“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”                                                                                                             

   – Toni Morrison

A warm welcome to the June and July issue of NELTA ELT Forum. This issue of Forum features a variety of topics ranging from academic Writing, digital storytelling to practical challenges and some ways out the issues of classroom experience by the teachers and teacher educators. We can feel, how teachers initiated practices in a community school in Nepal has helped them overcome existing problems. In addition, you can read why and how writing can be discussed in the classroom.

The first article by Dr. Tikaram Bhatta delineates essential elements of academic writing such as style, structure, audience and tone. It also outlines some problematic areas that novice writers encounter, especially in formal situations.

Secondly, Mr. Gobinda Puri has presented the existing problems of community schools in Nepal and some of the best practices initiated by teachers to solve these problems in various ways.

In our next write-up by Mr. William Wolf, an English Language Fellow in Kazakhstan, briefly discusses why teachers should teach writing to students. Then, he shares his observation regarding teaching writing in Nepalese context. Mr. Wolf, who has had experience of working closely with English language teachers in different parts of Nepal, shares how writing skills are overlooked and the reasons behind that. He then shares some hands-on ideas that teachers can use in their class to teach writing.

In our fourth article by Mr. Tirtha Karki, a teacher and teacher trainer in Eastern Nepal, explains hands-on ideas of developing creative writing ability through model-based activities. The article also shares his observation on how such activities promote the implicit learning of foreign language.

Likewise, the next article by Suman DC elucidates how digital storytelling is one of the emerging trends in the field of education. As an EFL teacher, he feels that it is one of the most engaging and integrating effective tool to develop different skills for our classrooms.

Similarly, Binod Singh Dhami, an M. Phil. scholar and TESOL trainer discusses the issues and strategies of teaching in large classes which, in some extent may help English teachers prepare their plan and materials in a innovative way.

We hope you will enjoy reading these articles and provide us with your valuable feedback. Happy reading and writing!!!

 Issue Editors,

Ganesh Gnawali

Suman Laudari