TANZANIA is set to host the General Conference of the African English Teachers Association at the University of Dar es Salaam next year.

President of Tanzania English Language Teachers Association (TELTA) Ayoub Msuya has said the meeting will be attended by more than 600 teachers from all over the continent with 300 teachers from Tanzania.

Msuya Soke in Arusha during the just-ended Tanzanian English Language Teachers Association’s Fifth Annual Conference held at the Institute of Accountancy Arusha (IAA), which was attended by 300 English teachers from all over the country.

Msuya listed some of TELTA's achievements as including the grooming of proficient English language teachers and leaders across Tanzania through various programmes.

 According to him, Tanzania had previously sent six teachers to attend the Great Lakes Region’s English Teachers Conference in Ethiopia, adding that earlier the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam funded nine teachers to participate in another meeting of African English Teachers held in Egypt.

The Arusha conference which was funded by the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam brought together English language teachers from across Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar as well as instructors and trainers from Kenya, Djibouti, USA and Qatar.

The conference, themed ‘Motivating English Language Teachers to Adopt Advanced Teaching Methodologies and Tools’ was also attended by US Embassy's public affairs officials.

 “This year we celebrate 20th anniversary of our access programme which is a micro scholarship programme for students,” said Jeanne Clark, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam.

 “Students wouldn't have benefitted from that programme if there weren't dedicated English language teachers willing to learn and adopt new methodologies of teaching,” she said.

In her opening remarks, the chairperson of the event Irene Maganga emphasized the need for enhancing classroom experiences through the latest innovations in teaching.

"Our goal is to inspire and equip educators with the latest innovations in teaching to enhance their classroom experiences," she maintained.

Dr Aymen Elsheikh, an instructional associate professor of English at Texas A&M University in Qatar, delivered a keynote address critiquing traditional teaching methods and promoting the ‘post-method’ approach, encouraging teachers to adopt advanced methodologies suited to their teaching contexts.