Teaching English Language Skills for School Teachers: CTE Programme of IGNOU

Abstract

India is a multilingual country. English is the second most important language in the country after the national language Hindi since it is taught as a compulsory subject in all the Indian schools. In the educational system of a multilingual country, it becomes imperative to improve the English Language teaching skills of the school teachers who come from various linguistic backgrounds. The school teacher plays a vital role in the development of linguistic skills of the students. What children learn can affect their later success or failure in school, work, and their personal lives. As such, the school teachers need to improve their own English language skills if they are teaching without any previous English language training. This paper throws light on the communicative approach of English language teaching. It introduces the Certificate in Teaching of English (CTE) programme of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and outlines the syllabus and the methods used by the university to impart English Language Teaching skills to the elementary/secondary school teachers through this programme with the objective to enhance teacher’s understanding of  the learners and their learning process.