The Ghana Association of Teachers of English (GATE), wants the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education to use monies invested in the preparation of lessons notes to supervise and motivate teachers.

Mr Isaiah K. Adzigodie, the Greater Accra Regional President of GATE explained that for fear of victimization, many of the teachers religiously copied the contents of the syllables into the lesson notes and were seen as hardworking even though they might not be regular to class.

He said it was for that reason, that they appealed to the GES and the Ministry to use the colossal amounts of money invested in the printing and distribution of lesson notes to intensely supervise the work of teachers and motivate them to deliver as expected of them.

He said this on Thursday during the Second Regional Conference organised by the Association in Accra to equip members with life transforming knowledge experience to enhance their teaching abilities.

The conference on the theme, “Addressing the Fall of Students’ Academic Performance: The Role of the English Language Teacher”, also sought to equip participants with knowledge on critical grammar, literature and ‘Cock Crow’ as the teachers were going to prepare students for the 2019 Basic Education Certificate Examination slated for June.

Mr Adzigodie advised teachers to develop themselves professionally, without necessarily waiting for support from their Heads or employers.

The living conditions of teachers including housing, environment, and health, he said, were poor and called on the GES and Heads of Educational Institutions to improve upon them to make them comfortable to deliver.

“May the teacher be respected and protected; may our employers pay more attention to us, and may the teacher be more dedicated to work,” he added.

Professor Lade Wosornu, a former Surgeon and Poet who chaired the conference advised individuals who were interested to improve on their writing and speaking abilities to read extensively and often.

“He, who, would write must first read. If you like to write well, clear, simple, precise, with the sentences not being too long, short or monotonous, to keep your readers always in suspense, then, read widely and often,” he said.

He said among the materials, readers could use were the Scripture, Quran and other religious books well written in the English Language because they could give readers new words every day.

Speaking on how to handle school children, Prof Wosornu said even though teachers needed to be patient, they also needed to be strict.

“I get unsettled when I am made to understand that these days, instructors are not allowed to discipline children…” he said.

Prof Wosornu asked teachers to be inventive, creative, and encourage the brighter students in their class to assist the other students with studies.

Dr John Sackey, a former Senior Lecturer at the Department of English Language at the University of Cape Coast speaking on ‘Literature’ advised teachers to make teaching interesting and easy for students to understand by employing illustrations and examples especially with regards to poetry.

He said it was necessary for teachers to test students on general knowledge to know their strength to enable them to use the right approach in teaching poetry, novel and play.

“A good teacher makes friends with the dictionary since he or she doesn’t know all and reads extensively before going to class. So as a teacher, if you don’t read well to give your students the right knowledge, you are to blame as well if they fail,” he said.