Design of Teacher Training Programs - Week 1 - What is a Professional?

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 1 of the course Design and Evaluation of Teacher Training Programs and Workshops for the Master's in English Teaching at ULACIT term IIIC 2023. In this lesson we will discuss the structure, content, evaluation activties and major due dates of the course. In addition, we will explore the topic of professionalism in English language teaching and articulate our own definitions of what it means to be a professional.

Today's Goals:

• Review the course content, evaluation structure, and important dates from the syllabus.
• Consider common sense definitions of professionalism and what they imply about the profession of English teaching.
• Explore differences between professionals and lay people, amateurs, technicians, and academics in order to define what it means to be a professional langauge teacher. 

Guiding Questions:

• What does it mean to be a professional in ELT?
• How can teachers grow and develop as professionals?
• What do I hope to learn in this course?

Warm Up: Star Gazing

Use your imagination to identify unique patterns, shapes, and hidden images. Then tell your partner what you saw and how you can connect it to the theme of each round.

• Example: CLICK HERE

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE

Task 1: Initial Thoughts on Professionalism

Teacher education, training, and development are all necessary strategies to help form better teaching professionals, but what does it mean to be a professional? Discuss the following questions with your peers. 

• In a general context, what does the word professional mean to you?
• What are some general qualities of a professional?

• In Costa Rica saying somone "es profesional" typically implies that the person has a college degree and is working in that field. Do you thing being a working college graduate makes someone a professional?

• How would you describe the opposite of the word professional?
• What are some general qualities of a non-professional?

• What are some specific characteristics or qualities of an English as a foreign language teacher (EFL) when viewed as a professional?

• How can teachers acquire or develop these qualities?

Task 2: What is Professionalism in ELT?

Penny Ur's 2002 article "The English Teacher as Professional" helps us form a more complete picture about what it means to be a professional language teacher by contrasting the qualities of a professional with those of the layperson, amateur, technician, and academic. Click your group link below and follow the instructions to explore some of these distinctions more deeply.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE - Professional vs Amateur
• Group 2: CLICK HERE - Professional vs Technician
• Group 3: CLICK HERE - Professional vs Academic

References:

Ur, P. (2002). The English Teacher as Professional. In J. Richards & W. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice (pp. 388-392). Cambridge University Press.