class, she sawhow her new approach to teaching reading gother learners engaged: “they became active in thelesson,” she said.

It was difficult for Nurasha to decide whataspects of the training she liked the most. Sheinitially said “All!” but she managed to narrow thisdown to the course book, with the glossarybooklet, and the way each study session lessonwas organized. Asked what the best classroompractices were that she had learnt from thecourse, Nurasha chose the different ways ofplannin g lessons and error correction techniquesusing the correction code, use of gesturesespecially finger correction and use of facial

expressions. “Before the course, I correctedstudents' books by putting a cross and writingthe correct answers but after the course, I used acorrection code. Students really like it very much.I explain the code then display it in class. I use itto correct students’ work, and students use it forpeer correction. They try to find mistakes.”Students correct their work and return them toeach other with the corrections and say, “Youcheck my work.” The boost in students’confidence, raised interest in using English, andher effective approach to reading lessons havegained encouraging students’ remarks such as,“Teacher, the lesson is nice today”, “Now I cananswer the questions given below the text”, and”Teacher, we will do homework.”

Asked what she thought had been the impact ofher CBB training on her school, Nurasha proudlyreplied “I think what I learnt, I was able to apply inthe classroom, that’s why my students participatedactively in lessons and because of that I was ableto improve my students’ results in the O/Lexaminations by 15%. In 2018, 39% pass, last year54%, grade 11 had an increase of 15% pass.”

Nurasha continues to refer to the course bookand workbook from the training. She regrets thatthere were only two lesson observations in thecourse because she found her mentor’sfeedback helpful, and she would have liked tohave more. Nurasha has shared correctiontechniques with other subject teachers in herschool. The positive feedback from them hasprompted her principal to say “[the practice]could be a policy.”

K A S A Kaluarachchi RESC Kurunegala 2016

Amali presently teaches English to secondarygrades and Appreciation of English Literary Textto Grades 10 and 11 at the semi-urban nationalschool in the Kurunegala district. A mother of twoyoung children, she’s in her 13th year ofteaching. She found out about the CBB EnglishTeaching Training course during a visit of theRESC mentor to her school. She had a fairly goodidea about the TKT then and thought that theprospect of obtaining the international teachingqualification would be a boost to her professionaldevelopment, so she took the course from 2016to 2017.

Amali felt that the expectations from her and the3 other teachers in the course were made crystalclear in the course orientation on the first day.This was a self-study course, and teachers had tocome to each study session prepared. Theywould have to read the TKT course book units forthe week, look up new terminology, completeworkbook tasks and exercises, attempt testpractice at the end of the unit in the TKT coursebook, and pencil in ideas for the portfolio. Studygroup sessions were on weekdays after school.The litany of the work involved didn’t faze Amali,and flipping through the pages of thecoursebook, workbook and portfolio, she thoughtthe work would be “manageable.” She was in fora surprise because soon enough, she realizedthat the amount of work was much more than shehad imagined. Luckily that didn’t discourage her.

The course was a big bag of new learning andexperiences for Amali, and she was quick to takethem to her classroom, continuously using her


new collection of strategies and methodswhenever possible. For example, she learnt thatconstantly correcting students in speaking wasnot good practice. She explains, “I let themspeak, I would do on the spot correction foraccuracy [tasks] but for fluency, I did not correct[them] and they went on speaking, with lots ofmistakes , but they spoke a lot! Students tried touse whatever language they knew, tried to findlanguage they needed [for the] topic.. [they]became more confident and not worried.” As forwriting, when she switched from writingcorrections on students’ written work herself tousing correction codes, she was delighted to seethat her students were enjoying correcting theirown mistakes.

Amali learnt about instruction checking questions(ICQs) and concept checking questions (CCQs) tocheck understanding of instructions and meaningof language. When she started using them in herlessons, students stopped asking lots ofquestions during the activities, enabling moremeaningful and successful practice. From thecourse, Amali also learnt different ways offorming groups and she began using a lot of newactivities for freer speaking in groups. She said,“Grade 10 and 11 students liked working andlearning with peers. They discussed a lot. Theyenjoyed pyramid discussions.” Group discussionsbuilt good rapport and enabled peer learningamong the students. In project work, like makingposters, Amali assigned roles and special tasksthat matched students’ strengths and abilities,“so everyone was contributing.” In addition,introducing classroom language in her classesresulted in better participation and increasedlearner autonomy because of less need forteacher support. She also introduced newmaterials: “students got attracted to them -

videos and songs, warmers, different types ofactivities.” In reading lessons, she didn’t just askstudents to answer comprehension questions,but did running dictation and jigsaw reading.

Amali’s mind was racing when she spoke aboutthe new things she learnt and applied in herclassroom and how they benefited her students.In the final question posed to her, “What did youlike most about the course?” her answer wasvery specific. She said she liked the samplelesson plans and portfolio tasks. Demonstrationlessons were also very useful. She went on tosay that their mentor had demonstrated lessonsin a very useful manner. She clearly explainedwhy she used one thing and not the other, andshe discussed the lesson further. During theirstudy sessions, her TKT group did somemicroteaching and their mentor always gaveuseful and encouraging feedback. She was full ofpraise for her mentor: “Mithila ma’am was atreasure for us; we are trying to follow the wayshe’s teaching...”

Vindya SandeepaniCooray RESC Matale 2018

Vindya had been teaching for around 3 yearswhen she began the CBB teacher training coursein 2018, so writing lesson plans wasn’t new toher. She had been used to writing her plan; allthe teachers were expected to prepare a writtenplan before a lesson at her school, but theteachers would design their own template basedon their individual teaching needs. The flexibilityseemed sensible. However, Vindya could neverquite figure out why, in spite of her lesson plans,


she had difficulty achieving her aims. Whenasked what was the best practice she had learntfrom the CBB course, she was happy to reportthat it was first and foremost lesson planning.

Lesson planning seemed to be the root of theother changes she made in her teaching that hashelped her solve the mystery of unmet lessonexpectations. In her TKT course, she saw adifferent format and learnt about othercomponents in a lesson plan. “I didn’t use to payattention to personal aims, aims for the students,yes, but not specific, and also stage aims. When Idivided a lesson into stages with specific stageaims, [it was] beneficial for the teacher andstudents, and I was achieving aims better.”Vindya said that the other components of thelesson plan and their importance became clearer,and that attention to detail in her planning hashelped her to identify specific strengths andweaknesses in her lessons.

Related to lesson stages was integratinglanguage skills in a lesson. “I was under theimpression that when giving lessons, one lessonshould be focused on only one skill, so I used topractise skills in separate lessons, but found outthat you can integrate skills in one lesson.Lessons became more interesting, withopportunities to speak or listen, practise a song.”

She also learnt about varying interactionpatterns. Vindya started forming mixed groupswith weak and strong students together. Shesays, “I assigned responsibilities to studentswhen grouping, gave roles. [This was a] newexperience for the students - to presentsomething they have done, students felt proud,[the] weak ones also came up with a sentence ortwo. It’s the best feeling ever as a teacher to seethem, specifically the weaker ones interacting

better in the classroom… it was the biggestproblem at school… [they had] no help at home,so definitely something rare.”

The next best practice she learnt from thecourse was motivation. She says, “The TKTcourse helped because I learnt that I should bemotivating my students more.” Vindya learntabout the use of supplementary materials, whichboosted her students’ interest in her lessons. “[Eventually] they [my students] would bringsupplementary material voluntarily and ask formy opinion on them.”

Vindya also realized the importance of adaptingmaterials to students’ needs. “At first I was doingjust the course book,” she explains. An extremeexample was returning to basics to help twostudents in her Grade 9 class who werestruggling to cope even in other subjects in theirmother tongue. With a lot of teacher supportduring and beyond class time, starting fromteaching them the alphabet, they graduallystarted learning words, then simple sentences.“Xxx [one of the students] was not the type toanswer in a lesson or participate, but he began tochange. Sometimes he would just listen toothers, then would imitate. I saw that he wasmaking an effort,” she said.

The effort didn’t end in the classroom. Changesthat Vindya made in her teaching altogetherproduced students who became more interestedin applying themselves outside their Englishclasses. Children began to play a more activerole in extra-curricular activities related toEnglish, including English camps and Englishassemblies. Students put together newsbulletins, religious observances, and poetrycompetitions in English. “Everyone wanted totake part,” she said. At times, the grade 10 and


11 students were asked to help the youngerones. Last year, Vindya and the other Englishteachers in her school took involvement in theirextra-curricular English further by inviting aneighbouring school to join them in a “Who wantsto be a millionaire?” competition which was agreat success.

This is Vindya’s story of the impact of her TKTtraining on her teaching and students’ learning.Clearly, the effect of Vindya’s improved lessonplanning has gone a long way. “We’ve made asmall difference,” she says. Definitely anunderstatement!

G.D.S. Nilanthi RESC Matara 2010

I can teach a thousand students, I can control!

Nilanthi took part in the CBB English TeachingTraining project from 2010 to 2011 but to thisday, she lives TKT! She joined the course withthe disposition of an enthusiastic learner whowas then eager to learn and try out new things inher teaching. While doing the course, she quicklytook her TKT learning to her classroom and thenshe saw that it brought about positive changes inher students. This reinforced her readiness tomake lasting changes in her teaching practice.Soon enough, there was no going back to pre-TKT training course teaching ways. Studentexpectations gradually changed and she had todeliver to meet these expectations.

Before her CBB Training course, Nilanthi hadattended other courses, but she feels that noneof them have been as beneficial as the TKTcourse. The portfolio, enabling application oftheory in the TKT course book through designing,

planning and delivering lessons or activities inthe classroom, makes the TKT course stand out.“I had to think deeply,” she said. This practicalaspect in the training was a novelty for Nilanthi atthat time, and she soon got the hang of it.Portfolio work strongly motivated her. She wouldalways try to outdo herself, “I wrote many plansand selected the best one for the portfolio.” Thehard work paid off. “I became very dedicated,talented, I got motivated…now I know I can doany lesson. I know what is necessary for thelesson, what students like and don’t like and [howto] do my lessons fully.” Nilanthi also feels thatbeing observed by her RESC mentor at thebeginning and end of the course and gettingfeedback on her strengths and areas to work onwas likewise an invaluable element in the training.The course observations use a detailed checkliston teaching skills and lesson planning.

The detailed lesson plan template used in hercourse provided Nilanthi with a helpful model foreffective planning. It raised her awareness of thedifferent things a teacher needs to considerwhen planning. She said that before the course,she had relied on simply covering the pages ofthe coursebook. “I just went to class, askedstudent [to put their] hands up and down, saygood morning…tell them the topic, read and didthe lesson as shown in the text book, ” she said.She quickly adopted the use of the TKT coursetemplate as it helps her to plan more interestinglessons with a variety of activities and practice inskills and language.

She also learnt about learning styles, whichmakes it easier for her to group studentseffectively, as well as how to select, adapt andsupplement course book material to suit herlearners’ interests and preferences for learning.


She says, “I select supplementary materials thatuse familiar contexts, [relevant] to theirsurroundings, culture and environment.” In otherwords, she personalizes the materials. In a Grade8 lesson on birds in the new course book, shegathered her own pictures of Sri Lankan birds,and adapted their descriptions to suit herstudents’ level. She said, “They liked my lessonmore than the text book’s.” Using a range ofmaterials and activities in her lessons, likestorytelling, language games, group work,listening and writing activities, ensured that shewas catering to her learners’ different learningstyles.

The correction code was one of Nilanthi’sfavourite techniques from the course. She wouldpost the code on the walls and ask students tofind out what the codes meant. She continues touse these codes with most of the levels that sheteaches. For the lower levels, she would startwith using 5 codes, and give more for the higherlevels. Nilanthi would check their owncorrections and give them support if theyneeded further correction. The use of thiscorrection tool encourages independence inlearners.

Nilnathi feels that the most significant take awayfrom these changes in her teaching is the changein students’ attitudes towards using and learningEnglish. Comments like “We can’t do it,” “I can’tunderstand” have become things of the past.Students are much less concerned about makingmistakes. “They don’t care about what othersthought,” she says. They are also interested inusing the language. “They wanted me to workmore periods!” That’s the downside for theteacher, but Nilanthi quite happily indulges herstudents when she can.

S G H Dananjana Subaveera RESC Bandarawella 2020

Harshi teaches at a small rural school in UvaProvince. The school has only 43 students. Sheteaches grades 5,8, 9,10 and 11 and she lovesher job. Although she faced some challengeswhile doing the course, her overall commentswere extremely positive.

The major impact of the course she believed wason her planning and preparing a lesson orsequence of lessons. She felt that prior to thecourse she was untrained in this despite having aHigher National Diploma in English and using theTeacher’s Guide for the grade. Prior to thecourse she didn’t really plan and prepare herlessons. It was in this area that she felt she reallyimproved because of the course. She alsofocused more on developing the language andskills of the students. Earlier, she just wanted tocomplete the lesson within time and check thecorrect answers. The course showed her she hadto do more. She had to see the students asindividuals with different strengths andweaknesses and focus on improving these. Nowshe says her students love learning English, andthey have also started speaking in Englishoutside classroom. She also now goes beyondthe Teacher’s Guide and uses other referenceand supplementary materials

As she did the course in 2020 she learnt not onlyabout teaching English but also about the topic


of employability skills. Raising awareness ofemployability skills was integrated into thecourse that year. She reported that her studentsfound this very interesting. She had them dosome research and her students’ choice was tofocus on the tea plantations. Students went homeand explored the estates, interviewed teapluckers and brought the information to school.She helped them prepare the questionnaire. Shesaid they enjoyed this and it exposed them todifferent skills and she felt it will be useful indetermining their future goals too.

She also integrated employability skills into herclassroom lessons. For example, in the grade 8textbook the roleplay is based on a situation inthe library. She expanded that and asked thestudents to find out about at least 5 other rolesin the school (eg principal, teacher, clerk) and list5 duties of these roles. Just as in the tea pluckerproject, the students spent a lot of time on thisand enjoyed the independence of working ingroups. They asked her ‘Teacher shall we domore activities of this type?’ When the lessonsare related to the practical lives, they preferredlearning. When the teachers of other subjectswere absent and when they found free time, theycame in search of her ask for her help inpreparing their project. And they told her once‘Teacher shall we do this type similar tasks in ourfuture lessons too’

Another example was when in grade 10 she did alesson based on job vacancies in the SundayObserver. She divided the class into groups, hadthem select a job that they would like to do, thenorganised a debate where each group had toargue which job was the best. This she saidworked really well.

When asked what she liked about the course shecommented that she really appreciated when hermentor came to observe her. This helped her toidentify her strength and weaknesses in herteaching and she felt her teaching developedbecause of this. She gave an example of this. Inher first observation she received feedback fromthe mentor that she didn’t have to repeat all theanswers on the board if the students had gotthem all correct. It was fine to move on. She feltshe changed in her teaching approach and nowher students feel more comfortable, not stressedand confused, as she gives them more time to dotasks properly. What she disliked about thecourse was sitting for the final examination for allthe three modules on the same day. She wouldhave much preferred sitting for the threemodules on three different days. A fair point!

R A Maheshi NisansalaSuranjeewa RESC Anuradhapura 2015

Maheshi comes across as a very energetic, lively,enthusiastic teacher eager to talk about herexperiences and love for teaching. She qualifiedwith a National Diploma of teaching English fromPasdunrata College of Education. She nowteaches grades 6 to 10 in a semi urban area inthe North Central Province. At the time of doingthe training course though she was working in avery rural school in a village area. She wanted todo something for her students as she felt theywere neglecting learning the English language.She had heard about a course being run at theRESC and applied to do it.


When asked to reflect on the benefits of thecourse she said the course both increased herlanguage proficiency and developed herprofessional skills. Some of the key things shelearnt included how to give and checkinstructions, how to use gestures and mime whenteaching vocabulary, how to divide the board upinto sections for example vocabulary in one part,pictures in another and mindmaps andbrainstorming in another, and how to usedifferent interaction patterns (like onion ringsand iron circle) to maximise student speaking.She said that because of the course she learntvarious methods of planning lessons, using visualaids and the important of setting the scene at thebeginning of the lesson.

She made a big impact on her students. Beforethe course her focus was on delivering thecoursebook materials within the time limit.However after the course she started to usevarious ways of setting the context at thebeginning of a lesson. She would use differentmethods of eliciting and miming vocabulary anduse a lot of language games. She explains, “Iused some simple games to develop theirinterest and enhance their vocabulary. Once, astudent said “teacher, can we learn English wholeday” as they love those interesting games somuch.”

She made a big impact on her small rural school.Because of the knowledge that she gained on thecourse, she organised some projects to improveher students’ language learning. She was behindthe day for ‘’language games’’ which was an extracurricular activity for students on Saturdays. Thestudents came to the school and they practisedtheir English through songs and language games.The principal loved it. Later the school won aninternational award because of it.

One of the most important things that she learntabout was lesson planning. She felt that this hadthe most important impact on student learning inher English classroom. She learnt how to managethe time in a way that was conducive to learningand also practice the content, how to doeffective classroom management and how tohandle various types of students. She also learnthow to reflect on her practice and now keeps adaily record for just this purpose.

The course opened a lot of doors for Maheshi.She went on to do the 120 hour NationalDevelopment Bank funded English for TeachingProject which both increased her languageproficiency and developed her teaching skills.She is now increasingly involved in ZonalEducation Office activities like makingpresentations, writing scripts, judging, andconducting seminars. She saw the TKT course asa bridge to allow her to move from the ruralschool to a more urban school where she hascontinued to develop professionally and is nowcompetent with technology. She sees the RESCas her second home and remains in contact withher mentors Shamila and Niluka today.

J J Kingsley RESC Ampara 2016

Kingsley is a teacher in an urban national schoolin Kalmunai in the Eastern Province. He did thecourse in 2016 and his career really took off afterit. He is now the co-ordinator for EnglishLanguage in his school of 3800 students. Hecoordinates eleven English teachers bothprimary and secondary. He assigns timetables,holds meetings, solves queries, and cascadesseminars for the Provincial Department of


Education in Trincomalee. He was also involved inthe Improving Teacher Educators in Sri LankaProject and attended the 10 day TeacherEducator Course in Yakarawatha last year. He wasalso a trainer for the National Development Bank21st century skills project.

He became a volunteer teacher after hegraduated and he has now been teaching for 25years. He loves teaching. He really enjoyed thematerials and the study sessions on the course. Itwas the first time he had come across ways toteach grammar in interesting ways. Because ofthe materials on lesson planning and designingactivities he found it much easier to go into hisclassroom. The study sessions were a revelation.He experienced microteaching for the first timewhere the mentor would take on the role ofteacher and the TKT group would becomestudents. The mentors demoed activities in thisway and he found it interesting to experiencehow a student felt. The portfolio work he alsofound valuable. It allowed him to design activities,deliver them in the classroom and then reflect ontheir success or failure. He learnt a lot from thisprocess.

When asked what he liked and disliked about thetraining he praised the resource persons. He saidthe mentors were very friendly and helpful. Healso appreciated the support of the otherparticipants on the course. They had a widerange of experience and he found sharingexperiences with the group very beneficial. Evennow he says he actively seeks help from lessexperienced or newly appointed teachers. Whathe didn’t like was the fact that the RESC was 20kilometres away from his school which madeattending study sessions after school hoursrather challenging.

The best classroom practices he learnt from thecourse were lesson planning and classroommanagement (using different interactionpatterns). Before the course he used moreconventional methods like lecturing and wasreluctant to allow the students to make noise.Post course he felt he could really manage theteaching and learning process more effectivelyand he would take the students outside of theclassroom very often to do activities. His classesof 30 to 40 students could then speak loudlyoutside without bothering the neighbouringclasses. His students have responded positivelyto the different interaction patterns he now useswhich he says keeps them interested andmotivated in their lessons. They love his gameslike Bingo and commonly ask, “Sir, shall we do alesson with a game tomorrow too?” His and theirattitude to error correction also changed postcourse. Before the course he would give lots ofshort tests and then spend hours marking themat home. Now he has taught them how to usecorrection codes and they do self and peercorrection. This they find much more interestingand motivating as they are learning from theirmistakes and he can spend more leisure time athome.

He is popular with his fellow teachers. He lovessharing his learning with his colleagues at school.They get together and prepare new activities andtasks for language and skill development. Hiscolleagues call him to do model classes with theirclasses and there is now a strong community ofteachers and yes, he does use the TKT materials.He feels very lucky to have obtained the TKTqualification.

He has a son in grade 12 at his school. He taughthim in the O level grade 11 class. His son lovedhis father’s language lessons and told him he was


teaching very well. Now his son teaches hismother. He says, “Come here, sit here... I’ll tell youideas I learnt from dad…”

K M Wathsala Ruwanmali Kuruppu RESC Hanwella 2020

Wathsala teaches grades 6,9, 10, 11 at an urbanschool in the Western Province. She has beenteaching for 13 years and she has large classesof typically 45 students. The course has beenvery helpful to her with such large classes. Shelearnt the value of effective classroommanagement, the need for simple clearinstructions, the need for practice of functionallanguage and the positive impact of variedinteraction patterns. She now has students whoare much more confident in speaking in English.

As she did the course in 2020 she learnt not onlyabout teaching English but also about the topicof employability skills. Raising awareness ofemployability skills was integrated into thecourse that year. She reported that she startedthe employability project in the third term withher grade 9 class. She grouped the students andthey worked together, researched backgroundknowledge on typical jobs in different parts ofthe country. They used the internet and thelibrary to find information and they spoke to theirparents about jobs in different generations. Shefelt that the integration of employability skillsmade a big impact on students’ ideas and futureplanning. She reported that it made students

aware of thinking about their goals and theimportance of starting to think about them. Shefelt that because they had done lots of researchinto different jobs they now knew how to achievethese jobs. As they said, ‘’Now we have manyideas about jobs.” She said it expanded theircareer horizons. She also felt that thedevelopment of critical thinking skills, anotherinclusion under employability skills, was veryimportant. Here she got them to take on differentjob roles – for example, asking them to take onthe role of characters (eg gem miner and gemmerchant) and the students had to argue forwhich job is more important and/or difficult. Thisreally made them think.

When asked what she liked and disliked about thetraining she explained that she liked the portfoliowork but she expected the past papers a littleearlier. One of the best classroom practices shelearnt from the course was identifying andselecting aims. Before the course she onlyfocused on the main and subsidiary aims. Shedidn’t phrase them in terms of what the studentswould be able to do by the end of the class. Shefelt this shift to a student perspective wasimportant as they are the reason for teaching.She also learnt about having personal aims whenplanning lessons so she was continually learning.She learnt lots of techniques like askingquestions, correcting learner language usingerror correction codes, giving examples forlanguage practice, doing demos, using differentinteraction patterns and learning how to reflecton lessons and self evaluate.

Her students have responded positively to hertechniques post course. Before the course shedid not use a correction code, but now she hasprepared a code. She says that the students likethe correction code and follow it. They like the


happy faces on their work and they like to selfcorrect and peer correct. They find it motivating.She says this has made the class work flexibleand time saving. Here are some quotes from herstudents, “We like the extra activities given afterreading lessons,” “We enjoy the listeningactivities like ‘Telephone’ “, “We like activitieswhich are done at the beginning of the class” [ieWarmers] .

The most important impact of the course onstudent learning in her English classroom is thechange in the students’ attitude to learningEnglish. She gives one example of this. She tookon a grade 11 class who had got lost in grade 10.They didn’t want to learn English and had anegative attitude to it. But she insisted it wasvery useful and she managed to make them workwith the language in interesting and motivatingways. And she says it was not because she forcedthem to do it. It was because they learnt thevalue of learning. The result:5 students with Bpasses and most with credits. In addition they arenow looking for ways to learn English on theirown.

W M Sanjeewani Wijesooriya RESC Hangaranketha 2018

Sanjeewani has a National Diploma in Teachingand has been teaching for 5 years. She teachesgrades 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 13, a very heavyload, in a rural school in Central Province.Typical class size is 20.

When asked to reflect on the benefits of thetraining course, she immediately responded withphonology! Both in the distance teacher trainingcourse materials and in the study sessions,phonology is explored. Both theory and practiceare covered, and she was introduced to lots ofpractical activities that she could use with herstudents. Her increased knowledge and herexposure to a variety of activities to teach andpractice phonology with her students, impressedher students so much that they now want towatch videos and listen to the sound of thelanguage. Not just that, they also want to speaklike the people on the videos.

Another benefit was that she learnt how to planher lessons creatively. Now she says she iswriting lesson plans which motivate her learners.Before she said that at the college everythinghad to be corrected and it was all verytheoretical. The lessons were simple and inteaching practice she never really receiveduseful feedback. She said anybody could teachher lessons because they were so simple. Nowshe says her lesson plans are more complex asshe says they make the students be more“creative - not just sitting in the class andlistening to the teachers like robots.”

She now makes full use of a variety of interactionpatterns in her lessons. She does a lot ofgroupwork and includes very creative tasks. Forexample in one lesson the coursebook input wasparts of a tree. She adapted the coursebook andpasted all the parts of the tree around theclassroom. The students had to run and label theparts correctly. She said the students reallyenjoyed running around the class labelling thelexical items. Then she took them out to a realtree and elicited the parts again. She hasdiscovered that these kinds of activities make the


students much more attentive. She also finds thatwhen she asks concept checking questions now,her students have definitely grasped the conceptof the new target language well. The fact thatone of her Grade 6 students won first place in aMinistry of Education English day competitionrecently she attributes to her phonology lessonsproducing better speakers.

She realized the importance of the portfolio inthe course – this was the practical side of whatshe learned. Teachers had to complete portfoliotasks on each unit of learning. So, for example ifshe was doing a unit on teaching reading, shewould then develop a reading activity, try it out inher classroom and then reflect on its success.She enjoyed doing those lessons with studentsbecause they found them very motivating. Shesaw it as a great way of putting theory intopractice.

One of the challenges she faced was when theCambridge TKT exams were delayed due to theEaster Sunday bombings in April. That was theonly obstacle. This caused curfews so she couldnot attend the study sessions for a while.However, the RESC mentors could be contactedby phoned and the mentors encouraged them tostudy on their own until the situation changed.The exams were quickly rescheduled at a latertime.

Asked if she would recommend the course toothers, she eagerly stated that she would tellpeople how methodical the course was and tellthem to learn well to get optimum output. Sheargues that she got both theory and practice onthe course and then when she was assessed onher learning not only did she get a Cambridgecertificate she also received a strong pass (thetop mark) for her portfolio of work over the

course. Thus she felt both theory and practicewere assessed within the course. Is she going tocontinue to professionally develop her skills? Shenow has the confidence to do certification work.She wants to go on and do a drama course andlearn how to use theatre and literature toimprove English language.

G Vinothini RESC Hatton 2019

Vinothini lives and works in Hatton. What’s more,the RESC is right in her school compound, so shedidn’t have to travel long distances to be at theTKT study sessions on weekdays at the end ofher school day. She would get there on time, ifnot early. Her peers mostly worked a longdistance from the RESC. Unlike them, Vinothiniwould walk in to the RESC at any other timeswhenever she needed support or had questionsabout her coursework, and one of her RESCmentors always willingly obliged.

This convenient access to the RESC helpedVinothini cope with the workload of her TKTcourse, considering she was teaching English ona full timetable to 9 different grades in herschool. However, the real driving force behindher motivation in the course was firstly, her keendesire to get the most out of the training, andsecondly, its successful completion prepared herfor the TKT test that led to an internationallyrecognized teaching qualification: “I feel reallyproud about my participation.”


Vinothini joined the CBB English Teachingtraining in 2019. Asked if she found theintegration of employability skills development inthat batch’s course useful, her answer was aresounding ‘Yes,” but with a hint of regret, “I’mworried about my students (Grades 10 and 11).”She explained that during these two years in herstudents’ education, English teaching is stronglytest-oriented and the students “write and write,always writing and writing” in class; there ishardly room in their required schoolwork todevelop their speaking and communication skills.Meantime, applying methods she had learnt fromthe portfolio tasks with her younger secondaryclasses in Grades 6, 7 and 8, Vinothini pointedout the contrast, “students tried to talk even if(their) English was wrong.” One example of sucha task was a group work activity where she gavestudents in her Grade 7 class a situation “relatedto real life” and asked the students to create thescript for a role play and then to act the scriptsout in the class. Clearly, students were buildingtheir skills in collaboration, creativity andcommunication in an enjoyable task where theyfreely practised their English.

The use of group work in class is what Vinothiniconsiders to be the best classroom practice thatshe has taken away from her course. It was thespringboard to developing her skills in adaptingmaterials in the students’ course book anddesigning more communicative activities for herstudents. Before the TKT course, “I would’ve(just) taught whatever was in the book.”Vinothini feels that she is now better able toexploit materials in the students’ course book. Inher reading lessons, she asks ‘What if questions’to go beyond comprehension questions that areotherwise “boring for them.” She uses miminggames to explain verbs. She does different

grammar activities, gives quizzes and sets upcompetitions in her lessons. “Studentsparticipate enthusiastically. The students ask“Shall we do this game again, Teacher?””Vinothini firmly said: “Before, it [my teaching] wasteacher-centred and later it became learner-centred.”

Asked what she thought the impact of hertraining had been on her school, Vinothinianswered: “There was a change in English termtest marks of weaker learners. The students whogot less than 40 reached 40.” In each ofVinothini’ s English classes, there would be 3 to 5students who couldn’t speak English, but theystarted to participate, and with the help ofstronger students, “they also try….increased theirinterest in English, got more motivated andachieved better results.” There remain a few veryshy students who Vinothini helps individually.

Vinothini shares her new ideas with other Englishteachers in her school, particularly during theirregular English Week Programme. In this monthlyevent, all English teachers in school organizestudent activities for English immersion ofstudents through interactive activities andgames.

Finally, asked what else, post-TKT course, shewould like to improve, develop or try out in thefuture, Vinothini answered: “Grade 10 and 11communication skills.” Vinothini continues towork on her professional development. She iscurrently following a Master’s degree course onTeaching Literature in a Second Language at theOpen University.


Vishna Ediriweera RESC Yakarawatta 2017

Vishna had just been teaching for 3 years whenshe did the CBB teacher training course in 2017.She joined the course to update her knowledgeof language and to learn new teachingtechniques. When she received the materials,she was quite surprised by the depth of coverageof the TKT syllabus, and this increased herenthusiasm for the training.

Vishna welcomed the workload. She enjoyedpreparing for the study group sessions, whichentailed a fair amount of self-study andhomework. She enjoyed the lessondemonstrations of her mentor in the study groupsessions and found them to be excellent modelsof good practice. She recounts an impressivephonology lesson demonstrated by her mentor,Enoka, that she took to her own classroom. Shehadn’t covered phonology in her lessons before.It was student-centred with a lot of drilling andher students enjoyed the lesson. Vishna alsoenjoyed doing the portfolio. “It was extremelyuseful to show the practical aspects of what Ilearnt in the lessons.” But she did point out aflaw in the portfolio booklet. She needed morepages! She said, “There were specific questionsto answer but the space was limited.” Vishna hadto paste an extra 5 to 6 full pages to be able toexplain what was really done in the classroom.

Having a lot to write about reflected the range oflearning Visha applied in her teaching that shewanted to show her mentors. “Every day, I wasable to update my knowledge in language as wellas in teaching in a very productive manner,” shesaid. On the top of her list of best practice were:

using less teacher talking time and promotingmore student talking time, using instructionchecking questions and concept checkingquestions, error correction techniques andproviding more controlled and freer practiceactivities. The benefits for her learners ofapplying these practices in her teaching wereplenty and interrelated. The new techniques inerror correction promoted learner autonomy,increased motivation and encouraged morespeaking in class, thus increasing student talkingtime. Checking understanding of instructions foractivities saved time and facilitated efficientpractice. Asking concept checking questionshelped with understanding of meaning leading tothe learners’ ability to apply languagesuccessfully in practice. This in turn led tostudents enjoying using the language, which thenmotivated them to practice more. The result wasa virtuous cycle for enjoying learning English.

She explained the change in detail : “Earlier Iused a lot of teacher talking time during thelesson but now I give more chances to thestudents to use the language and express theirideas which give them the chance to use Englishin the class. I used to explain the instructions butlater I learnt that using ICQs was a better way tomake students understand instructions. Ipractised using CCQs after the course whichsaved much time and effort spent to explaincertain concepts.”

Vishna put together different techniques learntfrom the course into a lesson for Grade 9. Thetask was for the students to work in groups tocreate a story using a given set of words. It was acompetition for the most creative story. “Everystudent had to participate in the group with atleast one or two sentences.” She had taughtthem the elements of building stories. She


organized groups according to abilities. She alsogave vocabulary support to groups that neededit. Peer help and self-correction took place. “Thefinal result, I got so many creative stories fromthe group, ” she said. Not much correction wasneeded in the end. Vishna felt that the lessonwas particularly successful given that thestudents did not like doing writing tasks. Her aimwas for students to be creative, and she achievedthis. Motivation was high.

Her students have taken this motivation outsideof their classrooms. Participation in extra-curricular activities in English has increased.Regular sectional meetings with the students,which used to be conducted in Sinhala, are nowmostly conducted in English. In these regular 30-minute meetings among different levels, studentstake turns to showcase their language abilities inpoetry, quizzes, drama skits, and songs.

Vishna concludes that the course has been“extremely effective” as it included all theaspects related to teaching English: “It helps usto update and modify our knowledge in ELT. Itprovides clear guidance on key aspects likelanguage, lesson planning and managing theteaching learning process. This TKT course is asimportant to a teacher as tools are important toa carpenter.”

Seevaratnam Sureshkumar

RESC Jaffna

Sureshkumar had 10 years of English teachingexperience when he participated in the trainingcourse. He believes that continuous professionaldevelopment is important, and teachers needconstant self-reflection and continued learning todevelop. At that point in his teaching career, hefelt that his traditional ways of teaching, usingboth L1 and L2, weren’t really working with hisstudents. “They were not responding,’’ heexplained. He had done a lot of reading andrefreshed his knowledge of theory, but he feelsthat it was in the TKT course where he learnt howto apply theory effectively in his practice.

Throughout the course, he learnt differentstrategies and new techniques in the differentaspects of teaching, from planning to executionof his lesson plans. From lead-ins and warm upactivities to instructions, classroom managementto error correction, from staging lessons anddifferent practice activities to different ways ofgiving feedback. He related his new learning tohis current practice to better understand thepitfalls of the old and benefits of the new. Forexample, before the course, his reading lessonsdid not include the three key stages of pre, whileand post reading. When teaching grammar, hewould focus only on the mechanical process ofsentence production and correcting writtenwork. When he applied the PPP model for


teaching language (presentation-practice-production), he did not include practice of thelanguage in speaking and listening. He saw waysof adapting coursebook material and usingsimple resources like pictures to generatespeaking activities and he saw how to adapt theuse of reading materials to provide listeningpractice.

Sureshkumar also learnt a lot from feedback onhis two observed lessons during the course. Inhis first observed lesson, his mentor gave him“plusses and minuses,” as they do, and gave himalternative ways for managing his learners anddifferent ways of giving controlled and freerpractice. On his second observation, he learntthat he needed to give shorter, more efficientinstructions, reduce teacher talking time, and usemore group work. Getting detailed feedbackhelped him focus on areas he needed to improve.

He enjoyed applying the new methods andtechniques in his lessons because he saw howthey made an impact on his learners. He said,“Students who hated English lessons startedhaving interest to learn English.” Heexperimented on methods he wanted to dodifferently, and he asked his peers a lot ofquestions when he needed help. When he faceddrawbacks in his lessons, he would note thesedown and reflected on why they did not go well.He would act on improving in these areas. Hisstudents began to love learning English. “Theybrought me sweets, which embarrassed me a lotbecause they didn’t earn a lot, but they wouldbring me something,” he said.

Sureshkumar followed this learning processthroughout his training – reflect, learn, apply,improve. He explains : “The exercise book,expansive reading material, portfolio, and self-

learning kit altogether gave a real teachingexperience to understand and succeed in theprocess of learning. I had to spend a lot of time.[Ultimately], it is really reflection of my ownteaching that helped me to improve myselfprofessionally.” This is Sureshkumar’s message toteachers on how to make the most out oftraining.

Sureshkumar has moved to teacher training in hiscurrent role as Resource Person at the JaffnaRESC, although he continues to conductworkshops for GCE O level students on Englishlanguage and literature. Sureshkumar’sphilosophy on professional developmentcontinues to reflect on his approach in trainingteachers in quality circles. After teachersobserve his model lessons, he gets them toreflect on the techniques he used that arerelevant to the areas teachers want to improveon. As opposed to him telling teachers what theyshould do, he encourages teachers to do theirown reflection to discover how other methodswork better.

Bhakthi PoornimaSandunwala RESC Bolawalana 2016

Bhakthi participated in the CBB teacher trainingcourse from 2016 to 2017. After hearing aboutthe course from the RESC mentors, she didfurther research about the TKT then decided tofollow the course. This decision came with herfull commitment to making the most of thetraining. Her biggest challenge then was time.She was just on her second year of teaching with


a full teaching load in her rural school; at thesame time, she was studying for her degree inEnglish and English literature. But with good timemanagement and continued support from hermentors, she managed the workload well, hardlymissing a study group session. She completedher portfolio on time and achieved a Band 3 in allthe modules of the TKT exams.

The TKT syllabus was mostly familiar to Bhakthi,but she learnt a lot of new technical terminology,like ICQs(instruction checking questions), CCQs(concept checking questions), scaffolding, toname but a few. “I loved the content of the book,”but she found the module on classroommanagement with its practical topics to be themost useful for her. She learnt the importance ofproper instructions, managing materials andclassroom resources, using different correctiontechniques, setting up group work, using variedinteraction patterns and the different roles of theteacher.

Learning new strategies and a closer look atdifferent methodologies in her coursestrengthened not only her teaching skills andability to motivate and deal with problems in theclassroom, but they also strengthened herenjoyment of teaching. She saw positivechanges in her students, who had generallyresisted to learn English. She had laid thegroundwork for motivating them by constantlytelling them why English was relevant to theirlives and future, “you have to learn English … ifyou’re selling fish…how can you tell them howmuch… many hotels around the school, you canget jobs there if you learnt English.” Then sheused games and simple activities to make themfeel that learning it was easy. She had to go backto basics, from teaching the alphabet to herGrade 11 learners to working on spelling. With

the help of a volunteer teacher from the UK inher school, she transformed one room into anEnglish activity room. With Bhakthi’sresourcefulness and her stronger teaching skills,students became steadily enthusiastic aboutlearning English. Motivating her studentsbecame easier. “Even the weakest student wouldtry to write something to get a sticker,” she says.As soon as the bell rang for her period, herstudents would come running to sit in theclassroom.

A souvenir from her assignment in her formerschool is a note written in Sinhala by one of herGrade 11 students, which reads “Bhakthi teacher,I never understood what was taught for Englishuntil I met you.” Another significant memory isthe fact that the O/L results of her studentsgradually increased from 6% to 35% during thethree years she worked there. “So, I think TKTwas quite beneficial for us, me and my students,”she says modestly.

In her current school, Bhakthi must feel a senseof déjà vu. The school, although located inNegombo, is quite isolated and the use of Englishin the community is extremely limited. Sheexplains “English is more like a foreign languageto them, there is no exposure to the languageavailable in the area. Therefore, I want to createmore opportunities in the school which willexpose my students to English language. That’smy objective for the upcoming year.” The schoolwill soon realize that they couldn’t have picked abetter teacher for this mission. Bhakthi ispresently doing her MA in English Literature.


W.B.M Swarna Weerasekara RESC Chilaw 2019

Swarna was in for a surprise when she came forher first study group session of her CBB TKTtraining course. There were no lengthy lectures(as she was expecting)! Although lectures wereSwarna’s preferred instructional approach, thegroup discussions model in the sessions provedmore effective in achieving her goal in joining thecourse, which was to get updated on new trendsin the field of English teaching. In thediscussions, problematic topics in the TKTsyllabus were clarified and portfolio tasks werediscussed. They were also the forum forexchange of ideas for the tasks, feedback on theworkbook exercises, and sample exam tasks inthe TKT course book.

The portfolio was the element in the training thatput theory into practice. Swarna found that itpromoted creativity. She said, ‘’the portfolioopened up possibilities for experimenting on newways of teaching.” Swarna gave a good exampleof this. Teachers are expected to cover all theactivities in the coursebooks in their lessons andteachers are monitored accordingly. The TKTtraining showed that when teaching language, itis necessary to integrate the four skills in theclassroom in order to create authenticcommunication. However, activities in thecoursebooks generally segregate skills practiceso teachers often need to adapt course book

materials in order for all the language skills oflistening, speaking, reading and writing to bepresent in the tasks.

Project work lends itself to integrated skillsdevelopment. This is one of the ways thatSwarna promoted the development ofemployability skills in her students. She firstraised their awareness to the fact that whenstudents work on projects together, they aredeveloping other important skills likecollaboration, creativity, self-management,communication, critical thinking and problem-solving. Her Grade 9 class did a project ondifferent types of houses, some they hadn’t seenbefore, so her students did their research and ingroups put together a poster. Swarna hasreceived praise from her ISA on how sheeffectively promoted communication in her useof the integrated skills approach in her lesson,thus addressing her students’ needs in theirlanguage development.

Another key learning that Swarna took away fromthe TKT course involved lesson planning. Forexample, in reading lessons, she learnt about therationale and benefits of staging a lessonfollowing the pre, while and post reading stages.Coursebook lessons on reading rarely cover allthese stages. Swarna now adapts materials to gobeyond traditional comprehension questions forreading texts normally found in the coursebooks.She has also learnt the importance of planning avariety of interaction patterns in any givenlesson, a component of a lesson plan which shehadn’t paid much attention to before her TKTcourse. Varied interaction patterns can help varythe pace of a lesson, maximize participation andhelp achieve the learning aims of a lesson.


Her students have responded positively to thesechanges in Swarna’s teaching. The changesadditionally enable Swarna to cater to thedifferent learning styles of her students throughthe variety in her activities. “Some studentsdidn’t like writing, but can speak…some wrote…some selected pictures… even the weakerstudents got the idea, learning by listening… andwere also contributing, they got inspired to writea few sentences….” The most important thing,Swarna pointed out was they had been happilyengaged. Students who did not used toappreciate English and had been reluctant to usethe language have become more involved inextracurricular activities in English likecompetitions in the school magazine.

Swarna is the only English teacher in her school,so it’s fair to give her full credit for raisinginterest and achievement in English in her school.Out of 142 schools in Chilaw, her school hasmade it to the first 25 schools in the Zone withthe overall pass rate of English in the stateexams.

A.Sanath Sathischandra RESC Baddegama

Sanath was a teacher in a rural school in theSouthern Province when he did the CBB TKTtraining course in 2012. It was RESC Mentor, MrRanjan Rathnapala, who told him about thecourse.

He got through the course swimmingly. The self-study was manageable, travel to the RESC wasconvenient, the study group sessions were quitelong, running up to 6 hours, but he says “verywell-conducted as expected.” He felt that theportfolio was interesting, well-guided, anddirectly related to his daily lessons. Thepreparation for the exams was collaborative,much like all the other activities except the self-study, and this helped to make the amount ofwork manageable, enjoyable and effective.

Sanath described his pre-TKT course teaching asmore traditional, with instruction delivery throughlectures and translations. When he wasintroduced to the new methods in the course andsaw how they generated more studentinvolvement in the lessons, Sanath was quick toembrace them. He said, “In lecturing, studentshad nothing to do, just listening” whereas in the“new methods,” there was group work, moreinteraction, task-based and collaborativelearning. He also saw how adapting course bookmaterial could promote creativity in his learners,and this made them more motivated andengaged: “I think the TKT has done somewonders to me regarding this issue.” Hehighlighted the importance of planning,emphasizing that it was up to the teacher toexploit the coursebook by adapting andsupplementing materials in a such a way as togive maximum practice for the students. He said,“Teachers should only talk for 5 to 10 minutesout of the 40 minutes.”

In a reading lesson on the topic of plants andtrees, his pre-reading task was to get students togo out to the garden and draw and name 5 of theplants, bushes and trees they saw. “They camerunning with nice drawings,” he reports, and back


in class, he taught new vocabulary from thereading, then got his students to label theirdrawings using the vocabulary and present themto the class. The energy, enthusiasm andlearning in the classroom are easy to imagine. Heexplains, “Motivation matters the most.. keep itsimple, get them to draw, sing, give themtogetherness.” Sanath ticked all these boxes ashe concluded the lesson with the class singingalong to a nature song.

Sanath loves music and he strongly believes thatteachers can and should use songs as part oftheir classroom teaching. They contain authenticlanguage and can provide valuable language,speaking and listening practice, and they are funfor the students. He had learners in Grades 6, 7and 11 who couldn’t read, and through songs,they could interact with the language in English.

Since Sanath shifted from traditional methods tothe ‘TKT’ methods of teaching, his studentsbecame more interested in his lessons: “somerequested me to do tuition classes as well,’’ hesays. According to Sanath, the key is planning,including time management and allocating thestages within the 40 minutes. Sanath attributedhis strength in this aspect of teaching to hismentor, Mr Ranjan Rathnapala, referring to him as“my father in teaching.”

Sanath now works as an In Service Advisor (ISA)of English at the Ambalangoda Zonal Office.When he left his school in 2015, he had Grade 6students who, in 2019, moved up to Grade 11, thebatch that achieved a 73-75% pass in the O levelexams; this compares to about 20-30% in thepre-TKT era of their English lessons. In hiscapacity as ISA, Sanath passes on his valuablelearning from the TKT course to the teachers hesupervises. “I utilize my TKT knowledge when I

advise my teachers,” he says. Language analysis,grammar checklists, self-correction, use oftechnology, group work, supplementing andadapting materials, all encapsulated in histeaching mantra “1 planning, 2 planning, 3planning.” Could he be passing that on in a tune?

G. R. Nilushi Senadeera RESC Kegalle 2019

Nilushi has been an English teacher for 4 years.She teaches English to grades 6 to 10 at a juniorschool in Sabaragamuwa Province. There aretypically 10 students in her class.

She learnt lots of new techniques on the course.For example she was introduced to pair andgroup work, and how to check meaning throughthe use of concept checking questions. In heroriginal school before she moved recently theEnglish levels were very low as it was a ruralschool and because they had not had an Englishteacher for about 8 years. After she joined theschool another 2 English teachers came. Shemotivated her students to learn English throughlanguage games and videos. Earlier studentsdidn’t come to class because they were afraid ofthe English language. Now she says theyunderstand the importance of English. The TKTcourse gave her lots of idea. For example, shelearned how to select materials, she learnedlanguage games, and she learned how to presentgrammar in a student friendly way. Students sheexplained hated the word grammar so she


avoided using it and instead used timelines andarrows to show structures.

Raising awareness of employability skills wasintegrated into her course. Her students reallyenjoyed the employability skills work becausethey liked to do the group work activitiesThrough the employability skills integrated intothe CBB TKT course, the students learnt skills andgained knowledge that will help them in theirfuture. Students found out about different jobslike a teacher, a beautician, a music band player.One student said he would have to learn Englishso he could play in a band. She went overboardon employability skills. She organised a numberof different projects to get the students to usethem.

She ran a project on food festivals and studentstook roles of cooks wearing chef hats andaprons. She invited village people to come andasked the students to talk in English to theircustomers. She pre-taught phrases like ”What doyou need? Do you need this? These are cheap.”They were quite shy but it was a valuableexperience. She also made them aware that theywere using employability skills in this project liketeamworking, collaboration, communication andcreativity. Also at the festival to developentrepreneurial skills she sold things, collectedRs13,000 and invested this in creating an Englishactivity room for them.

In her rural area, there wasn’t a single word inEnglish in the village. Nilushi decided to createan English atmosphere in the village homes andgardens. The students had to search for words inEnglish in newspapers. She invited the principalsand two other teachers to visit the students’homes. In class she taught them vocabulary andat home they had to paste words in their homes.

One girl pasted the words “house’’, “door’’ andshe met parents who had never come to school.They were very emotional when they were visitedas nobody had ever visited them before. Thisproject has been expanded to other areas now.

She also initiated food making in the school. Sheintroduced food items into her classroom andrecipes and things like fruit salad, clubsandwiches and pizza. She asked them to make aclub sandwich and watallapan. She took this intoher English language lessons. She taughtingredients and procedure through the use ofvideos. She made food at home and brought it toschool. Eventually parents were also doing this.They would buy bread and make sandwiches. Theprincipals and the other teachers supportedthese projects. This was a good example ofemployability skills being utilised in the school.

She now has moved school because the originalschool took 7 hours travel every day and afterthree and a half year it was enough. When sheleft the parents cried. She still keeps in touchwith the students by sending them activities forreading and comprehension through IMO,WhatsApp or Viber and they send her exercises.


Amali Madushika Madanayaka

RESC Kalutara 2017

Amali has been an English teacher for 8 years.She teaches grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 at a nationalschool in the Western Province. She typically has30 students in her classes.

She really enjoyed the CBB teacher trainingcourse. She said that she had very informativediscussions with her fellow teachers and thetrainers. She said the study sessions were not likelectures. Rather they involved discussingproblems they had had when they were studying.She worked in a very small group so theinteraction was good, everyone participated andthey always found a solution to issues raised. Sheloved the portfolio aspect of the course as it wasvery practical. It allowed her to put theory intopractice in her classroom. It also gave her achance to reflect on her teaching which she hadnever really done before.

The course introduced her to new ways of doingthings: different ways of grouping students;different ways of doing demonstrations andgiving models; and effective ways of correctinglearners. She said that different ways of groupingstudents made happy and active learners so theydidn’t always work with the same people. Forgrouping, she would distribute cards amongstudents and asked them to get paired with thosewho got their synonyms. She used to underlineor circle the errors in students’ writing withoutspecifying the error. After the course she used

the symbols from the error correction code tonotify them of their errors and she found this tobe very effective. She also saw that using anerror correction code made students moreinteractive and independent as they could learnfrom self and peer correction and they couldhelp each other. It also meant that she could givemore general feedback to the class in delayederror correction

She also mentioned a number of other skills,knowledge and techniques she learnt from thecourse. These include phonology, lessonplanning, staging lesson plans, setting aims, usingsubsidiary and main aims and personal aims, andusing the blackboard correctly. She lovedintegrated skills lessons and complained that hercoursebooks did not do this but she now alwaystries to adapt and exploit her coursebook and itworks better at keeping students motivated. Shealso now uses technology in her classroom.

Asked about the impact of her learning on herschool she reported that most of the Englishteachers participated in this course after her.She explains that because they saw the newthings she had acquired from the course, theytoo wanted to get updated, refreshed and buildup more knowledge. She said that although shedoesn’t officially cascade her training, she doeswork closely with the English teachers in herschool and they often discuss the teachinglearning process and its progress so unofficiallyshe does help her colleagues. She said shewould advise others to do the course becauseit’s so practical. She says, “You get theoreticalknowledge and you can implement it too.”

For her, the most important impact of the coursehas been that it has helped the learners to studya second language happily and easily. She tells a


story to illustrate this. In her grade 6 class sheused to group her students only in the order oftheir seating they would turn round or back andthey would always be in the same group. Afterher first RESC mentor observation she was toldnot to use the same groups all the time as thestudents will get bored. Her mentor introducedher to techniques of grouping like matching andgames which helped. Her students then beganto ask her to group them in different ways andthey became more enthusiastic meeting andworking with different students every day. Shereally learnt a lot from the course.

D. Sumithra Fernando RESC Nuwera Eliya 2007

Sumithra has been teaching English for over 30years. She teaches grades 3 to 13 but she muchprefers the primary classes. She teachescurrently at an urban school in Central Provincebut previously she taught in rural schools. Shetook the CBB TKT course in 2007 so was part ofone of the earliest batches on the project.

She remembers well doing the course all thoseyears ago. She was in the first batch at her RESC.In order to apply the teachers had to write anessay about their teaching career. She wasclearly successful. From that she remembers theBritish Council selected the teachers. The coursewas pretty similar to what it is now. Weekdaystudy sessions were held after school once ortwice a week. They discussed problems, portfolio

completion, the workbooks and she remembersthat Lesley (from British Council) once observeda study session. She also thinks the finalcomments on her portfolio were written byLesley. Her mentors were Nadira and Kamala andsometimes she had to attend the zonal office andsometimes the RESC. She said the place wassmall but her batch learnt many things anddeveloped immensely.

Prior to the course she had some doubts aboutgrammar but after participating in the TKTcourse she felt that she could confidently handleher grammar lessons. The course really brushedup her grammar knowledge. Also in lexicalteaching she felt it helped a lot. She was exposedto different materials that could help like cuecards which could be used in matching exerciseseither as word and meaning or collocations. Shealso learnt about different lesson types likeguided discovery, the 5E method, andpresentation practice production. She alsodeveloped in her teaching of the writing skills.She had typically more than 40 students whowere very poor in writing. After the course shefelt she could support them more in not onlywriting but integrated skills work. She explainedthat they were frightened of making mistakes butshe gave them parallel writing tasks which helpedwith this fear. She also uses model texts whichbuild up their confidence.

She recalls one class with a grade 8 group whereher TKT learning directly impacted on the group.She had given a few topics for the class toprepare beforehand a presentation for the class.For those who were not confident in speakingshe helped them to build mini-dialogues and thenhad them act them out in the class (eg at thesupermarket, at the airport.) She said even thequietest students took part.


Nowadays she is still using techniques she learnton the course. She uses realia and visual aids tomotivate the students. She also motivates themby giving them lots of praise and small rewards.Her daughter also took the CBB TKT course in2012. She said that her daughter is much morecreative than her and she is now supporting Olevel students a lot in rural areas

Sumithra was very appreciative of the course andthe impact her learning has had on her ruralschool students. She has taught so many now totheir O levels. She also has developed as ateacher in skills and confidence and sheattributes this to the course. The experience andknowledge she learnt on the course she has longpassed on to her students. She has a request: togive opportunities to other young teachers.

M. N. Mufliya RESC Eheliyagoda 2018

Mufliya has been teaching for 32 years. She iscurrently the Deputy Principal and Englishteacher grade 10 and 12 at an urban school inthe heart of Ratnapura.

Asked about the best classroom practice shelearnt from the course she responded with anumber of different areas. She loved the lessonson phonology and she uses these activities in herclasses, mostly as warmers. She learnt a lotabout vocabulary activities, lesson planning,using personal aims and stage aims, discoveryactivities, and follow up activities. All of these

were new concepts to her and hadn’t been partof the curriculum when she was first taught in hertraining college in 1990.

Before TKT she didn’t do things like criticalthinking with her students but after she foundthat her learners participated actively. Prior tothe course she would just cover the coursebook.She didn’t write lesson plans in detail. Postcourse she did. She included stage aims anddetailed staging in her lesson plans. She hadnever considered grouping students before. Onthe course she learnt various ways of groupingstudents. She used these methods a lot: she usednumbers, handouts, colour coding, names offlowers, names of vegetables, all for grouping,and the students loved it. She found studentsbecome much more motivated by this. She alsofound the error correction code to be a big hitwith students. Earlier she said the students werereluctant to show her their answer but with theintroduction of the error correction code shefound that they came forward to her voluntarilyto get her help in correction. They also becameused to self and peer correction. Again this theyfound motivating.

She could also pass on her learning to her peersin the school. She could share her ideas withother teachers while they were doing theclassroom observations. She would observe themand then give them some suggestions forimprovement then observe them again after twoweeks. She found that they quickly adopted thenew methods and techniques. She could guidethem in areas of language and skillsdevelopment. She said that generally, theteachers apply what she tells them whether it isin the area of classroom management, timemanagement or correcting errors.


She felt that this project is a very useful one forall teachers. “After the course, teachers will havean idea of how to teach the four skills effectively:the methods of teaching them, and what tasks oractivities are suitable to teach these. Thestudents responses are very welcoming. Theylove learning, she says.

Asked to recall a significant moment in theclassroom inspired by the course, she recalls agrade 10 class. She had prepared 7 activities onsuffixes: she had a mix of matching activities; gapfills and comprehension. She remembered thatthe students reacted actively to these activities:they were so responsive and they kept asking herfor more activities.

Asked to recall a significant moment inmentoring, she recalled a time when she wasmentoring 5 English teachers and other subjectteachers. She uses the lesson planning methodsthat is from the TKT with them. She checked theirworkbooks and delivery and gave themfeedback.

Asked for any final comments she wanted tothank CBB for giving her and her teachers theopportunity to develop these skills. She says theultimate impact is that the grades of the studentshave improved over time and the students nowlove learning English.

Thilani Sumudika Bandara RESC Badulla 2018

Thilani was teaching at a school in Mahakundurain Uva Province when she did the CBB teachertraining course. This year she transferred to Ella,her hometown. She has been teaching for 8years. There are only 3 English teachers in herschool. She teaches English to grades 1 to 11and science to grades 8 to 11.

In the course she found the portfolio workparticularly useful. She could apply the learningfrom the course in her classroom. It gave her aguideline to complete the tasks. She felt shecould prepare well in the teaching practices asthe criteria was clearly mentioned in theportfolio. All the structures were mentionedclearly to teach with a great lesson plan. Shecould follow the steps clearly. For example sheprepared an error correction code as there was atask in portfolio on this. She found this reallyuseful to correct the answer sheet of herstudents.

When asked what classroom practices she foundmost useful on the course she mentioned threeareas. Firstly the selection and use of teachingaids. She particularly liked using puppets, picturecards, word cards and realia for different levels.Secondly she mentioned lesson planning. Shesaid that before the course she did not have aclear idea of stage aims for each and every step,of concept checking questions and instruction


checking questions, time management andactivities and interaction patterns. She startedusing all these strategies during the course andshe is still doing so now. The third area wasassessment types and tasks. She gave anexample of pre course she used to always justcheck skills for language proficiency by givingreading paragraphs and asking comprehensionquestions. On the course she learnt a variety ofother task types that can be used to checkreading comprehension (eg multiple choice,true/false, gap fill.) Similarly with writing, precourse she would tell them just to writeparagraphs. However after the course she couldprovide guided writing activities with modelparagraphs. She would analyse the vocabularyand structures and then ask the students to buildtheir own paragraphs. She did the course at thesame time as she was studying for her Bachelorof Education degree and the course helped herin her degree as well.

She gave an example of a lesson to grade 7. Thelesson was about the comparative andsuperlative form of adjectives. Here she madeuse of authentic materials in the classroom. Firstshe grouped the students and asked them to findthree leaves from three different trees. Then sheexplained the comparative and superlative formsof the adjective “small’’. She wrote the trees onthe board and posted their leaves on them thentaught the structures. She explained that thestudents learnt authentically. Then she usedpicture cards and word cards in the other stagesof the lesson. Later she used some puppets topractice the comparatives and superlatives ofthe adjectives. She had 3 puppets withdifference sizes of facial features. Her mother(who was also a primary teacher) had helped herto make them. The use of authentic materials andrealia has made her lessons more impactful.

Asked how she thought the course had impactedon her school, she said that all the studentswanted to do extra classes after school withsome games and group work they hadexperienced in her lessons – especially grades 6and 7. With the help of other teachers theyprepared some sessions and they organized aone day English camp for grades 6 to 11 andanother camp for grades 1 to 5. The RESCcoordinators, Mr Chandana and Mr Subasinghehelped them a lot. She has also shared herlearning with other teachers. Three teachers inher school teach grades 9 to 11. They didn’thave separate classrooms as the school is in arural area so when she was teaching her classthe students of the other classes were watchingher lessons. They too wanted to learn Englishusing various techniques and interesting learningmaterials rather than just chalk and board. So sheshared her learning with the other teachers andthey started to plan their lessons together.

When she was leaving the school, she spoke withthe principal and other teachers to encouragethe continuation of some of the initiatives. Theywere very helpful as were the parents. When shewas conducting after school classes, someparents would visit and provide food andrefreshments for the children from grades 6 to11. This continued twice a month when she wasat the school and she hopes it still continuestoday. When she left the students wanted toconduct their morning assembly in English andtheir marks for the English language paper weremuch higher than earlier. She certainly had animpact on her school!


Bimalka Chathumalee Liyanage RESC Kandy 2020

Bimalka has been teaching for six years andcurrently teaches at a rural school in Kothmale inCentral Province. She teaches English for Gradesone to nine, French for Grade 13 and Greek andRoman Civilization for Grade 12.

She found the portfolio work and the exampreparation work the most challenging. Theportfolio because she had to take care witheverything she wrote and all the lesson plans hadto be written according to a certain procedure.She also had to make it attractive. The exampreparation because the mentor made them dopractice tests within the time limit of the actualexam which was short. But she valued thispreparation as when she came to do the examthere was nothing new in it.

She was in the 2020 batch so raising awarenessof employability skills was integrated into hercourse. She felt that this added variety to hernormal school work and that it was valuable forthe students. She really took the employabilityproject to heart in terms of content and skills.She discussed it with the principal of her schooland with the approval started taking students onemployment visits. They visited a hotel where thestudents interviewed the chef who told themabout how his first job was cleaning onions andhe told them it was good to start at the groundlevel and work up. They also received training on

how to use cutlery. In addition they visited a teafactory and interviewed a tour guide, a factoryworker. And they visited Gregory Lake and spoketo a boat owner with the result that a number ofthe students wanted to become entrepreneurs.After the visits the students had to put together apresentation to talk about what they had learnedabout the jobs.

She integrated employability skills into all thelessons that she does. It has now become regularpractice for her. For example she explains howwith grade 6 and 7 group work, the whole idea ofworking with others, exchanging information andproblems, communicating and cooperating, all ofthese are central to employment. Her studentswere resistant at first to working in differentgroups as they wanted to stay with their regularfriends but she persisted and gave them thechance to mingle freely through games. After awhile they started wanting to do this kind ofactivity . Similarly with activity based learning.They quickly adopted this helped along often bya sense of competition. She explains that whenshe gave them activities it led them to think moredeeply. For example instead of what was normalpractice of just giving the answers to thestudents, she would give them a riddle, give themclues and they would work things out in groups.They needed to use their critical thinking skill.

She extended her own learning to that of thestudents. She thoroughly enjoyed puttingtogether her portfolio although she did find itchallenging. However in her classes sheencouraged group work and she observed agrowing enthusiasm and an interest in them. Shewanted her grade 4 to maintain a portfolio so sheasked them to buy a scrapbook and she got themto make a portfolio on their family. They could


paste pictures and draw and write stories abouttheir family. She expanded this to all her primaryclasses. She found that even the students whowere reluctant to learn English and write a singleletter in English wanted to make their ownportfolio and demonstrate their creativity. Sincethe portfolio task became very successful, wordsoon got around the school. All the otherteachers admired this work and wanted to do thesame in other subjects like environmental studiesand mathematics. Now she is considered a trendsetter in her school!

K M ChandanaSenadeera RESC Monaragala 2013

Chandana has been teaching English for 9 years.He now works at Monaragala Royal College whichis a prestigious national school in Uva Provinceand he teaches English to grades 6,8,9,10, andalso citizenship education in the English medium.However when he did the course in 2013 he wasteaching English at Siyambalanduwa SecondaryCollege.

Asked what he thought were the best classroompractices that he learnt from the course hereplied that planning lessons and using languageappropriately were the two areas where he feltthat he learnt the most. Before the course hesaid he didn’t pay much attention to instructing,eliciting and preparing for lessons. After thecourse he said that he felt that lesson planningmade him much more confident as a teacher. Helearnt how to stage lessons appropriately. Beforethe course he did not use stages and did notreally use any kind of systematic preparation

before entering a classroom. He learnt muchabout how to use language appropriately. Beforethe course if there were unfamiliar words in thecoursebook content he would ask the students toexplain or just translate. However his RESCmentor Leela showed him how to get across themeaning of new words by using explanations,eliciting, using synonyms and antonyms and howto check that the students had understood byusing concept checking questions.

What was the impact of his learning on hisstudents and school? He states that as a result ofthe course he was able to increase the O/Lresults in his original school from 23% to over60% which is quite remarkable. He said thatmost of the students when he was doing thecourse didn’t like English and they used to skipEnglish periods. He explained that it was a ruralarea and there were only a few English teachersin the school so they had to use subject teachersto teach English and they were not very effective.During the TKT course he started using bothdifferent techniques and materials. And hetransferred this learning to the classroom. Whenhe started using different materials like videogames, videos, pictures, speaking tasks andsongs, interest picked up.

He realizes the importance of motivatingstudents and treating them as individuals. Hegave an example. In Grade 6, most of thestudents were not able to write in English and didnot know the sounds of English. He said veryoften in lessons he had to forget about thetextbook and go back to the basics: the alphabet,the sounds of the letters, the use of the verb ‘’tobe’’, and how to use nouns, verbs and adjectives.He would do some extra classes after school andearly in the morning for these weaker studentsand they eventually caught up with the syllabus.


By paying attention to each and every student inthe class, by checking their individualperformance he was motivating his students. Heattributes this learning on his part to the unit onmotivation on the TKT course.

When he joined the O level Grade 11 students,their results were very low, He was able toincrease it step by step and when he left theschool in 2017, it was 62 % pass rate, whereas in2010, it had only been 11 % pass. He firmlybelieved that his TKT training helped achieve this.The Director of English in the ProvincialDepartment of English must have agreed as heappointed him as Head of English in his school in2015. After this he consistently shared his TKTknowledge with the other teachers. Once a week,every Monday, they would have a teachersmeeting for both English teachers and subjectteachers who taught English and helddiscussions about teaching. He also introducedother teachers from his school and neighbouringschools to the RESC to do the course also.

He realises the importance of developingteachers as only in that way can the learning bepassed onto students. He said that when he didhis O levels in 2001, there were no Englishteachers in his school; he failed his O levelEnglish first time round. This experience madehim realize how important quality Englishteachers are and since then he has been anadvocate of training for English teachers. Healways advises them to do the CBB TKT course.Now more than 5 teachers from his previousschool have completed TKT and the languageteaching in the school is much improved – asclearly evidenced in their O level pass rates. Hewas so popular that when he left this school hisstudents were angry at him.

Sanjeeva MLS Bandara RESC Mahiyangana 2017

Sanjeeva is currently the teacher in charge ofEnglish at a rural school in Uva Province. Heteaches grades 8,9,10 and 11. He has beenteaching for 6 years. His class size is typically 35students.

He enjoyed doing the teacher training course.His mentors Nishanti and Yapa worked very hardto motivate their teachers and provide them withinteresting activities and lots of clearexplanations as well as clarifying any of theirdoubts. Despite the distance he had to travel toreach the RESC (25 kilometres) from his home, hemanaged the course and didn’t miss anysessions.

He found the methods, techniques andknowledge on the course very practical. Hebegan to use warmers and creative activities inhis classes and the learners became much moreinterested in his lessons. He discovered that oneof the problems of his learners was that they hadfossilized errors and had been mis-taught certainlanguage. He started to use dictionaries withthem and showed them how to use them. He alsorealized that parents and students thought thatby completing the textbook that meant they werelearning so he had to work hard to change thatattitude. He started using a variety of materials,new activities, story telling and took studentsoutside of the classroom and exposed them todifferent language so they better understood thelanguage in context. Taking them out of theclassroom where they could use language in afree manner, where they didn’t think about thegrammar or vocabulary too much, they would


then try to use more and more English. Changingthe physical environment and taking themoutside the class was much more relaxing andhelped them to become more comfortable usingEnglish.

He also had to manage with limited resources.Students could use a small activity centre whichhad videos and he showed those who hadinternet resources ways of using websites forlanguage development. The activity room hadposters, books and realia and he aimed to makeit an English environment. Also he organized anEnglish club for his grade 6 to 11 students afterclass or whenever he was free. He says,“whatever I learned from the RESC I applied inthe classroom.” The TKT course motivated him toinitiate these activities; the inspiration came fromhis training.

In the zone, he became a resource person for theRESC and since 2016 he has managed Englishcamps. He also had a chance to train otherteachers. There is an annual camp for studentson the subject of language and he helped to trainteachers to deliver the camps at differentschools in the zone. So not only does he impacton his school students he also impacts on hisfellow teachers throughout the zone.

He believes that because of his experience, herealized that the students had different ideas andattitudes about language learning. He felt that ifhe could motivate them, then they could learn.His CBB TKT course helped him to do this andprovided him with the motivation, learning andskill to motivate his students. His students weremotivated by doing new activities, newtechniques, group work, presentations. Thestudents who were better in English would work

with the ones who needed help and slowlyeveryone’s participation eventually increased.

Exam results have been impacted on. The O levelin 2014 for his first appointment pre -TKT was16%. After 1 year of CBB TKT training it increasedto 39%. Since 2016 it has been about 45-50%.He was the only teacher handling Grade 11 Olevel. He called it ‘’the golden era of [his[ life’. InDecember 2018 the students sat for the exam. 6students got A passes for English - a record inthe school.

K A Deepika RanmaleeRESC Gampaha 2016

Deepika has been teaching for 10 years. Sheteaches at a school in Gampaha in the WesternProvince. She is the teacher in charge of Englishin the primary section. Her classes typically have40 students in them.

She found the portfolio work very useful in thecourse. It helped her understand the practicalaspects of the theories and apply them in herclassroom. She said unlike other courses shehad done, this course was very practical. Forexample with lesson planning it was very detailedwith specific objectives for lessons and specificstages for each part. It helped her to be morefocused in putting together lessons that coveredinput, practice and assessment.

One positive on the course was that her mentorguided her batch very well with a lot of extra


classes. She provided so many past papers,guided them in their portfolio, marking strictlybut fairly. She said during the course “TKTbecame our life during that period because theywanted us to show results.” And she wassuccessful! She got band 3 in all the modules inher TKT exam and got a strong pass for herportfolio. Another positive was theencouragement of reflection. This reflectionhelped her understand better ways of doingthings after the TKT sessions. It also taught herinstruction checking questions which benefittedher lessons.

Asked what she liked and disliked about thecourse she said, “I liked and enjoyed every bit ofit!” She explained that she appreciated the lessonobservations as she really wanted her mentors toobserve to check how they were applying whatthey learnt during the course. She said that theZonal office also would observe them but thatthe RESC mentors gave more thorough feedback,and were a better guide. They gave comments onthe materials, the planning of the lesson and thedelivery. She said that the observations made heraware for the first time about some techniquesshe could be using (eg the way to plan theboardwork).

Asked what specific classroom practices she gotfrom the course, she replied that prior to thecourse she had problems with the instructionsshe was using to set up group work. They werejumbled. But on the course she learnt to writethem in her lesson plans and also ICQs to checkthem. She would write the steps in her plan andthis really helped her to set up her group workmore effectively. She also learnt aboutassessment types and tasks. Prior to the courseshe was only aware of a few options for

assessment. However during the course shelearnt about different assessment tasks fortesting reading and listening skills like true/false,gap fills, multiple choice, ordering paragraphsand for writing different tasks like filling in forms,story writing, sentence completion and picturedescriptions. She said this was very beneficial forher learners and the variety made the lessonsmuch more interesting. Another area she learntabout was different methods of correctinglearners: delayed feedback. Here learners do atask, the teacher monitors and notes down anylanguage errors and then later on or in the nextlesson the teacher will do an error correction slotwith them. That way the teacher is not identifyingwho has made the error but rather focusing ongeneric errors but those specific to the group.She said that by doing this the number ofmistakes the students made gradually reduced.She noted that in the primary classes studentswere not afraid to make mistakes. She would holdmini session assemblies in class where thestudents took it in turn to talk to the class aboutdifferent topics. She would then do some delayedfeedback on this. The impact of all this on theirlearning was that the end of term tests showedmarked improvement.

She said that 3 more teachers were selected forthe next TKT course from her school and this wasa real benefit to the school. They have 25 Englishteachers and she is the teacher in charge of theprimary section. She now observes her teachersin the same way her mentors observed her. Shefeels fortunate to be able to share herexperiences with her teachers and guide them aswell as encourage them to follow the TKT course.Since her school is a government approvedprivate school they conduct various programmesto upgrade the English skills of the students so


this course helped her a lot in organising thoseprogrammes with her teachers. She organisesprogrammes like mini assemblies, English day(public speaking), a grade 5 three monthprogramme to stimulate interest in literature. Sheattributes her confidence in conducting theseprogrammes to the TKT course. By planning andorganising the programmes well and conductingthem effectively she will help to improve furtherand sustain the learner outcomes.

Jeyamani TheivendranRESC Vavuniya 2014

Jeyamani has been teaching for 25 years. Sheteaches English in an urban school in theNorthern Province. While she was doing the CBBteacher training course in 2014 she was anEnglish teacher. Since last year she has been thecoordinator for English for the school andteaches English Language to grades 7, 8, 11, 12and 13 and English Literature to grades 10 and11.

She was surprised at the depth in the course andto be involved in portfolio work. This she had notexperienced before in her training college.Reflecting on her learning and teaching becamean important part of her professionaldevelopment from the start of the course. Thecycle she experienced in the study sessions wasalso developmental and immensely helpful:planning, discussing, improving, delivering,reflecting and then repeating it. She called theportfolio a “a self-preparation and a self-actualization for a teacher to do her workperfectly. I must say it’s a teaching diary for a

teacher, she can revise it whenever she has adoubt.” Because she was putting theory intopractice in the classroom and evaluating theimpact of it, she explained, it really helped her torealize her strengths and weaknesses.

Asked what she liked about the course shementions learning about grammar, lexis,phonology, lesson planning and the techniques ofpresentation and practice activities. She hadheard of these before but it was only on thecourse that she could go into these in any depth.What she didn’t like was all the homework : theextra exam practice; the portfolio writing up; theself study homework. But she said it was worth it.Asked about what she felt were the bestclassroom practices she learnt from the courseshe mentioned eliciting, using varied warmers,using different ways of presenting vocabulary,doing concept checking, selecting activities fromcontrolled to freer for language and skilldevelopment, delivering useful games and usingdifferent methods of correcting learners.

She described one change that she had made inher lessons because of the course. Pre courseshe would use one aim for a lesson and focus ononly one thing (grammar point or skill) but duringthe course she learnt that you could have mainaims, subsidiary aims, stage aims and personalaims and you could teach a mix of skills andlanguage. She also learned that she couldevaluate herself after a lesson and then build onthat learning. She found that it was very useful tobreak the lesson into stages and she enjoyedticking off the stage aims as they were achieved.

The students have responded well to thechanges in their teacher’s classroom practice.They have become much more interested inlearning. Now when she elicits information or


language everyone is keen to respond. She findsthat the concept checking questions help thelearners’ motivation. If she is teaching thempresent continuous for now’ and she wants tocheck their understanding of the structure shemight show them a picture and ask them whatthey are doing, then check ‘’Is It happening nowor did it happen yesterday?’’ This she findsmotivates both strong and weak students alike asthey feel they are learning something. The use ofwarmers also helps the students to talk andrespond. The use of varied interaction patternsdevelops the learners’ confidence. The studentslike the increase in group activities where theypractice speaking. They also enjoy using theerror correction code for self and peercorrection. One of her A level students told her,“You are teaching in an interesting way. Now it’seasy for us to learn English happily.”

The course also has a legacy. Once a term, theschool has a quality circle for English Languageand the TKT teachers come together to sharetheir learning with the other English teachers.This is especially for classes with O levelstudents. She gives advice on how to deliverlessons, prepares additional task sheets for thelearners, shares teaching materials, andsometimes gives them lesson plans using theCBB TKT course template.

For the school the impact is seen in the examresults. The O and A level English results aregradually increasing: in 2018, 64% Pass for Olevel, in 2019, 82% Pass for O level. She says thatnow most of the teachers in the school havecompleted the course so it has definitelyimpacted on the exam results. She also pointsout the importance of observation of teachers.As a coordinator she observes and mentors her

teaches. She advocates for a competition forteachers to demonstrate best practice. In thezone they held a small one and she got secondplace for classroom management in 2018. Thisshe wants to expand.

A Janakie Weerasinghe RESC Kahawatta 2019

Janakie has been teaching English for 7 years.She teaches grades 6 to 11 in an urban school inthe Sabaragamuwa Province with a typical classsize of 40. She has a Diploma in Teaching Englishas a Second Language and a National Diploma inTeaching. She came onto the course expectingto learn some techniques for getting herstudents to speak. She learnt this and muchmore.

Raising awareness of employability skills wasintegrated in the course in 2019. She said thatthis motivated her students and encouragedthem to speak English. She set up a debate ingrade 10 which developed their creativity andtheir thinking skills. The debate encouraged themto use English. In Grades 3 and 4 she got theclass to make a booklet as a project. They had tofind out from their family about what jobseveryone did and display this in a story book toshare with the rest of the class. This became acompetition and they were very eager to win it.Collaboration was key here.


Asked what were the classroom practices thatshe learnt from the course she mentioned beingexposed to lots of different kinds of materials forteaching purposes, for example, the use of realia,picture cards, and videos. She said that thestudents responded well to the use of a variety ofmaterials in the classroom. She also said that shelearnt a lot about lesson planning. Prior to thecourse she didn’t know how to make a lessonplan. But during the course she learnt how toplan step by step. Before the course she wouldjust put the date, the lesson objectives, and thematerials used. But after the course she wouldplan every stage with aims and procedural detail.As she pointed out this made it easy for anotherteacher who could just lift the lesson plan and goand deliver the lesson. She also quickly adoptedthe use of the correction codes with herstudents. This she felt helped them to becomemore independent because they could use it todo self and peer correction. Another aspect shelearnt was time management and how toallocate time appropriately to activities in herlesson.

The students have responded well to the changein their teacher’s classroom practice. They nowgrasp ideas more easily. For example in a class toteach comparative adjectives she used differentpencils to get across the meaning of thecomparative adjectives and she also brought intoclass a red rose to get across the form ofadjective plus noun. This the students found somemorable that the next day the students werewanting her to bring more pencils and red roses.

Asked about the impact the course has had onthe school she said that it has provoked a changein attitude of her students to learning English.Prior to doing the course her students didn’t like

learning English. Now they try to use English andthey like the English subject. At the start of aclass they are seated and ready for the lesson soshe feels encouraged because they students arenow actively interested in the subject.

She also explains that it has impacted on bothclassroom activities and the school assembly. Inthe morning assembly all grades 6 to 11 aregathered. They now do the assembly in English.She encourages her classes to make a shortspeech, tell a story, recite a poem or act out asmall drama. They can practise this in class andthen feel confident before the assembly. This shefeels has enhanced their creativity andconfidence in English. Also she shares herexperiences and learning from the course withthe other teachers in her school. She has shownthem how to motivate students by using avariety of materials like videos and realia.

M A Shirani Wickrama RESC Balapitiya 2012

“The CBB teacher training course made meneglect my household work!!” A bona fide,actual, veritable statement from Shirani on thechallenges she faced when she was doing thecourse in 2012. It wasn’t about what she likedabout the training. But it may well have been herhusband’s answer to that question if it had beenposed to him because Shirani said that herhusband had given her the support she neededthen, and quite happily, “He liked my studies.”


Shirani gave that answer not to complain, but tosay that the course had been demanding interms of time and amount of work. The trainingtook place during term time, and it required dailyself-study hours, attending weekday studysessions after school, completing homework,(“We did a lot of home work based on the pointsdiscussed during the sessions”) and the portfoliotasks. She explains : “I had to drowsily work whenI was doing portfolio, I selected portfolio [ideas]…I let my children sleep.. I stayed the night andworked calmly but the next day, I had to bear upwith my drowsiness.” Time for all of these had tonaturally come from what normally would havebeen her time for family. Fortunately, Shirani’shusband was happy to share looking after thechildren, who were at that time in their earlysecondary and late primary years.

The sacrifices were worth it. Shirani attainedBand 4 and 3 results in her TKT exams and herPortfolio was assessed as a Strong Pass - anaffirmation of her hard work and learning fromthe course. “I learnt a lot from course. I gotrefreshed, sometimes the content of moduleswas familiar, some were new things like groupactivities, we didn’t used to do a lot ofgroupwork, but in the TKT course, theyemphasised group work and shared learning,”she explains.

“Before I followed the course, my lessons weretoo ambitious. After the course, I limited them toone or two objectives, I tried to reduce TTT andencourage student talking time, I encouragedgroupwork and peer correction wheneverpossible.” One day, Shirani’s supervisor came toher class to observe her teaching. It was aspeaking lesson and the students were asked todevelop their own dialogues for a role play. She

describes what happened: “First I gave them amodel, then gave them language and situationsto [be able to] use the same language. Thestudents built up very good dialogues and actedthem out to the class.” With gusto, one canconclude. Shirani’s supervisor was quiteimpressed with the students’ performance andwanted to video one of her lessons, presumablyto use as a model lesson for training. “I was veryhappy that day.” She got a pat on the back withthe supervisor saying that she was a very goodteacher.

Scaffolding learning and integrating group workwere areas in her teaching practice that Shiranifeels she developed from the course and havebenefitted her learners. She recounted a lessonwith her Grade 8 class when her students provedthat these strategies were effective in promotingshared learning. She explains. “I formed mixedability groups with the best students and lowachievers … when they get used to group work,their participation improved and they tried tospeak with whatever language they had… their[stronger] colleagues helped them and they werebetter than they were earlier.”

In 2018, Shirani was appointed to another schoolin her district to take on the role of Key Teacherof English heading the English department for allprimary and secondary grades. Needless to say,the teachers she supervises continue to gainfrom their Key Teacher’s extensive experienceand knowledge. She stressed the importantplaced in the TKT course on developing speakingskills: “In the TKT programme, they asked us toencourage speaking in English.” She added thatin the TKT course, they had been instructed tocreate a conducive English learning environmentin the classroom by displaying language, by using


varied materials and resources, includinglanguage games, to facilitate acquisition. Shiranifeels that “they [their students] have alreadyreached a certain level of this…TKT was the seedto improve speaking of the students.”

As part of the General Education Modernization(GEM) Project of the Government of Sri Lanka inpartnership with the World Bank to improve andstrengthen education in Sri Lanka, Shirani’sschool has been selected to be one of theschools to implement an English immersionprogramme, which entails promoting studentexposure to the language through Englishdisplays on the premises, holding of dialoguesand English programmes, teacher use ofclassroom language in English, and use of Englishin teaching other subjects. Shirani plays a pivotalrole in this effort. Hearing about how she hasmade the most of her training from the TKTcourse and using her successes as learningpoints for her teachers, her school’s already gota gem!

Thangesh Kumar RESC Batticaloa 2019

Thangesh was in the 2019-2020 batch of theproject. His post-CBB teacher training journeytook a different turn from the typical path as rightafter his CBB course, he stopped teaching totake on a new job at his RESC in Batticaloa.Although his title is Teacher-in-charge at theRESC, his role is that of a teacher trainer. Most ofhis work entails conducting lesson observationsand mentoring of around 40 teachers in 20schools in his Zone, but he is also involved in

various teacher training programmes andprojects organized by the National Institute ofEducation and the Ministry of Education, as wellas in education projects organized by otherorganizations.

Although he didn’t return to the classroom as ateacher after his TKT training, Thangesh’slearning from the course is far from wasted. Onthe contrary, it can be said that it can bemultiplied to some degree by the number ofteachers he trains! This is because Thangeshfeels that the CBB training course has made apositive and significant impact on some of his keybeliefs about effective teaching language and hepasses this on in his training and mentoring. Forexample, he learnt how the PPP (presentationpractice production) lesson structure can givethe teacher a lot of flexibility in the amount andvariety of practice, how it can better achieveintegrated skills development, how it affordsinclusion, and how this helps with learnerassessment. He learnt how to plan receptiveskills lessons more effectively by following the 3stage structure (pre while post), how to usequestions for concept checking, and why it isimportant to check understanding of meaningbefore teaching the form of new language. Helearnt how the use of visual aids and bodylanguage can replace long teacher explanationsin presenting language (so, less yawning in theclassroom!), and how more STT (student talkingtime) and self and peer correction can create amore positive learning environment duringlessons (so, less work for the teacher and lessdemoralized students!)

The list of passed on knowledge goes onincluding ways of giving feedback. But the reallygood news is that the multiplier for the cascadeof learning from the TKT course continues to


increase. Thangesh officially starts his new postas Assistant Director of Education for his districtin the near future.

And what about the students? Asked whatevidence Thangesh had in order to show thatthese changes in teaching practice havebenefited the learners, he said, “more studentengagement and more involvement in theteaching process.” “Students stopped saying ‘Ican’t read. I can’t understand.’” “Students feelmore comfortable in class, and they willinglylearn English.” And if more concrete evidence isneeded here is what one student said: “Sir, canwe come to [the] language unit for the freeperiod?” He also explained that there was “anincrease in the percentage of O level passes inour zone this year compared to the previousyear.” These were good answers. HopefullyThangesh can continue to impact on the pupils inhis zone through his work with the teachers asAssistant Director of Education.

Malsha Wimalagunasekare

RESC Hambantota 2018

Malsha had been teaching for 6 years when shefollowed the CBB TKT training course. To stay upto date with developments in teaching andlearning English has been and continues to be ofvital importance to Malsha to stay motivated inher teaching. This was the reason she joined theCBB training course in 2018.

Malsha said that through the course, she learnt

new teaching methods as well as ways of usingfamiliar methods differently and more effectively.“And that’s why I feel that the TKT course made agreat impact on me. The training course mademe more confident in what I was doing.”

Different ways of grouping students, differentmethods of correcting learners, and differenttypes of assessment activities are the classroompractices Malsha considers to be the best amongthe new teaching practices she learnt. “I used togroup the students according to their seatingarrangement,” then she switched to countingnumbers, mingling activities and mini games. “Iused to correct [students’] mistakes orally bymyself most of the time,” then she started usingtechniques that encouraged self-correction likefinger correction, gestures and echo-correcting.To assess her students’ learning, she usedtraditional methods of asking questions about thetext they had read, or giving simpletransformation exercises like converting activesentences to passive, but from the course, shelearnt new tools like “proof reading, re-ordering,multiple choice and gap-fill activities.” Her newstrategies create opportunities for non-threatening, formative checkpoints in herinstruction, which can be done more frequentlyand less formally.

How did her students respond to these changes?“Students are enthusiastic working in groups andgetting help from each other.” Some students arehesitant to ask the teacher, so they are happy tobe able to work with their peers. “When I say,‘You’re working in groups,’ students holler‘Yeeeyyy!’” As to correcting errors, Malsha’s newtechniques trained learners to take responsibilityfor their learning, and this makes them confidentin communicating in English even if they know


that they are making mistakes. “Duringpresentations, when they commit ‘slips,’ theirpeers correct them,” and they prefer this to theteacher correcting them. So does the teacher!This makes the teacher smile, and this approvingsignal motivates the students even more. As toassessments, her non-traditional repertoirekeeps students engaged in their learning, “evenmy slower learners find them interesting andengaging.”

Seeing the positive changes in her students’learning of English in her classroom motivatedMalshi to go beyond the confines of herclassroom walls. She wanted to make the entireschool “their English learning arena.” This meansexposing students to English in the commonareas in the school premises, for example bydisplaying useful English words and phrases onthe walls and boards around the school, using anEnglish pricelist of items at the canteen andputting up English instructions in the computerlab and in the library, and encouraging studentsto at least use English vocabulary when talkingwith their friends outside class. In her newschool after a recent appointment, Malsha led inorganizing regular level assemblies to givestudents a forum to give presentations on schoolnews to a bigger audience. Students take turnsto share information to their entire level in thesegatherings. Malsha notes that because thestudents already know about thesedevelopments in their school, getting them tolisten to their peers talking about these events, inEnglish, gives students meaningful and authenticlistening practice. In these rural areas, “studentsotherwise do not get exposure to English in theirhomes,” she says.

Students make the effort when Malsha speakswith them informally outside class. But Malshasays that the best proof yet of their increasedmotivation in their English learning is “when I’mdelayed, they come and collect me and tell meit’s time to come to class.”

P. Eranga Yasamali Senarathna RESC Polonnaruwa 2012

Eranga did the CBB training course in 2012.Eight years later, it is evident that the impact ofthe course on her teaching practice andtherefore, on student learning in her classes, hasremained unchanged.

“The special thing is the connection with ourmentors.” Teachers were observed in theirdelivery twice during the course; this wasstandard in all the CBB courses throughout theyears. Eranga valued mentor feedback in theseobservations. She feels privileged that the samementors have continued to come to observe herlessons over the years following her CBB trainingas part of the periodic inspections initiated bythe Zonal Education Office. A regular observer ofher lessons has been her TKT mentor, Mr.Gajanayake, whom she described as “a realfacilitator and a friendly person, very resourceful.We can discuss any problems with him, [he’s]always [been] ready to help and give us advice.”


Eranga also feels that the strong practicalelement in the CBB training course was whatmade the training different from all the othertraining she has done. “It [the portfolio] wasreally useful. It was a guide that led us to doactivities at every stage of a lesson in order tocreate better teaching learning process in theclassroom.” The step to step guidance hasimmensely helped Eranga in her lesson planning.Changing from the “normal” method in which sheprepared her lessons before her TKT coursetraining to planning lessons with clear stage aimsafter learning this from her course, her lessonplanning life was positively transformed. Shefound her lessons a lot easier to conduct; shewas able to include a wider variety and numberof purposeful activities. “It [setting stage aims]was the magic trick.”

From the course, she learnt new techniques anda host of motivating teaching resources, whichshe has regularly used in her teaching. All ofthem have improved student engagement andenjoyment in learning English. For example, sheused to correct students’ errors on their writtenwork herself. In general, students paid littleattention to these, and on the rare occasions thatthey did, what they read in red ink would beeasily forgotten. However, when Eranga startedusing correction codes for writing, studentresponse reversed. The students becameinvolved, analysed their mistakes, checked withpeers, and “they enjoyed error correctingthemselves.” She remarked that theimprovement in accuracy in student writing wasnoteworthy: “Even normal students started towrite complete sentences because they couldidentify their own errors. “ Eranga noted thatstudents also learn a lot from each other’swriting. She recalled a writing lesson she had

planned for her TKT portfolio. Her focus was onthe development of the sub skills of spelling andpunctuating correctly and proofreading. Afterself-correcting, students put up their writings onthe walls for the others to read and comparedthem with their own. “Some students said theyrealized their [other] mistakes and what theyshould include in their work.”

That was a specific story about error correction,but it epitomizes the common theme in teachers’post training success stories - teachers usingwhat they learnt from the course to deliverlessons where students engage more, enjoy theirlessons, learn from each other and takeresponsibility for their own learning of English.One of Eranga’s students puts this process intohis own words: “Teacher, now I can understand…I got all correct. I’m happy.”


58 - A Celebration of the CBB Teacher Training Project- 2005-2020 58 - A Celebration of the CBB Teacher Training Project- 2005-2020

Shane MartenstynBritish Cou ncil teacher, Singapore and ex Assistant Project Manager at British Council, Colombo

IntroductiontotheRESCMessagesThe Regional English Support Centres, better known asRESCs, have helped shape English Language Teaching overthe years and continue to do so. I had the opportunity towork with RESCs and trainers from 2012 to 2016, and I felt itwas a very rewarding experience. To be fair, they make 9 to5 great!

My first experience of seeing a RESC was when I visited theJaffna RESC in 2012 to deliver TKT exams to 12 teachersfrom Jaffna and Vavuniya as part of the Council for Businesswith Britain English Teacher Training Project. As theinvigilator for the day I had to ensure that everything was inplace for the exam: clock placed in front of the candidates,exam instructions posted on the wall and instructions tostart the test.

Thirty minutes later I realise the building next door wasbadly damaged due to the thirty year civil war that ended in2009. A few minutes later I hear banging and I look out thewindow and see construction workers demolishing theremaining parts of the building. They are unaware that these12 teachers are doing an important exam which wouldenable pupils to gain better access to quality education. Iplead with the workers to stop, tell them that there is anexam going on, that the teachers are unable to focus butalas, they continue.

Mohan, Jaffna RESC trainer and CBB mentor at the time, hasa message from the workers. They say that I must be “silly”to ask them to stop when these teachers a few years agohad to teach pupils at the height of the war. He goes on totell me that the noise that they are making now cannot becompared to the shelling that took place outside the sameclassroom. The desks previously used as shields are nowbeing used for what they should be used for! I apologise forthe disturbance. A few months later there is a sigh of reliefwhen their results are released - the majority have obtained


RESCAmparaSherine Adihetti Former co-ordinator RESC Ampara

Alittlehelpforourteachers

We used to call the teachers to come to the RESCevery Monday from 2. 30-4. 30 p.m., as theteachers found it difficult to complete the workentrusted to them. Whenever they had problems,we, the mentors, would help them. They were sohappy doing the work together and always saidthat this was the best way to help them, throughmeeting with them every week.

Also, the mentoring done by the British Council,whenever we made a request to discuss anydifficulties regarding the course content, washighly appreciated. Throughout the academicyears, your visits were very helpful for theteachers.

One suggestion is to extend the time duration forthe course to make it more appropriate for theteachers. We’re happy to say that they haveimproved in their classroom teaching. We havenoticed the improvement based on our first andsecond classroom observations of the teachers’lessons.

RESCAnuradhapuraShamila Dharmasena

AmemorableTKTmoment

It was 2018. We reached the A/ MadawachchiyaKiri Galwewa Maha Vidyalaya for the TKT LessonObservation which is about 30 kilometres awayfrom Anuradhapura city. The TKT-trained teachertook the class of grade 7 and we observed herlesson.

The lesson was well planned and delivered withrelevant teaching aids. The teacher did not useher mother tongue at all during her lesson. Shehandled the lesson very well and the studentswere using the target language. The students inthat class showed higher language standardswhich we wouldn’t expect from the students ofthat type of a remote school.

Later, it was revealed that those students hadbeen supported by the teachers of English, afterschool and on weekends over a continuousperiod of time. As a result, the students hadgained a higher language competency in English.This incident reminds me of how hard work paysoff. The day we spent at that school marks amemorable day in my life.

excellent grades. This is just one of the stories that I have been part of, and I am sure there are manymore.Sri Lanka is a value proposition for education in Asia and it is important that teacher educators such asRESC trainers are given the support they need for that to be cascaded to classroom teaching.

These are some of their stories.

RESCMessages

RESCBandarawelaP G Amarasiri

HowIbecameaTKTTrainer

Soon after I joined RESC Bandarawela in 2009 Iwas selected for a 25 day teacher trainingprogramme for non-English graduates in the UvaProvince which was conducted by the BritishCouncil. Soon after that, I was given a chance tosit for the TKT exam by Mr Seamus who was incharge of that course with Dr Lesley Dick. It wasjust a month prior to the TKT exam in January in2010 but I accepted the challenge and did all thethree modules, portfolio and teaching practicewithin that short period of time and got throughthe exam with one band four and two band 3passes.

Soon after the results were out I was given anopportunity, together with Himali Wanigasekara,to prepare the teachers for TKT exams which wasanother challenge as a new trainer to the RESC.But I believe I was able to deliver sessionssuccessfully over the last 9 years and I havecontributed to training more than sixty teachersfrom Bandarawela and Welimada EducationZones plus conducting practice tests for threeyears. I also joined in moderating visits everyyear.

Through all these tasks, I believe I was able tobecome a confident trainer, and I must thank theBritish Council for providing opportunities for theteachers to become efficient and confidentteachers in the country, especially from the ruralareas such as Bandarawela where the teachereducation opportunities are very rare.

I also hope The British Council will restart helpingthe RESCs and teachers with more teachertraining opportunities.

RESCChilawP Rasika D Fernando

MemorablemomentduringTKT

Though the journey of TKT was a short one forboth the mentors of RESC Chilaw, we cherish anumber of remarkable memories. It is a greatpleasure for us to share the remarkabletransformation of teachers who readily appliedthe outcome of TKT to make the teachinglearning process a success. As a result, thelearners of rural, less advantaged schools werehighly benefitted.

Visiting P/Pottuwilluwa Government, a very ruralschool close to Puttalam, 70 kilometres awayfrom the RESC and without a proper transportsystem to reach it, became a significantexperience. The innocent students who werestruggling to fulfil their daily needs, yet enjoyinglearning English, touched our hearts. With theenthusiastic teacher, three schools wereconnected and English training became a novelexperience for 6 teachers and 120 learnersalong with their principal.

Every year on Orientation day RESC Chilaw welcomesthe new batch of teachers innovatively

A teacher created this illustration last year to portray their welcome.


RESCGampahaNilani D Karunaarachchi Mentor

Atreasureofacourse

TKT is a treasured course for teachers of Englishin Sri Lanka. It is a very good opportunity forthem to refresh their knowledge with newmethods and techniques to make the teachinglearning process a success. Language games,warmers, the writing process, the correctioncode, pronunciation practice and the lessonplans which are introduced in the course, arehighly used by the teachers in classrooms.

RESCHangurankethaValuablecourse

TKT is a valuable course for our teachers sinceHanguranketha is a developing area. Every year,a number of teachers ask for TKT applications.We continue to have a long waiting list.

Teachers have benefitted and learn to workconfidently and creatively and are motivated toalso do higher studies successfully along with theinternational recognition.

I have been working as a mentor from 2006. Ican recollect some interesting as well as difficultmoments of study sessions. It was reallyinteresting to observe teacher’s arguments toclear their doubts in the course, especially withthe portfolio.

We had to stay long hours though a session wassupposed to last just two hours. Sometimes wehad to go beyond the schedule and conductextra sessions.

Finally, we extend our heartiest gratitude to theBritish Council and the Council for Business withBritain officers for letting the teachers takeinternational exams with no charges. Otherteachers will miss the opportunity to do the CBBTKT course but we hope that the British Councilwill help them with a new project.

RESCHanwellaCBBTKTannualvisittoRajasingheCentralCollegeHanwella.

26th February 2018 was a remarkable day forboth RESC Hanwella and the TKT followers of2017 and the students in Rajasinghe CentralCollege Hanwella. It was the day of the CBB TKTannual visit to a school. A group ofrepresentatives from CBB participated in thesession.

TKT participants gave a PowerPoint presentationon a particular topic from the TKT course book,highlighting the importance of the TKT course intheir teaching context and how the teachersbenefited as it was a fully-sponsored course.

The next presentation was on the content of theTKT course book. A comprehensive idea about


the content of the TKT course book was nicelypresented by a participant. Motivation was one ofthe major areas that was included in the coursebook and one of the participants conducted aPowerPoint presentation based on that.

The next presentation was on incorporatingvisual ideas in the teaching and learning process.Along with that, a group of students from theschool came out with another PowerPointpresentation on historical places in Sri Lanka.

After the presentations, group discussions wereset up. Students got an opportunity to talk abouthow they had benefited from their teachers whofollowed the TKT course. All the representativesgave positive feedback and they admired thetalents of the students in a school which waslocated in Colombo suburbs.


RESC HattonS Thenmoli

AdayinthelifeofthementorsintheTKT10th BATCH2010

As usual we, the mentors of RESC –Hatton startedto do our pre-TKT course observations. That timewe had six mentees to observe. One of thementees was from a school which was very farfrom the town. To reach his school we wouldhave to walk for miles because there was no busservice. But there was a short cut. As the schoolis situated near the Castlereigh reservoir wecould reach the school using canoes. After somany discussions and arguments, as we werereally afraid of travelling in a canoe, we decidedto brave it and go to the school. One fineTuesday morning we (myself and other mentorThalawitiya) started our journey to the school. Toreach the canoe, we had to travel by bus and wereached the place. As it was the first time for us,we asked the passersby about the canoe stopand he showed us a place near the reservoir. Heasked us to wait for some time and told us thatthe person who would take us in the canoe wouldsee us from the other side of the island and bringthe canoe. We waited patiently and prayed to allthe gods silently to help us reach the schoolsafely. It was a hot season and the water level

was very low. Finally, the canoe person came withhis canoe and he made us put on lifejackets andsit equally apart to maintain the balance. Thereservoir is used by seaplanes to bring touristsfrom Nuwara Eliya to a bungalow near thereservoir. “If the sea plane lands during ourjourney, big waves would come and make thecanoe sink into the water,” the canoe man said. Itmade us more frightened so we prayed to theGods more seriously. Fortunately, it didn’t happenand we got ashore safely. After finishing ourobservation successfully, we came back safely bythe god’s grace. It was an unforgettableexperience.

RESCJaffnaC Thayaharan

TKTexperience

Our TKT journey was full of adventure, challengesand fun. We the mentors and teachers areblessed abundantly. This causeway leads to theIsland zone. I used to go this way for a TKT follow-up visit. On my way I enjoyed scenic beauty andoccasionally the migrating birds. Though I had totravel many miles I enjoyed guiding the teacherand students.

This school is found in a small hamlet, which wasaffected by the war and the tsunami. During myschool visits I used to take my Bluetooth speakerto teach songs and introduce vocabulary.

They learnt with immense pleasure. I guided theteacher to plan lessons, prepare materials anduse different techniques to make the classinteresting. Within a short time, the childrenwere motivated and the teacher becameconfident. It's interesting to see how TKT helpschildren who are deprived of basic facilities.

No doubt the CBB TKT course has helped 100s ofteachers and children who had once beenforgotten and isolated. We reached them andhelped them with the TKT knowledge.

TheHappyChaperone

Whenever the teachers came to Colombo for theTKT exam, I had to chaperone them. I had someinteresting duties: early booking of train tickets;booking rooms for teachers to stay in Colombo;hiring a taxi to the centre; finally handing themover to their loved ones at Jaffna station. Iusually invited them for the TKT course with thisagreement. Here you can see some of ourteachers having a nice time with new friends. Thisis the final show at the Ministry after theawarding ceremony.


All our pains fly away when teachers receive thelong awaited TKT certificates. How muchhappiness the teachers get when meeting newfaces from other parts of the country! No doubt,the CBB TKT course has brought many blessingsand that will reflect on our teachers and studentsin the future.

RESCKahawatteLankesh Rohan Kitulgodage

Ontopoftheworld

It was my second teaching practice observationfor CBB TKT 2020. I had to visit R/GavaranhenaVidyalaya close to Balangoda. The school issituated on the top of a mountain with a greatscenic beauty. After completing the observation,

although the school wanted to provide metransport, I decided to do the return journey onfoot just to experience the environment. I didn’tthink it would be very hard. While returning I hadto face a few showers. Anyway, it was great tohelp the teacher and her students and also enjoynature.

RESCKalutaraChampa Liyanagoda

Awaytoparadise

This happened in 2017. I went to observe alearning teaching process conducted by ateacher who followed the TKT course conductedby our Regional English Support Centre, Kalutara.The principal knew that I was coming. Theprincipal was informed again about the centralpurpose of my journey and I expected hisconsent to start my duty. Happily, he gave theconsent and required me to observe more andmore teachers. Again, he mentioned that therewas a particular teacher that he wanted me toobserve and expected my feedback regardingher teaching. Immediately I informed the teacherthat I wish to observe a classroom learningteaching process done by her.

I visited her on the 4th period and stood in frontof her class, and requested her permission toobserve the lesson done by her in a few minutestime. She agreed and I stepped in wearing a verypleasant smile. I greeted the students when theirteacher introduced me to them and settled at therear end of the classroom.

The teacher started the lesson in a shrill voice,asked the students to open their books and referto the page. All the students started to talk, some


were laughing and muttering to themselves. Theteacher used a very big cane to silence thestudents. Every five seconds she hit their tablesto silence them, but nobody cared. Almost allwere laughing. It seemed to be their habit.Though the teacher tried her level best to teachthem, the students tried their level best totrouble her. After some time, some studentsstarted to eat while their teacher was teaching.The teacher asked them to stop but they didn’t. Itwas a real mess. She genuinely wanted to teachher students but it didn’t work. Some fought overa piece of meat. I wondered what was wrongwith her but I didn’t say anything. After the lessonI thanked them and came out.

The teacher came behind me and she was crying.“Madam, please don’t tell the principal,” I wastold. “Why? You wanted to help your students.Don’t worry I’ll help you,” was my reply. How? Oh!She expected an answer. “I’ll give you anapplication to join the next TKT batch.” “Will theyselect me?,” she asked. “Most probably,” I toldher. She smiled with tears. Luckily she gotselected for the next batch. Her problem wascreated by several deaths in her family within avery short period of time.

We helped her kindly and patiently. Theknowledge she gained through the TKT coursemade her a fine-tuned teacher. Sometimes shedidn’t know that she was being supported. Theglory she had had in the past came back to her.Now she steps into classes with confidencebrimming over and definitely without a cane inher hand. Students love her and the schoolprincipal assigns her many responsibilities in theschool. When she was being asked to write aquote for the TKT course that she followed, shewrote, “TKT made the teaching-learning processa pleasurable paradise by giving necessary

knowledge, attitudes and skills.” She read it,when it appeared on the screen at the TKT awardceremony.

RESCMoneragalaLeela Gamage

TKTmemories-AlloutfortheTKT

Since the introductory TKT session in 2009,Moneragala RESC has smoothly conducted allsessions to date. The memory of TKT still lingersin our minds. We, the mentors (Leela & Tenna)had to travel to Kandy Trinity College everySaturday for six months to follow the TKT courseourselves in 2008 when the fear of bombexplosions reached a culmination. Unattendedparcels in jammed packed busses made uscautious. We had pain-stricken faces, yet wemade a bee way to the course. We missed onlyone session as our bus had an accident.

We followed, we delivered, teachers & studentsgained.

HATS OFF TO THE BRITISH COUNCIL...!


RESCPolonnaruwaG M D Gajanayake

Aclosecall

I had been a mentor of TKT for more than 10years. I have so many experiences from the TKT. Ican still remember something that happened tome when I was going to observe one teacher in aschool which was more than 30 kilometres awayfrom the RESC. I was riding (a bike) with one ofmy staff mates. Our route was along ZD canal.Suddenly I saw a curb across the road. The bikewent over it. And my friend nearly fell. He hungon my shoulders. However, we luckily escaped.

RESCTangalleGayathri Andrahennadi

Achievement

The most exciting happening of TKT for us wasone of our mentees getting the top results forthe Cambridge TKT exam last year (2018). Welook forward to attending the last TKT awardingceremony.

RESCVavuniyaJayanthini Pathmarajan

Believeitornot!!

The History of TKT in Vavuniya RESC started in2011. I started this journey as a very successfulTKT teacher and later became a well experiencedand confident mentor. So far, about 50 teachershave benefitted from this course through our

RESC. You won’t believe the story I’m now goingto tell. Yes! It’s incredible and inexplicable evenby the laws of nature.

Each year one teacher would perform two rolesin our TKT batch! Being a TKT teacher and a TKTmother! She would attend the TKT classesregularly, prepare for the exam studiously andpass the exam successfully. Every year oneteacher got this exceptional opportunity toperform these two roles and share theknowledge with her baby in her womb. The TKTbaby got a chance to acquire the languageknowledge and absorb the language skills easily.

Therefore Vavuniya RESC is eagerly awaiting toencounter those gifted children in theforthcoming years.


EmployabilityProjects:ASelection

In line with promoting the development of employability skills in pupilsin the CBB teacher training course in 2019-2020, a class projectcompetition for students on the theme of jobs and careers was addedto the programme. The teachers selected one of their classes toproduce a visual presentation on the theme. Putting together theirentries was in itself a model for developing the employability skills ofcollaboration, creativity, communication, resourcefulness, criticalthinking and problem solving. Classes of teachers from 26 RESCsparticipated in the competition.

RESC Kandy mentors created this huge poster to introduce the project to their

teachers in the course.



Grades6-9Category

RESC Badulla: Employability – Related ProjectA Poster about Jobs that are done

Grade 9, B/ Meegahakiula National School

Grades10-12Category

RESC Bolawalana: A Poster about Jobs that aredone in different parts of Sri Lanka

Grade 10, St Sebastian MV Sea Street

After a series of shortlisting by the RESCs and the British Council, the CBB Executive Committeejudges, Mr. M. Prothero, Ms C. Rodrigo and Ms. A M Ziauddin, unanimously voted for the winners for thetwo age categories.

Congratulationstothewinners!The Grade 9 class is receiving a class set of Oxford Elementary dictionaries and theGrade 10 class a class set of Cambridge Intermediate Learner dictionaries.

A big thank you to all the students, teachers, and RESC mentors for their valuablecontribution to the project. Refer to the case studies for some amazing stories about thestudents’ enthusiastic involvement in the project and creative ways some teachers builton the theme of jobs and engaged parents and other members of their community.

EmployabilityProjects:ASelectionA/BastianSilvaCollege,Anuradhapaura-Grade 10 (2019)

G/WandurambaCentralCollege,Galle-Grade 7 (2019)

B/MeegahakiulaNationalSchool,Badulla-Grade 9 (2019)


St.Sebastian'sMahaVidyalaya,Bolawalana-Grade 10 (2019)

PL/PalugasdamanaMV,Polonnaruwa-Grade 7 (2019)

J/StJamesGirlsSchool,Jaffna-Grade 12 (2019)


A Celebration of the CBB Teacher Training Project: 2005-2020 :Case Stud

ies from

Across the Cou

ntry by the Cou

ncil for Business with

Britain and

the British Cou

ncil

The British Council’s aim in creating this publication, ACelebration of the CBB Teacher Training Project: 2005-2020, is to highlight the success of the EnglishLanguage Teacher Training Project in Sri Lanka whichwas funded by the Council for Business with Britain,with HSBC as the main sponsor, and supported by theMinistry of Education. This project was implementedthrough the resource persons of the thirty oneRegional English Support Centres islandwide. Startingas it did from a series of weekend workshops, theproject grew to gain islandwide impact and leaves apowerful legacy..

After an overview of the project, the volume containscase studies of teachers spanning the whole projectboth from its inception in 2005 to the present day andgeographically across the island. The volume alsocontains personalised stories from the RESC mentors.The case studies and stories illustrate the impact theproject had on their classroom teaching throughpersonalised stories of children becoming moreconfident in their use of English and becoming moremotivated to use English. The case studies taken aswhole clearly illustrate the move from teacher centredclassrooms to student centred classrooms and acorresponding increase in confidence in teachers andstudents alike.

The collaboration of the Council for Business withBritain, the Ministry of Education and the BritishCouncil demonstrates the potential of state and privateorganisations to positively impact on education and is arole model for future collaboration

A Celebration of the - CBBSL

Documents