Tailoring teacher training programmes for peer educators is something we, at Lina Edu, offer on a regular basis. Since our teacher training content is authentic, because it is made by well-experienced educators and educational experts, adapting our courses according to participants’ professional development needs and their institutions’ development plans is an expected practice that we do.
Consequently, we delivered one more specifically prepared and adjusted ๐ฏ–๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ on innovative teaching methods and approaches to help the participants, English language teachers, motivate their students to acquire English more efficiently and gain a love for learning foreign languages. To meet the participants’ Erasmus+ project plan outcomes and their professional development needs, we arranged a specific list of activities so that, in 15 hours of training (5 hours a day), our attendees went through a quite intensive, active, but highly motivating and effective content.
We spent three days exploring, discussing, questioning, creating and reflecting on what could actually work in their own teaching contexts.
During ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ณ๐๐น๐น๐ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐, we explored:
- Professional Identity & Reflection
ยท Innovative and learner-centred approaches to English language teaching
ยท Developing productive skills: writing, speaking and meaningful communication
ยท Traditional, digital and media literacy in language education
ยท Creative strategies for motivating learners and building confidence
ยท Digital tools and AI/LLMs for language teaching and learning
ยท Critical thinking, discussion and collaborative learning
ยท Targeted media literacy development activities
ยท Creative writing techniques, storytelling and concise communication
ยท Presentation skills and digital storytelling
ยท Implementing short mindfulness activities to set a relaxed learning environment
ยท Responsible and effective use of digital content and resources
ยท Cultural Heritage as a Resource for Learning
But perhaps the most important part was not the tools themselves.
It was the question behind every activity:
“How can this make learning better for our students?”
Participants tried the tools as learners first, reflected on the experience, discussed possible classroom applications and connected everything with their own professional practice.
Meaningful professional development should follow the pattern: ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ – ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ณ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป – ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป – ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป.
There was plenty of learning, plenty of conversation, a few “Oh, I could actually use this!” moments and, judging by the feedback and the smiles at the end of the day, plenty of satisfaction too.
After the finished teacher training course ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฑ๐, ๐๐ป๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ & ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐๐น๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐, as part of an activity that again pushed personal boundaries to get out of their comfort zone and express creatively, dear course participants made their short-format videos on their overall course experience.
Here it is one example:
We can surely say that it was a short but well-spent training with one top goal: that our course participants continue this training in the classrooms they return to.
We’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.
