Teachers working for Teacher Associations were asked to state how their TA had helped them in achieving professional excellence and leadership skills. Some of the responses are given below… would you like to share yours? Send your stories to SPELTwebsite @gmail.com

Ishrat Dabir, Secondary school teacher and trainer, SPELT Life member

I strongly believe that a TA plays an outstanding role in professional development of a teacher. I have seen many people who had excelled in their field due to their TA’s support. Here I would like to share my own experiences. I worked as a secondary school teacher for more than twenty five years in the state owned schools in Pakistan. My teaching career did not offer me any opportunity to improve my teaching skills. I kept trying to improve my academic qualifications, by getting a master’s degree in Education, but it just added to my resume but did not the help me at all in my day to day teaching skills in the classroom. Then by a pure chance, I came in contact with the active TA ( SPELT ) and my hidden urge - - or I should say-- my dormant potentials started began to blossom. In the beginning I attended monthly academic sessions and I got to realise that I needed to know a lot more about teaching and learning to achieve my target to be an effective classroom practitioner.

Then I did a one year course from SPELT in which I got distinction .According to the policy of that time I was sent to England for a summer school in Communicative Methodology. After that I enrolled myself for COTE programme from the Cambridge University in collaboration with SPELT. And I also got involved with SPELT’s working committee, which gave me a chance to show leadership thus I continued working in association with SPELT . It gave me a chance to attend international conferences, short courses and also working with the syllabus writers, and also on different SPELT projects. It introduced me to classroom research. Not in my wildest dram did I think I would become a researcher and my findings on the ‘on-the –job training’ would be published in the prestigious SPELT journal and be circulated around the world for colleagues to read!

And I am proud to say I never turned back from my primary duty of classroom teaching. In fact I worked simultaneously in a two pronged role ----- class room teaching and teacher training. My exepertise was accepted by the department and I generously shared my work for my professional growth with my community as well. I feel that my rich contribution has helped to improve the current educational scenario. In short I would say that my TA turned an ordinary teacher into a leader and a role mode. Thank you SPELT.

Mohammad Hanif, Canada

My TA made me aware of the job opportunities in the ELT field It provided me opportunities to get my presentation skills improved. It helped to find solutions for the problems related to classroom teaching It gave me chance to share my experience with other teachers.

SPELT is one of the most active teachers’ organizations in South Asia, which introduced me to the world of teaching and development in the first place. Later, my career took off and I moved to Canada, however, my primary training gained at SPELT helped me tremendously to understand the ever-changing field of adult training, research and development. Presently, I am working in various capacities from being an Employment Facilitator for adults/youth at risk to a Corporate Trainer for Canadian Business Professionals.

Moreover, SPELT brought a leader out of me the first time by giving an honorable opportunity to be its Conference Coordinator. Today, I utilize project management skills for a number of challenging training programs successfully. In a nutshell, SPELT is not a traditional organization shaping up the teachers, but it is contributing towards providing the teacher researches and leaders to meet with high standards of the new millennium.