Education professor teaching English in India

College of Education professor Spencer Salas is in India working with the U.S. State Department to train people to teach English in the capital New Delhi.

For three weeks, Salas will wind his way through Delhi’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, working with secondary school instructors to improve the way they teach English.

His efforts are part of the U.S. State Department’s English Language Specialist Program, designed to maintain the quality of overseas English programs and reinforce ties between the United States and other countries.

Salas has made the trip since 2010. In addition to training teachers, he and other specialists help develop textbooks and evaluate programs.

The education professor said regardless of what they teach or where they teach, quality instructors are universally valuable.

“Whether in Charlotte or New Delhi, teachers make a critical difference in the daily lives and long-term futures of urban adolescent learners,” Salas stated

Salas has a Ph.D. in language education and a master’s degree in secondary bilingual education. He is the coordinator of the Teaching English as a Second Language section of the College of Education’s Curriculum and Instruction Ph.D. program.

Photo: Spencer Salas (back row, center, eighth right) is spending three weeks in India to help instruct others on how to teach English.