A professional development workshop

English and Urdu Phonetics

Improving linguistic Skills (English and Urdu Phonetics)


Introduction

This report is of a professional workshop conducted for the teachers of Government, and other private schools at one of the remote areas of Gilgit-Baltistan on the topic “English and Urdu Phonetics”. The process, achievements, challenges, and recommendations have been discussed in the lateral sections of this report. The workshop started at 12:30pm sharp and ended at 3:30pm on October 28, 20. Total 51-course participants, 17 males, and 34 females attended the workshop.

Schools
Government
Private schools
NEF
Total
Female
12
19
3
34
Male
9
08
0
17
Total
21
27
3
51

Objectives of the workshop

The objectives of the workshop were:
·         Providing teachers with an opportunity to be familiarized with a number of alphabets   and their types and phonemes of English and Urdu. 
·         Engaging teachers to listen, practice, and produce sounds of English and Urdu phonemes

Process

The session was started with the recitation of some verses from the Holy Quran. Workshop Facilitator (WF) said welcome to the participants and shared the objectives of the workshop. An experienced and well-qualified teacher having a master's degree in English (linguistics) was engaged in conducting the session. Workshop Participants (WPs) were asked to share their understanding of English phonetics. Concluding and summarizing the responses of WPs, the CF explained the English alphabets, their types, and sounds of different phonemes. The facilitator made the WPs practice sounds of different phonemes and provided chances to WPs produce correct sounds of phonemes. 

Then the facilitator wrote some words on the whiteboard and explained their correct pronunciations which were mispronounced by the teachers earlier. Another activity was group work where WPs were assigned to find the correct pronunciation of different words consulting dictionaries. After that, each group presented the pronunciation of certain words which they found from Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionaries. WF made sure the correct pronunciation of under-discussed words using a laptop in which a talking dictionary was installed.

After lunch, another session was conducted about “Urdu alphabets and sounds”. A teacher who was an expert in the sounds of Urdu alphabets was engaged in conducting the workshop. During this session, WPs were asked to tell the exact number of Urdu alphabets. WPs responded according to their understanding. Then the WF explained the total number of Urdu alphabets and their sounds using a hand-made chart. There was a hot debate among the WPs about alphabets and their sounds. Some participants did not want to accept the newly and correctly learned sounds of Urdu alphabets. The WF made the WPs practice the correct sounds of Urdu alphabets through sharing examples.

In the end, one of the WPS from different schools shared their reflections. They said such type of sessions needs to be conducted frequently. They thanked the coordinator of the workshop and WFs for providing a conducive and lively environment for the professional learning experience. All the WPs decided that they will be applying the correct pronunciation of English and Urdu words in their classrooms consulting a dictionary to communicate students with actual pronunciation of vocabulary. 

Achievements

  • 51 teachers got an opportunity to be oriented with alphabets, their types and sounds of English and Urdu phonemes.
  • The services of local expert teachers from the participants were obtained as a workshop facilitators.
·         Workshop participants learned the actual pronunciation of some words which were mispronounced by them earlier in English and Urdu as well.
·         WFs spared more than half an hour extra time than the planned time due to interesting and meaningful debate among the WPs.

Challenges

  • Strong inculcated wrong images of the sounds particularly of Urdu alphabets among the WPs
  • Shortfall of electricity due to which multimedia could not be used for showing words for pronunciation
·         Logistic arrangements particularly transportation of the CPs from different locations to workshop venue remained a challenge

Recommendations

  •      Follow up needs to be done after such types of workshops and refresher workshops need to be conducted
  •      In other areas workshops may be conducted for teachers using local human resource
  •      Funds need to be increased to provide transport facilities to CPs