Behind the Scenes at Teach & Learn with Georgia
Teach and Learn with Georgia (TLG) is a progressive education movement initiated by the previous Georgian government and administered under the Georgian Ministry of Education and Science. It recruits native English, French, German and Chinese language speakers to co-teach alongside local teachers in public schools throughout Georgia. TLG aims to improve Georgia’s nationwide foreign language proficiency in an effort towards further participation in the global community.
GEORGIA TODAY spoke to Program Manager Tea Vakhtangadze who began her TLG career as a regular co-teacher, working alongside a TLG volunteer, in 2011.
How has the program changed since its beginnings?
The TLG program is now more streamlined, with fewer volunteers than in previous years. We have more specific guidelines and goals for all the participants in the program (volunteers, co-teachers, school staff, etc.), guiding the way the interaction with schools, volunteers and communities occurs. We try to assess and monitor the entire process much more carefully than in previous years. There are also more teacher trainings and more frequent monitoring trips to the regions to observe lessons during the school year.
What challenges have you faced?
A reduction in the number of foreign teachers has been the biggest challenge- and attracting qualified personnel. We addressed this problem by contacting university departments directly, by building relationships with German, French, American, Canadian, and British universities and organizations in order to interest qualified applicants. We also used French and German job sites for native language teaching overseas. We regularly update our Facebook and website pages with interesting posts, information, small projects, and regular updates on the progress of the academic school year. We are trying to build up a stronger presence online.
There have also been communication problems across cultural lines. To try to overcome such issues, we now more carefully choose schools and home placements, selecting families and schools that show the strongest interest in working constructively with our TLG volunteers. And we created specific modules in our training sessions which look at intercultural communication issues.
For many volunteers, the reality of the socio-economic situation in the regions can come as a shock. When choosing placements for TLG volunteers, we take into consideration their personal preferences (such as mountainous regions, or places which might have more favorable climates for them, etc). Despite some placements not having the best home facilities, the place might still have something else of great interest for volunteers, such as it being a historic location or one of scenic beauty.
To overcome the issue of foreign language proficiency with local teachers, we organize regular training and testing for local teachers participating in the program. All this is organized to help them to pass Teacher Professional Development exams and advance in their teaching careers.
At times, there are scheduling issues- with the local foreign language teachers having limited availability to work within the frames of the program. The TLG program supports and encourages volunteers to help local teachers correct this imbalance by contributing their time after school to help with lesson planning, to seek out and attract teaching resources for their lessons which might otherwise be lacking, and also to hold language clubs or competitions (such as spelling bees), thereby making the teaching experience in the rural schools more productive and increasing the overall motivation of pupils.
We conduct monitoring twice a year. In order to do this more effectively, we are continuously updating indicators and instruments to more accurately get a picture of how the program is succeeding in schools and what the level of involvement, enjoyment, and effectiveness is.
How would you say the program has improved?
We’ve made changes to the volunteer teacher selection process: namely, restricting target countries, making sure that the native language is English, German or French (as required), and ensuring that participants definitely come with previous teaching experience.
We broadened the program to include Chinese-language volunteer teachers in 2013 and have been focusing on teachers' professional development in the regions since that year, as well as training both volunteer teachers and Georgian co-teachers together since 2014.
We started narrowing the kind of contract we offer to volunteers, schools and host families to one full academic year only (i.e. no more half-semester contracts) and enacting new criteria in the selection of appropriate schools (since 2015).
We also aim to increase the exposure of the volunteer teachers in their communities and schools: volunteers are being given new requirements to work alongside at least three co-teachers and to hold lessons for at least 25 hours per week.
We have also established more regular testing of Georgian foreign language teachers.
How has the program affected the local communities and schools?
By improving foreign language skills, mostly in listening and speaking. We have regular training and testing for local teachers to help them pass Teacher Professional Development exams and advance in their teaching careers. Local teachers have mentioned in their feedback to us that communication with the TLG volunteers greatly helped them overcome barriers in their speaking and listening skills. We get consistent reports that lessons are more interesting and engaging for the students. In addition, competitions are organized which raise the motivation of students and teachers, for example, encouraging participation in an American-based international video competition held by the Smithsonian Institute, which focuses on interviewing a tradition-bearer in English by young students. This competition focused on connecting tradition in Georgia with modern technology. Students appear more interested in the learning of foreign languages as a direct result of our TLG volunteers’ efforts. The communities in the villages where TLG volunteers are placed also become more open and exposed to foreigners through this placement process, usually exchanging their cultural and culinary traditions.
What are your future plans for TLG?
We want it to grow steadily and with increased quality control. We’d also like for every public school in Georgia to be given a fair and equal chance to work alongside a native-speaking volunteer. We also want to increase the involvement of French and German volunteers to make our program multi-purpose and meet the changing expectations of Georgian schools and pupils. We want to give them the opportunity to be involved in the larger world through this direct contact with TLG volunteers.
A teacher’s perspective:
24-year-old Californian (US) Natalie Taylor has been a TLG volunteer English teacher at Martkopi School No 1 since September 2016. Martkopi is one of the biggest villages in Georgia, boasting a population of 7,000, while the school accommodates around 600 students up to grade 12.
“TLG has been an interesting experience. Teaching in the village is very hard. I like living here but the laid-back lifestyle can be frustrating,” says Natalie, who won’t be renewing her contract as she plans to move into the NGO sector.
TLG teachers earn 600 GEL a month and pay 200 of that to the host families, which covers full board accommodation.
“I lucked out with my host family,” Natalie tells us. “I can cook for myself if I want, and the eldest daughter speaks excellent English. Other TLGers aren’t so lucky. The students I work with are for the most part passionate and interesting, but they cheat a lot in exams. And while some older students are good at English, I had to give up the 11th grade group which doesn’t even know the English alphabet. That apathy extends to other subjects, too- I’ve no idea how they’ll pass their final exams and they have no aspirations to leave the village. The girls get married early on, the boys hang around drinking. The teachers here are overworked and underpaid but there’s only so far that excuse can go and I’ve had issues co-ordinating work with one teacher. The director doesn’t speak any English but is very responsive to my ideas. My four middle-aged co-teachers speak ok English, but things often get lost in translation, so my focus is on inspiring the students rather than the teachers, because I can reach the students more easily”.
Katie Ruth Davies