Teaching English in Multilingual Contexts
Supporting the capacity development of government, high school English teachers
As part of a special initiative to strengthen government schools, the Government of Karnataka has recently chosen 20 government schools – which have both the Higher Primary (HPS) and High School (HS) sections – in the Bengaluru Urban district to showcase them as ideal and replicable models of government schools in the district.
Azim Premji Foundation, largely through working on the professional development of the teachers, will provide academic support to improve the quality of teaching-learning in the schools.
The Foundation will support the capacity development of High School English teachers beginning with a one-day interactive session. The select teachers will attend this session at the Azim Premji University campus in Bengaluru.
The session will
- provide orientation towards how English is gaining momentum as a link language.
- provide teachers with a perspective on how they can contextualise the teaching of English in a multilingual classroom.
- result in the joint development of a programme which can provide teachers with the support that they need.
Workshop Schedule
| Time | Topic | Facilitator |
|---|---|---|
| 10 – 10:15 AM | Welcome Address | Benny Mathews |
| 10:15 – 10:30 AM | Getting to know each other | Sharoon Sunny |
| 10:30 – 11:30 AM | Reading/Teaching Poetry | Sonali Barua |
| 11:30 – 11:45 AM | Tea Break | |
| 11:45AM-12:45 PM | Reading/Teaching Prose | S V Srinivas |
| 12:45 – 1:30 PM | Teaching English in Multilingual Contexts | Sharoon Sunny |
| 1:30 – 2:30 PM | Lunch Break | |
| 2:30 – 3:30 PM | English Language Teaching | Sharoon Sunny |
| 3:30 – 4:45 PM | Discussion-Challenges in the English Classroom | Sharoon Sunny/Benny Mathews |
| 4:45 – 5 PM | Closing/Tea |
About the Facilitators
Benny Mathews has been a Resource Person with Azim Premji Foundation, Bengaluru Field Institute since 2016.
Before joining the Azim Premji Foundation, he had been an English teacher at the secondary level for more than 15 years in various parts of the country and had a brief stint as an English teacher in the Maldives.
He may be contacted at benny.mathews@azimpremjifoundation.org
Srinivas S V, Sonali Barua, and Sharoon Sunny are faculty members at Azim Premji University.
