Teacher’s Day: Alliance Française makes a strong case for training, upskilling teachers for anywhere

New Delhi: With a combination of e-learning and physical lessons, called blended learning, on the rise in the ‘new normal’, heavily investing in building teachers’ capacity and training them to thrive as the pivot of online learning infrastructure is the belief Alliance Française de Delhi (AFD) swears by. This Teacher’s Day (September 5), the centre is emphasizing more than ever, the importance of upgradation of teacher’s skills.

Prioritising safety and well-being of all those on their campuses pan-India, the Indo-French educational centre shifted from offline to online teaching in March 2020. With almost six months of indubitably successful e-classes for over 30,000 learners behind us, the centre’s French teachers were upskilled and trained by its academic director, who has experience with the CNED National Center for Distance Learning in France.

Finding it very important for a teacher to update her/his skills, especially with online teaching, now, AFD integrates comprehensive teachers’ training in its DNA. From July this year, AFD makes available school teachers workshops, at the end of each month, on specific topics. The teachers’ trainers share their experience and new trend methodology.

AFD is also well-known to guide French teachers, thanks to its initial training tradition in partnership with French Universities. In order for India’s French teachers to upskill their level of French, Institut Français in India (IFI) also gives special scholarships to school teachers, with the final goal to take and pass the internationally-recognised DELF exams, issued by the French Ministry of Education.

“Teaching strategies and teachers have always been pivot of learning, and it will not change, at least shortly. Learning outcomes remain the same and many teaching styles are transferred from offline to online classes. One new element will be a self-learning trend: a mix between face to face teaching and e-learning exercises. This combination, called blended learning, gives more liberty for learners to study whenever and wherever they want: following our motto ‘anywhere anytime’,” said Guillaume Grangeon, Academic Director, Alliance Française de Delhi.

The centre believes that for blended learning to work well, teachers need to focus on “flipped classroom” pedagogy. In a flipped classroom, learners will complete online exercises, collaborate in online discussions, or carry out research at home while engaging in concepts in the classroom with the guidance of a mentor. Teachers become mentors and students become learners.

Commenting on the road ahead, AFD says: “For now, we do not know when offices will reopen and when students will be able to come back to classrooms. But we know one thing for sure, ‘back to school’ will not be the same. We will progressively welcome our learners in the premises in order to assure safety and good teaching health. On the other hand, online teaching will remain accessible for all, especially for the ones who live far away from our physical centers.”

In New Delhi, the centre has opened the admission process for the autumn session, and compared to the summer session, new beginners are more willing to come and implicitly accept this new learning medium. To encourage learning, AFD will give a 15% discount to every learner.

For more information on teachers’ scholarships: http://ifindia.in/teachers-scholarships/