About this session
The British Council has recently published five reports focusing on policies and practices relating to English language education in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. These reports provide a contemporary snapshot of the role that English currently plays within the lives of school children and also identify some systemic challenges. In this panel discussion, three of the report authors will discuss some of the key findings from the reports, and some of the practical steps South Asian teachers can take to address these findings in their classrooms. This panel discussion will be moderated by Rustom Mody.
Click or tap to download the five reports on TeachingEnglish.
Watch the recording below.
About the panelists
Bimali Indrarathne is a lecturer in Applied Linguistics in the Department of Education, University of York in the UK. She has taught English in state schools and at a university in Sri Lanka as well as at the British Council, Colombo. She has been involved in several English language teacher training initiatives and research projects in South Asia. Her research interests are second language acquisition, teacher education and inclusive practices in language teaching. She has published in several peer-reviewed journals such as Studies in Second Language Acquisition, TESOL Quarterly and Language Learning.
Dr Ganga Ram Gautam has a BEd and an MEd in English Education from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, an MA in ELT from Lancaster University, UK, and a Hubert H Humphrey Fellowship on International Education and Leadership Development from Boston University, USA. He is an Echidna Global Scholar on Girl’s Education at the Centre for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution (2016), USA, and gained a PhD on Educational Leadership from Kathmandu University, Nepal. He is an Associate Professor in English Education at Tribhuvan University. His research interests include English language teacher education, teacher professional development, professional networking, teaching English in under-resourced contexts and blended learning.
Pranjana Kalita Nath is Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language Teaching in Gauhati University, Assam, India. She teaches Academic Reading, Methodology of Language Teaching and Practice Teaching to postgraduate students. In addition, she delivers sessions on CPD programmes for teachers of English. She completed a PhD in English language teacher education from Gauhati University with financial support from a Junior Research Fellowship received after qualifying in a national-level test (UGC-NET). She has also completed OPEN Alumni CoP Community Lead Training and facilitated a TESOL Methodology MOOC. She is an early career researcher and has published three research articles.
Rustom Mody is the British Council’s Senior Academic Manager for South Asia, and he has over 25 years of experience in the sector. He is currently responsible for creating and managing large-scale English language teacher education programmes in partnership with South Asian governments. He has an MA in Online and Distance Learning, the Cambridge Celta certificate and Delta diploma, and is currently finishing a second MA in Education, Gender and International Development from University College London.