Experiencing a Change Process in ELT in West Bengal

‘Project English’, which aimed to enable primary-level students in West Bengal to communicate in English, began in 2007. The British Council expected that by 2011, over 220,000 primary teachers would be trained, and 15 million pupils would benefit directly from the project. It set in motion major changes at all levels of primary education. This chapter is an account of my experience of this initiative in a number of roles. I served as a member of the Textbook Writing Committee and the Materials Development Committee for the Teacher’s Companion — a basic teachers’ handbook for primary-level English teaching. These roles, together with the role of temporary teacher educator, offered me the opportunity to experience the change process at very close quarters. Through an account of my personal journey from teacher to teacher educator, I offer an insider’s view of the impact of the change process on teacher education pedagogy and how that change is being implemented in teacher training workshops.