The lecturer from Oxford University Press brought much useful professional knowledge to help IPS teachers improve and develop their English teaching methods.

As a periodic activity at the beginning of each school year, on October 25th, at Caothang campus, the Asian International School in cooperation with Oxford University Press held the training course with the topic “21st century skills and creative Grammar”. The lecturer was Ms. Sadie Jane Maddocks – The Product Manager of Oxford University Press in the South East Asia region.

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Cô Sadie Jane Maddocks

In a model class, the teachers became students. Ms. Sadie Jane Maddocks used effective teaching methods and taught her students useful English lessons. During many years of teaching English in many countries around the world, she learnt that new modern teaching methods can apply in teaching at school to help students develop critical thinking, communication and cooperation skills. In addition, there are exciting grammar activities that bring good results.

The lecturer introducing new teaching methods.

IPS teachers absorb useful knowledge from the lecturer

In the workshop, the desks and chairs were arranged scientifically. Students were divided into small groups to discuss the topics given. Open questions were continuously given to promote students’ thinking abilities such as: how, in what way, why, etc. The teacher encouraged students to express their ideas, exchange information to find the answers actively. Finally, the teacher would listen, correct the mistakes and help students have correct answers. Thanks to the discussion, the teacher would recognize what students gained before and after the lessons.

In an interactive classroom, the teacher encourages students to actively discuss and answer questions.

Instead of repeating the same activities in the lesson or following the teacher’s requirements passively, learning English becomes easier when students participate confidently in the lessons with critical thinking, communication and cooperation. Students can take part in exchanging information, discovering things and creating their own language actively. At the same time, the teacher helps create an exciting atmosphere with fun activities in the classroom.

Students are the center; the teacher is a helper in a classroom

To encourage students to take part in grammar lessons, the lecturer strongly emphasized the use of visual teaching aids such as graphs, pictures, newspaper and videos. Moreover, teachers should combine interesting activities such as telling stories, playing games, group work, etc to help students apply new knowledge easily as well as become more confident.

Teachers play the game actively.
The video clip brings lively visual pictures.

With the hope of developing the educational environment at the Asian International School, the workshop was a chance for IPS teachers to gain experiences from the lecturer to improve their teaching methods, master professional abilities and to bring interesting English lessons to IPS students and additionally to build and educate necessary skills for students to adapt to modern social needs.

An IPS representative gives Ms. Sadie flowers to thank her for the workshop

IPS teachers and the lecturer took photographs after the workshop.

Teachers’ comments

Mrs Le Thi Kim Phuong - Cong Hoa Campus

During many years teaching at the Asian International School, I have had many chances to attend useful teaching training courses to improve my teaching skills. This training course helps us gain new experiences as well as build necessary skills for teaching and learning English, not only in listening and understanding English, but also making them more creative in their use.

Mr Nguyen Phuong – Thai Van Lung Campus

The Oxford University lecturer has transmitted new teaching experiences and useful knowledge that help teachers change and improve their English teaching methods in the classroom. As a teacher of the Asian International School, I am very excited about the lessons of vocabulary and grammar which the lecturer shared. I would like to thank the School Board of Management for organizing a very helpful training course.

Ms Truong Thi Hien Van – Van Thanh Campus

Learning a second language besides the native language is not easy for primary students. The training course was an opportunity for teachers to learn the effective methods to design suitable lesson plans for students. After the training course, besides the useful knowledge, I felt more confident because I was inspired by the lecturer. I’m very happy to now do the same things for my students in their English classes.

Ms. Sadie Jane Maddocks – The Product Manager of Oxford University Press in the South East Asia region

Last year, we focused more on our listening skills and on storytelling. This year, we are really thinking about 21st century skills and how to just move from reading, listening, speaking and writing and to bring those skills for the students learning English for life, not just learning English for the classroom. I came to observe the teachers and I would actually love to see them in the classroom. I think the teachers have tried to change from passive to being very active. We just think that it is very important about inspiring our young learners. As a teacher, we really need to have lots of energy, lots of passion and lots of belief in what we do. We want to work with you, in partnership with you, and to give you and your teachers the best training possible. We can shape the future education together, working with the teachers and thinking about how we can increase the level of English of Vietnamese students.