18th Annual Conference of British Council Myanmar

18th Annual Conference of British Council Myanmar

2nd October, 2017

Subject : Report of participation at the 18th Annual Conference for teachers of English, Myanmar

British Council Myanmar organized its 18th Annual Conference for teachers of English from 23rd September to 24th September, 2017 at the National Centre for English Language (NCEL), Panglong Hall, University of Yangon. I and Mr. Mostofa Siraj Mohiuudin, Project Coordinator, English, British Council, Dhaka participated in the conference.

Theme: The theme of Myanmar’s Premier ELT event was English and Development. The four strands of the conference were:

• English as a core skill in Economic growth
• ELT as a source of 21st century skills
• The English Classroom and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• English as a neutral or 'link' language

Aim: The aim of the conference was to explore the role learning a second language plays in supporting and facilitating development. The British Council believes that English is critical for countries’ successful participation in the global economy. And it provides individuals with access to critical knowledge, skills and employment opportunities and enables organizations to create and sustain international links.

Presentations and Workshops: The presentations and workshops ( 60 minutes) aimed to contribute practical and context based strategies to support Myanmar educators and decision makers. The major areas covered were: methodology, curriculum development and English as a skill for future development. A total of forty nine sessions were presented over a span of two days.

The keynote speech was delivered by Mr. Allen Davenport, teacher development manager for the Southeast Asian Region on ELT as a source for 21st Century Skills. The panel discussion session titled: The Role of Capacity Building in Education Reform was interactive and members from the British Council, DFID, UNESCO and VSO took part and shared their expertise.

Participants: The majority of the local participants were teachers of young learners but some tertiary level teachers also attended the conference. Around three hundred and fifty participants attended the conference. The conference was well organized and the book exhibition attracted the teachers.

It was a joy to note that AKM Azizul Haque a secondary school teacher of Sylhet Cadet College, Bangladesh conducted a workshop on Adapting Classrooms for Better Employability. The workshop focused on combining integration of language skills, digital education and numeracy to ensure variety and better employability.

It was a great opportunity and rewarding learning experience to be able to participate at the conference. A meeting of core MMTESOL members and representatives from the British Council was held at the second day of the conference to discuss ways of collaborating with BELTA and taking the associations forward.

Rubina Khan
Vice President, BELTA
27th September, 2017