I am Abu Nasar Muhammad Sufian.As an EFL teacher and TEA fellow 2017, California State University, Chico, I had an educational journey in the USA,participated in the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) program and took part in a six weeks training in the California State University, Chico.After coming back from the USA I had been thinking of how to disseminate the training experiences through the local English teachers. For this I arranged a sharing program in American Corner, Sylhet on 8 November,2017 . As many as 60 English teachers including some local state alumni attended the program. I also developed a project titled “Teaching English Using Digital Contents and IT Tools” in collaboration with Rtn Mohammed Shams Uddin, Executive Director of GATE TRUST and submitted it for award and it is matter of great delight that my project had been selected for the 2017 Global Teacher Grants (GTG).

I started the project works from January 25,2018 by focused group discussion, consulting with local educational authority, collaborators and English teachers and preparing training materials. The main event of the project i.e Technology-based ELT workshop entitled“Teaching English Using Digital Contents and IT Tools” was held at Muhibur Rahman Academy,Shylet from 22 May to 24 May,2018.The objective of this program was to train English teachers about new IT tools for classroom teaching and learning. The project was made possible by an award from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State, through a program implemented by IREX.

30 English teachers from around Sylhet region participated in this training program. Gulzar Ahmed Khan, District Education office,Sylhet, local collaborator Rtn Mohammed Shams Uddin, Executive Director of GATE TRUST,Dr. Didar Chowdhury, Assistant Professor,Govt.Teachers’ Training College,Sylhet.Mr.Iqbal Siddiquee, Ex President of Sylhet Press Club & the Bureau Chief of The Financial Expres, Madho Sudun Chanda, Center in Charge, Bangladesh Computer Council and DPD Digital Sylhet City Project,Mr. Muhibur Rahman ,Chairman of Muhibur Rahman Foundation beautified the program by their kind presence. I really express my deep gratitude to the U.S. Department of States to make the opportunity to arrange this workshop. During the 3 days workshop the participating teachers learned how to prepare digital contents and got oriented with latest educational technology used in the modern classrooms of the world. According to the oral feedback of the workshop participants the workshop was a successful one. I believe that this workshop will make a huge difference in his region and teaching community and will have a big contribution to the professional development of English teachers.

The next project is to send a survey template to the trained teachers by email to get feedback of how they have changed their classroom teaching approach. The facilitator will visit the schools by random sampling with my collaborator to observe their lesson presentation in the real classrooms. He will also ask the head teachers, other teachers and students whether they have noticed any change in the trained teachers teaching approach regarding their sharing new ideas, use of technology in the class and how their skills are helping in achieving learning outcome.

The following steps will also be taken to ensure the impacts and sustainability of the project.

A. SBTD Support: The trained teachers will conduct School-based Teacher Development Program and train other teachers by conducting in-house training in their schools.

B. English and IT Clubs: Trained teachers will set up an English language club and an IT club in their schools to motivate students towards using digital learning tools.

C. GLN: The trained teachers will form a Group Learning Network among themselves by opening a Facebook to share their experience, impacts of training, challenges and best practices.