West Africa ESP Teacher Training - January 2007
In January 2007, I collaborated with Kay Westerfield (University of Oregon) and Ruth Petzold (then U.S. State Department's Regional English Language Officer for West Africa) to provide 3-day teacher-training workshops in three West African cities: Dakar, Senegal; Lome, Togo; and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The focus of these workshops was to equip instructors with best practices for the design, delivery and evaluation of English for Specific Purposes courses. Program participants worked in a variety of instructional settings, including university departments, corporations, private institutes, and Islamic schools, and they taught English to bankers, engineers, marketing executives, humanitarian aid workers, international peace-keeping troops, government officers, tourism managers, and professionals in many other fields. In addition to being a wonderful opportunity to travel, this project was a way to contribute practically to the education and economic future of three developing African nations.