Around 600 teachers join the Professional Development program launched for Delhi Government school teachers conducted jointly by the Delhi Government and US Embassy

NEW DELHI: An 8-week online Professional Development for English Teachers (PDET) program and 4-week Communicative Language Teaching and TESOL Methodology for primary teachers concluded today.

The online program was launched by the Delhi Government in association with the Regional English Language Office (RELO) of the American Embassy in India. Around 600 English teachers took training whereas around 30 Mentor Teachers of Delhi acted as the co-facilitators under the guidance of RELO’s English Language specialists: Ms. Sara Bolton, Dr. Lisa Morgon, and Ms. Barbara Sakamoto.

Unable to join the convening ceremony, Deputy Chief Minister and the Education Minister of Delhi, Shri Manish Sisodia sent his message from the hospital, congratulating all the participating teachers for successfully completing this course. He asked all the teachers to utilize this world-class learning opportunity to strengthen the English language teaching-learning approach in their schools and also share it with their peers. His message said, “Delhi government is committed to provide the best training opportunity to you as, through you, we aspire for the best learning opportunities for our students. This is the way we have to work.”

While attending the online concluding ceremony, Minister Counselor for Public Affairs, Mr. David Kennedy said, “It has been the honor of the US Embassy to work with the Delhi Government. This program reflects the sheer commitment of the US Embassy and the Government of Delhi to strengthen the education and equipping teachers for skills to help students succeed in this 21st century and strengthen our shared value in education.” He added, “I extend my enormous gratitude to the Minister of Education, Shri Manish Sisodia for partnership between the Delhi Government and the US embassy. It only shows the vision of strengthening Delhi’s education system. He has given our partnership a great deal of support. Unfortunately, he is not here with us today on this call. We wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to continuing our collaboration in the future.”

Director, Directorate of Education of Delhi, Shri Udit Prakash Rai said, “It was very heartening to see the kind of energy teachers had throughout the program. I would love to have this program extended to other remaining teachers so that they can also get the world class exposure.”

This course exposed the Delhi Government school teachers to the English language teaching resources offered by the Office of English Language Programs at the US Department of State.  The program was designed for in-service teachers interested in improving their instructional practices. Participants utilized many teaching resources offered by the American English website, the English Teaching Forum magazine, and the Monster Book of Teaching Activities. Earlier, the program was launched only for the middle and secondary grades teachers which were later on extended for the primary teachers as well.