ELTAI Thoothukudi Chapter: Report of Teaching English for Employability (TEE 2013)

ANNAMMAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION FOR WOMEN

THOOTHUKUDI

UGC Sponsored International Conference

Teaching English for Employability (TEE 2013)

REPORT

The two-day International conference on ‘Teaching English for Employability’ organized by our college in collaboration with the English language Teachers’ Association of India (ELTAI) and with the support of the British Council, Regional language Office, US Embassy, New Delhi, ACE alumni association and the UGC on the 21st and 22nd of November, 2013 proved to be a major ELT event in the southern part of our country with as many as 264 teachers coming from different States such as Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Andhra, Kerala and Tamilnadu and, also, 65 graduate teacher trainees participating in it. The programme included four plenary talks, four workshops, two symposia and an Open Forum besides poster and paper presentations by as many as 251 participants.

The brief inaugural function, lasting only 45 minutes, was presided over by Mr. Ganesan, Secretary of our college. Dr. Fiby Raj, Principal welcomed the gathering and the inaugural address was given by Dr.A.Francis, former Principal of the VOC College of Arts and Sciences, Thoothukudi. The Preview of Conference Presentations which contains 292 abstracts submitted by the delegates was released by Dr.S.Rajagopalan, Patron of ELTAI and the first copy was received by the Secretary of the college. Dr. A.Joycilin Shermila, Conference Secretary, proposed the vote of thanks.

The first plenary and the keynote address - The Employability Skills Toolbox: Is English the Key? was delivered by Simon Etherton, Senior Training Consultant, South India, British Council Division. He defined employability skills as the skills, knowledge and attributes required to gain employment and then to be able to adapt, progress and learn successfully in that employment, to the benefit of the individual, the employer and the economy. He gave the list of employment attributes employers expect from employees. First important thing is to get a job and the second one is to do the job competently. He pointed out that communication skills and soft skills are the central for employability.

Dr.P.N Ramani, ELT Consultant, Chennai in Plenary II spoke on the topic ESL Classroom to Workplace - Preparing Learners for the Transition. He spoke about the need of the cooperation and collaboration between institutions and industry. Academic skills that we are trying to teach in the classrooms should be related to authentic workplace skills.

Plenary III - Teaching Oral English for Employability Using Communicative Language Techniques was given by Michelle Stabler-Havener, Senior English Language Fellow, RELO. She discussed the different activities and teaching techniques for developing employability skills. Small group discussions, modal based dialogues, role play, interviews and small group problem solving were some of the activities discussed in the session.

Plenary IV was delivered by Shefali Kulkarni, Senior Teacher Trainer, South India, British Council Division on the topic Communicating Effectively through English: The Confidence Conundrum. The speaker discussed the 4 Cs of success – confidence, curiosity, courage and constancy. She showed how to create a positive environment in class and also how to create opportunities for our students to speak in English.

As many as four workshops were conducted at the conference. Michelle Stabler, conducted a workshop on Improving the Quality of Workplace Writing through Process Writing Techniques. The workshop on Empowering Students with Managerial Skills was conducted by Dr. Revathi Viswanathan of the B.S. Abdul Rahman University, Chennai. Dr.Albet P’Rayen of KCG College of Engineering, Chennai, conducted a workshop on Process Approach to Developing Presentation Skills. The workshop on Collaboration in the Cloud was conducted by M. S. Xavier Pradheep Singh of the VOC College, Thoothukudi.

Two other important events were the two symposia - one was on The ESL Classroom: Empowering Learners for the Workplace and the other on Using Technological Tools for developing Workplace skills. Dr.Albert P Rayan was the Moderator of the first symposium and the speakers were - Ms. S. Zahira banu (Teaching of Fiction), Ms.B. Zulaiha (Teaching of Poetry), Dr. D. Sankari (Co-curricular activities) and Dr. N. Arunachalam (Assignments and Projects).

The second symposium on Use of Technologies for Developing Workplace Skills was moderated by Dr.P. N. Ramani, and the following were the speakers:

Dr. Revathi Viswanathan (Mobile devices and Web quests)

M.S Xavier Pradeep Singh (Social Networking Sites and Personal Learning Networks)
B.Beneson (Blogs and Wikis).

Poster presentation was one of the special features of the conference. Eleven participants displayed posters relating to the theme of the conference and they were evaluated by the following judges –

1.      Michelle Stabler-Havener
2.      Simon Etherton
3.      Shefali Kulkarni

An open forum was conducted as a final session and Dr.P.N Ramani was the Moderator. It was followed by the Valedictory function and Dr.G.Sugumar delivered the valedictory address. Prizes were distributed to three best paper presenters and three poster presenters, instituted by RELO, New Delhi.

The organizing team wholeheartedly thanks ELTAI for its collaboration and British Council and RELO for their support and also all the participants for the success of the conference.