Palestine Project background 1. Description of the partners
Course Provider: Peartree Languages Lead Consultant: Everton Machado, Academic Manager Peartree Languages is a small-sized private language academy in Cardiff, South Wales, established in 2005 by its owner and Centre Manager, Nicky Partridge, accredited by the British Council since 2014. Before 2020, courses focussed on face-to-face delivery of EFL lessons to both adults and junior international learners in groups or privately. During the summer, a project-based junior vacation course is offered which lasts between four and six weeks, attending to hundreds of international learners and leading to a significant increase in the number of students and staff employed. Peartree had already been delivering bespoke one-to-one online lessons since 2010, mainly on Skype. However, due to the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the school had to quickly embrace the online environment, moving its existing face-to-face lessons online and devising new strategies to increase its online presence, keep its learning community engaged and deliver new courses.
The Palestinian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (PATEFL) is a non-profit organisation established in 2017 and based in Gaza, Palestine. As stated in their PRELIM application form, it aims to ‘promote professional excellence among English language teachers in all possible ways by engaging them in active professional learning communities where they meet, share ideas, and collaborate through various activities such as CPD courses, conferences and research’. The ETA is an IATEFL associate, which is supported and recognised by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and UNRWA (The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) for its contribution to teachers’ professional development. At the end of 2020, the ETA had 320 active members, attending to 1,260 non-member teachers. It promotes teacher interaction online mainly through its public Facebook group (https://www. facebook.com/groups/156197438167251/) and a more recent Facebook like page (https://www.facebook.com/PATEFL). PRELIM was the first formal project of the ETA, which is growing, and encouraging the Palestinian TEFL community to become members.
English Teachers’ Association (ETA): The Palestinian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language Contact: Ms Rida Thabet
Partnered Remote Language Improvement (PRELIM) project report
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