London Met co-organises EFL conference in India

Dr Janet Enever, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Humanities Arts and Languages (HAL) at London Metropolitan University, co-chaired an international conference on primary English language learning in Bangalore, India this month.

The Way Forward: Learning from international experience of TEYL, took place from 3-6 January 2008 at the Regional Institute of English in Bangalore. It focused on recent research into national policies on the introduction of English as a second, or foreign language in primary schools across the globe.

The role of English as an international language is central to global English Language Teaching (ELT) as politicians worldwide increasingly perceive English to be vital to the future economic success of their country. World leaders are increasingly seeking to introduce ELT to the primary school curriculum from the start of schooling.

Experts and decision makers within the educational process from over 30 countries attended. The conference was set up with the aim of influencing future policy and planning decisions with regard to teaching English to children and creating opportunities for further collaboration, joint research and sharing. The events provided opportunities for experts to showcase specific innovations, experiments or projects, which are not nationally implemented, within the state or private sector with regard to teaching English to children.

Dr Enever, speaking after the conference, said: ‘Delegates declared the conference an overwhelming success for bringing together professionals and academics from all over the world. It was also fascinating to hear of the different approaches to English language teaching, particularly for young learners.’

Chris Gibson, British Council Director for South India, said: ‘We are delighted that we had the opportunity to host the conference with the Regional Institute of English, South India.’ He added: ‘The conference was extremely fitting as Gordon Brown was visiting India at the time to show the British Council's commitment to work with the Indian Government and state authorities to support English language teaching in schools. Together they aim to train over 750,000 teachers in India in the next five years.’

London Met is developing its new specialist MA English Language Teaching for Young Learners with an aim to launch it in September 2008.

31 January 2008