In a space for academic exchange, innovation, and teamwork, the Language Institute of the Industrial University of Santander (UIS) held a co-creation and pedagogical planning workshop for English teachers from ten public educational institutions in the municipalities of Socorro and San Gil.
The activity took place in the Coomuldesa Classroom of the Bicentennial Campus of the UIS Socorro Headquarters as part of an agreement between the UIS and the Bucaramanga Chamber of Commerce, which aims to strengthen teaching skills in English as a foreign language and promote bilingualism in the region.
Jennifer Tatiana Mateus Betancur, special projects coordinator at the UIS Language Institute, explained that during this eight-hour workshop, “teachers participated in sessions focused on creating, collaborating, presenting, and planning activities aimed at pedagogical innovation in the classroom.”
The meeting included a master class-workshop focused on strengthening teaching skills for the use of innovative strategies in language teaching. According to Mateus Betancur, “we want teachers to be able to implement new ways of teaching and learning in their classrooms, to face different challenges and learning styles, and for this training to give rise to a network that strengthens their pedagogical work.”
The process does not end with the face-to-face session. In a second stage, teachers will be accompanied by expert trainers, who will visit their educational institutions to provide guidance on the implementation of the projects designed during the workshop. “This support will enable the products created today to be put into practice and will serve as a starting point for strengthening English language teaching in the classroom,” added the coordinator.
Mateus Betancur also highlighted some of the challenges faced by rural institutions in advancing these processes, including connectivity and access to technological tools.
However, he stressed that “thanks to the commitment of local governments, municipal entities, and the university, spaces and partnerships continue to be created that facilitate educational innovation in the region.”
A total of ten official educational institutions participated: five from San Gil and five from Socorro. This initiative is an important step toward creating more collaborative, innovative teaching communities committed to strengthening bilingualism in southern Santander.
