Instructors' VATESOL presentation could help ESL teachers in Pakistan

Instructors Mary Freday and Becky Etzler present at the VATESOL Conference.

Several instructors from the Language and Culture Institute gave presentations at the VATESOL Conference on Oct. 19 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Caitlin Capone discussed "Using PowerPoint to Inculcate Complex Grammatical Structures and Engage Students." Pinar Gurdal facilitated a discussion regarding "How Well Do Truly Multilevel English as a Second Language Classes Work?" Shelly Stoddard introduced "Guided Reading and Comprehension Strategies in the Adult ELL Classroom." Inge McKenney, from Northern Virginia, presented on "How a Stroll Through History Influences U.S. Academic Culture Today." And Mary Freday and Becky Etzler presented ideas for encouraging "Extended Oral Discourse in the ESL Classroom."

Freday and Etzler's presentation was one of a series selected to be livestreamed, and the video has also been proposed for use in a Teaching Excellence Achievement grant project in Pakistan.

Neelo Fer Anwar, an ESL teacher from Pakistan who had previously attended teacher training at the LCI through a TEA scholarship, is proposing to transfer skills learned at the LCI to teachers in the semirural Gujar Khan region.

If Anwar's grant proposal is accepted, this video will be shared with an audience that has "no exposure to activity-based learning and use of technology in the classroom."

Photos: LCI welcomes 2nd cohort of Pakistani Fellows

The LCI hosted a welcome reception for our second cohort of remarkable Fellows from Pakistan.

They are participating in the six-week Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program for Pakistan.

See more photos on our Facebook page.

Language program helps Malaysian teachers speak better English in their classrooms

Claire Peters (right), assistant principal at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia, gives a tour to Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute instructor Christine Bobal (second from right) and a group of visiting high school teachers from Malaysia.

Nolie Binti Shamshudin, a math teacher taking part in a Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute program, expected to improve her English and learn to better integrate technology into her classroom in Malaysia. Among the skills she did not expect to pick up: throwing a snowball and making snow angels.

More accustomed to the tropical greenery of Southeast Asia, she found herself knee-deep in the wintry weather of the National Capital Region, where Virginia Tech's facilities include a learning center in Fairfax.

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