Workshop on “From the Classroom to the World - Effective Teaching for Today's K-12 Generation”
Paul Grainger (BA, CTEFLA, DTEFLA) has been working as ELT Product Manager for National Geographic Learning, Cengage Learning Asia. He has over 18 years experience working as an instructor, trainer and consultant in Asia. When studying for his advanced teaching certificate (DTELFA) in 2000, he was the only teacher on the course worldwide to be awarded a distinction for the practical exam. 
On October 04th 2012, The Asian International School along with Cengage Learning organized a workshop with the theme “From the Classroom to the World - Effective Teaching for Today's K-12 Generation” for all the middle and high school English teachers working at The Asian International School. The workshop was aimed at fostering professional output and developing and improving teaching skills of the teachers of the International English program.
Mr. Paul Grainger is regarded as one of the most skilled and successful instructors. He has been able to apply more effective teaching methods into the classrooms. He made the workshop atmosphere lively, exciting and effective and conveyed his progressive methods to all The Asian International School teachers.
Mr. Paul Grainger was training English teachers
In this workshop, Mr. Paul Grainger shared some recent research which demonstrates how today’s students tend to think and process information in a fundamentally different way from previous generations. He helped the teachers to understand capacity requirements for students and to know how to use effective teaching methods in their classrooms to create favorable conditions which motivate students to learn and make progress.
Using exciting examples from National Geographic Learning’s resources, Mr. Paul Grainger showed teachers how to combine teaching content in print and other forms to inspire. He used innovative ways to provide access to the world and its different cultures to the classrooms
Teachers are enthusiastically taking part in practical activities
With a communication style that was witty, cheerful and high-spirited , Mr. Paul Grainger shared new teaching methods that accord with the social development and psychological development of today’s students. He also shared his valuable experiences in teaching. For example, he recommended that teachers should enable students learning processes by trying to understand their dreams and aspirations as well as their struggles in order help them achieve academic successes.
Teachers gave their full attention during the workshop
Teachers listened attentively and actively participated during the workshop because the atmosphere was lively and fascinating as Mr. Paul Grainger organized creative and amusing activities for teachers to practice and apply.
Mr Paul Grainger had a picture taken with The Asian International School teachers
The workshop ended successfully as valuable knowledge, experience, reference sources were gained from the workshop so teachers can further develop their teaching skills and better implement advanced global teaching methods into their lessons.
Ms. Duong Thi Phuong sent flowers to congratulate and thank Mr. Paul Grainger
At the end of the workshop, a representative of The Asian International School – Ms. Duong Thi Phuong – Executive International Program Manager expressed the most sincere thank to Mr. Paul Grainger and the Cengage Learning for providing the successful workshop.
Teachers’ feelings about the workshop
Le Quang Huy – teacher of 6 th grade
“The training helped me understand more about new teaching methods. Particularly, the “Think- Pair – Share” method was impressive and interesting. This method would make teaching more effective as well as help students gain the skills needed, including creativity, judgment and teamwork. The workshop was really useful and interesting, not only because of the valuable information it provided, but also the witty and exciting presentation of Mr. Paul Grainger. I am confident that I will further develop my skills and teaching methods after this training.”
Dang Phuong Thuy Ngoc – teacher of 6 th grade
“I would like to say thanks to the managing board for giving teachers a useful and meaningful workshop. It has helped me enhance my teaching skills. The theme of this workshop was how to design an interesting lecture in accordance with the psychology of today's generation of students which many teachers were interested in. Honestly, the workshop was the answer to our concerns on how the progress of age has made many changes in students' learning styles. The knowledge I learned from the workshop not only reinforced my teaching experience but also opened up new ways to improve the quality of teaching and learning.”
Hoang Viet Hien – teacher of 6 th grade
“The workshop was an opportunity for me and my colleagues to meet with each other, exchange teaching experience and approach new, useful teaching methods. We were trained about the psychology of today’s students as well as new appropriate teaching methods under the guidance of Mr. Paul Grainger. The workshop was really funny and helpful. I hope The Asian International School will organize more workshops, so that I can have more opportunities to learn and enhance my knowledge.”
Doan Thi Kieu Oanh – teacher of 7 th grade
“The workshop was really very interesting. We had rewarding experiences. We were not only provided with more knowledge of English teaching methods but also practiced through creative and funny activities. We will try to apply everything we learned from the workshop to our lessons to make students more interested in the subject. Hopefully, The Asian International School will have more workshops like this for teachers to advance and accumulate teaching experience."
Hoang Thi Hau – teacher of 7 th grade
“This workshop was very useful and meaningful. Mr. Paul Grainger imparted experience of new teaching methods helping me create better and more fascinating lessons to keep students interested so that their learning will improve. The teachers also ardently expressed their opinions, making the atmosphere lively and interesting. Each workshop is a chance for me and other colleagues to meet, exchange knowledge and teaching experience with each other to perfect the lessons. I hope there will be more workshops like this so that I and my colleagues can have more opportunities to enhance our teaching knowledge.”
Thai Binh Minh Trang - teacher of 9 th grade
"This workshop helped me gain more experience in developing my teaching skills. I realize that teachers need to thoroughly understand students’ thinking in order to have the best teaching methods with the highest efficiency. I would like to say thanks to The Asian International School for organizing such a meaningful workshop. Hopefully, there will be more workshops for me to learn and improve my knowledge as well as have better teaching methods to help students achieve high results.”
Mr. Huynh Thanh Trung - teacher of 10 th grade.
“One piece of experience for successful teaching Mr. Paul Grainger conveyed in the workshop was: in our age, if students are not interested in old teaching methods, try to teach them in a way they are excited about. This has encouraged English teachers like us to combine traditional teaching methods with new ones, and use a new way of imparting knowledge that is close to the modern lifestyle students are experiencing. Thanks The Asian International School for giving teachers opportunities to meet with professionals to increasingly foster their professional capacity.”
Ms. Tran Ho Kim Thoa – teacher of 11st grade.
“Paul Grainger's presentation was very nice, concise and professional. The opening of the workshop captured all of teachers’ attention. To me, he has inspired me, made me more enthusiastic about teaching. I also know that we have to teach students to understand instead of just memorizing".
Nguyen Thanh Khuong – teacher of 12th grade.
“Specialist Paul Grainger performed successfully and professionally when demonstrating figures, pictures and exciting video clips that were cited from the Internet. I think this was a practical and useful workshop for teachers. The knowledge we learned from this workshop will help us apply and innovate teaching methods to captivate today’s learners’ psychology in order to design the lessons flexibly and attract students’ attention ".