As part of the British Council’s programme of regional projects in the Near East and North Africa region, a series of teacher training workshops has been developed by a team of English Language Teachers and Trainers from Lebanon, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia.

As you can see from the picture, a folder has been designed for this project and each one contains the four British Council CDs which were produced to provide learners and teachers with a range of exciting and up-to-date materials and extension activities for learning and teaching English purposes.

These are namely Go4English, Language Assistant, Teaching English and Learn English. The 4 CDs are specifically relevant to the Arabic-speaking world because instructions and exercises are in both English and Arabic. Since the beginning of January this year all 4 participating countries named above have been delivering 6 out of the 8 Teacher Training workshops in their respective countries in Pahse 2 of the Project cycle.

Phase1, September – December 2005: Design

British Council and English Language Trainers from Lebanon, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia designed 8 Teacher Training workshops on the following themes: Games, Pronunciation, Exploiting authentic reading texts, Process Writing, Grammar, Vocabulary, Listening and British Literature.

Phase 2, January – June 2006: Workshop Delivery

Trainers above are currently delivering 6 of the above workshops in country to ministry-approved teachers and trainers.

Phase 3, July 2006: Trainer Training and Development (Hornby Trust Summer School)

The British Council in collaboration with the Hornby Trust will be running a 7-day training event for the above trainers and selected trainees at the prestigious Al Akhawayan University at Ifrane in Morocco with a view to preparing and equipping trainees to cascade workshop delivery in more remote areas of their respective countries.

Phase 4, November 2006 – June 2007: Cascaded Workshop Delivery

Newly trained and experienced trainers cascade the workshops throughout their respective countries. In Tunisia this will be in collaboration with CENAFFE (Centre National de Formation des Formateurs en Education) and will most likely result in substantial numbers of teachers and ultimately students benefiting throughout the country.

Phase 5, July 2007: Product and Resources Development (Hornby Trust Summer School)

The CD materials themselves will be re-assessed and evaluated with a view to handing over to newly trained cadre of trainers a final set of materials and resources with which to enhance the learning experience for all beyond the classroom itself.