Himalayan News Service

Lalitpur, February 18:

Teachers of English language, speaking at a conference here today, said that the government should involve teachers while revising the curricula of the language. They said that English should be made student and teacher-friendly.

Chandika Bhatta, president of the Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association (NELTA), stressing the need of a good coordination between the policy makers and Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association, said that the teachers’ suggestions should be incorporated while revising the English curricula. “The Ministry of Education and Sports lacks resources to train the English language teachers,” Bhatta said on the first day of the two-day NELTA Tenth International Conference, noting that the curricula of the English language are not teacher and student-friendly.”

“It has become even more important to train the English language teachers since the government has recognised English as the compulsory subject in the national curriculum since 2003.” Barbara Hewitt, director at the British Council, said that British Council would continue supporting Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association in order to produce competitive English language teachers in Nepal. Professor Dr Tirtha Ratna Kansakar of the Tribhuvan University said that the standard of English language has to be improved so that others too could learn the uniqueness of regional variations of the language.

Kansakar stressed the need to produce renowned writers who use English as the medium of expression. Penny Ur, a keynote speaker from Israel, presented a paper on teaching large heterogeneous classes and making textbook exercise interesting. The conference is being organised by the Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association, British Council, Cambridge University Press, and Oxford University Press. Learner autonomy in large classes is the theme of the conference.