Soros English Language Program (SELP)Local Capacity Building & Collaboration with SIT
Local capacity building is one of the highest priorities at OSI. In keeping with this, the sunsetting strategy for the English Language Program (ELP) is oriented towards empowering local human resources in the countries of the foundation network to create a structure of highly-qualified and skilled professionals who will reduce the network's dependency on foreign expertise in this significant field of professional development in education. This means that ELP would like to encourage further education of already trained teachers who qualify to become teacher trainers and, eventually, trainer trainers. Once this structure is in place, these local specialists will be able to assist at first, and, later, take over foreign language teacher training in the network.
For this reason, ELP started a collaboration with The School for International Training (SIT). SIT is one of the best and most prestigious graduate schools in the US (and worldwide) for teacher training. OSI's ELP collaborates with them to offer select local teachers in the network participation in the following programs:
SIT Summer Master of Arts in Teaching (SMAT)
SIT TESOL Certificate / CELTA co-validation
And, in October 2001, OSI's ELP collaborated with SIT on another initiative that provides a foundation in management issues and skills for those who will undertake or are currently in management roles in the language teaching field. Please click below to learn about the
International Diploma in Language Teaching Management
In brief, the SIT Summer Master of Arts in Teaching (SMAT) Program consists of two summers in residence in Vermont with an interim year combining a full-time job and study assignments (done at home). SMAT requires a minimum of two years full-time teaching experience (at least 12 class hours a week) of the language on which trainees plan to concentrate. The teaching practicum during the interim year is intended to be a period of significant professional growth. To evaluate this, the student's practicum advisor (a member of SIT faculty) visits the student at his/her place of work. Upon successful completion of the second summer-in-residence program students are awarded their MA degrees.
Below is a list of the teachers who have been chosen to participate in the SIT SMAT program to date, as well as their email addresses. Click on their names to see their individual CVs/resumes and learn about how and when they may be available to work with you on international, national, and/or local teacher training initiatives. Click on their "collective profile" per SMAT group to learn more about them as a teacher training resource.
SMAT 17 (1998-99)
Lina Marciulionyte (zilvinas@bchi.lt) Lithuania
Tsolmon Bayarkhuu (tsb92@hotmail.com) Mongolia
Gabriela Breazu (gabrielabreazu@hotmail.com) Romania
Dana Iliesiu (c/o Gabriela Breazu) Romania
Sveta Trofymenko (sveta@ih.kharkiv.com) Ukraine
SMAT 18 (1999-00)
Zora Busovska (zbusovska@excite.com) Macedonia
Stefan Colibaba (acolib@ilc.iasi.osf.ro) Romania
Anca Cehan (acehan@uaic.ro) Romania
SMAT 19 (2000-01)
Ljerka Sedlan Konig (ljerkakonig@yahoo.com) Croatia
Irena Vodopija-Krstanovic (irena@multilink.hr) Croatia
Karlygash Kazhdarova (kazhdarova@yahoo.com) Kazakhstan
Inna Sevcenko (isevcenco@cepd.soros.md) Moldova
Mihaela Dascalu (midas_ro@yahoo.com) Romania
Maryna Gayduchenko (school@sihs.kiev.ua or m_gayduchenko@pochtamt.ru) Ukraine
Olena Svitlychna (hsvet@hotmail.com) Ukraine
Viktor Yevmenov (victor@ih.kharkiv.com) Ukraine
SMAT 20 (2001-02)
Rada Balan (rada.balan@ilc.iasi.osf.ro) Romania
Slobodanka Kitic (skitic@yahoo.com) Yugoslavia
Radmila Popovic (rpop@beotel.yu or rpopovic27@yahoo.com) Yugoslavia
Also EUROED-ROMANIA COLLECTIVE PROFILE
SIT TESOL Certificate / CELTA co-validated
This new regional collaboration with SIT combined three courses, all of which were hosted by Soros International House-Vilnius, Lithuania.
Training of Trainers Course
The first course was a one week training of trainers (ToT) course that took place August 5-11, 2001. The ToT course is appropriate for highly qualified local teachers who are already working with our program as trainers, and are committed to continuing to do so. Five participants, upon successful completion of the ToT, "apprentice" trained and co-ran one of the two simultaneous SIT TESOL month-long courses that took place August 13 - September 7 , 2001.
SIT TESOL Course
The TESOL course ran from August 13 - September 7 , 2001 for eleven participants. Following is a description of SIT's TESOL course: "The course provides practical training through teaching demonstrations, lesson planning and analysis, and practice teaching and feedback. Participants develop skills in teaching speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar and culture. The course begins with a brief look at second language acquisition through the experience of being a learner. Participants then learn about specific teaching areas each day, which they apply in their daily practice teaching of adult EFL learners. Participants gain skills in self-reflection and analysis through examining those lessons with the teacher trainers."
Co-validated SIT TESOL/CELTA Course
This course is very similar to the SIT TESOL certificate course mentioned above, with minor adjustments made in order for it to be co-validated by UCLES. At the end of this co-validated course, which took place simultaneously as the straight TESOL course, the twelve participants were evaluated by a CELTA course examiner, in order to receive the CELTA certificate as well. Please note that while SIT gives only grades of pass / fail, CELTA awards pass A, pass B, pass or fail. This course is more appropriate for teachers that are working in Soros-established schools, particularly those that are acting as DoS or are committed to contributing to the professional development at the school.
International Diploma in Language Teaching Management (IDLTM)
Together, the School for International Training (SIT), the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) and the Institute for Continuing and TESOL Education at the University of Queensland, Australia ointly launched the International Diploma in Language Teaching Management (IDLTM) on October 1, 2001 - commencing with a two week intensive face-to-face session at the SIT campus in Vermont, continuing with a 5 month on-line/distance period, and culminating with a weekend face-to-face closure session (if there is enough interest, this would be planned in a location within the Soros/OSI network) in early April 2002.
The IDLTM is designed to provide a foundation in management issues and skills for those required to undertake management roles in the language teaching field. The IDLTM is drawn from a previous UCLES qualification, the Advanced Diploma in Language Teaching Management. However, the curriculum of the new certificate has been substantially revised and updated by a team of experts from SIT, UCLES and the University of Queensland.
The course covers the areas of Organizational Management, Financial Management, Human Resource Management, Marketing, Student Life, and Academic Management. The diploma is accredited by the three institutions involved, and it is hoped that it will achieve global recognition and be completely portable. The course involves 115 contact hours (both face-to-face and online) and 230 non-contact hours.
OSI's ELP sponsored four participants in the IDLTM course this October, three of which are E/FL school directors and one of which is an ELP coordinator in the OSI/Soros Foundation Network.
