Date:04/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/04/stories/2006090401760500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Training the trainer in communication skills

Ramesh Susarla

Communication skills is the buzzword among students today, but a reality check shows that not many lecturers in the Government, aided or unaided colleges have the required skill to put their students in the competitive zone through proper training.

At a time when students do not take English seriously English teachers themselves do not keep abreast of current trends and industry needs to provide students with enough skills to find a job.Problem is severe in the semi-urban and rural areas, where students get very little exposure to good English communication skills. In this background, the Commissionerate of Collegiate Education had focused on communication skills in English language.

It launched A.P. English Lecturers' Retraining Program jointly sponsored by the Department of Collegiate Education and US State Department.

Objective

The goal of the programme was to improve proficiency communication skills of under graduate students of colleges in Andhra Pradesh by updating the teaching skills of English teachers.

In the first phase George Bishop and Carole Beauclerk, American experts in communication skills, trained 22 lecturers and called them `Trainers'.

Second phase will see 20 plus lecturers in English trained by the American experts with the assistance of `Trainers'. These trainers will go back to respective zones and impart training in skills to other lecturers of English.

Government Degree College for Women at Guntur took a step towards equipping English lecturers at undergraduate level with communication skills recently.

As second language

But teaching English as second language to students coming from rural and semi urban background still poses a challenge to the teachers, opined L. Sasi Bala, lecturer in English from Government College for Women, Guntur. She is also a Trainer of English language. "Lack of exposure, motivation and attention on the part of student makes teaching/learning learning process, a not so pleasant experience," she observed.