Bilkent Erzurum Laboratory School (BELS) hosted a workshop for government English teachers in Erzurum, organized by teachers from Robert College. The face-to-face workshop was part of a blended course that also involves online activities using Haiku.
The participants learned about a number of practical speaking, reading and vocabulary activities, with a focus on encouraging reluctant students. The material covered included warm-up exercises, student-centered activities for practicing vocabulary and speaking, drama exercises and ways to get student feedback.
Jennifer Sertel and four experienced Robert College teachers conducted the workshop and will be online for the second stage of the course. These training sessions began in 2000 in cities and towns all over Turkey.
Ms. Sertel, the founder of the program, has been teaching at Robert College for over 25 years; she also serves as the school’s outreach and community service coordinator. She coauthored “Peace Starts Within: The WINPeace Book of Activities to Teach Peace,” which is in its second edition in Turkish. Ms. Sertel is in addition a founding member of BUPERC (Bosphorus University Peace Education and Research Center).