Our Purpose
Welcome to the Language Teachers Association of Zambia’s (LATAZ) official website. LATAZ is a teacher association established to create Personal and Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) for language and literacy teachers in order to promote quality language and literacy teaching and learning.
The Language Teachers’ Association of Zambia – LATAZ is a teacher association established as English Teachers’ Association of Zambia (ETAZ) on 20th August 1976 by British expatriate English language teachers. Its defining aim then was to provide a forum for the discussion of aspects of teaching the English language’ and ‘to stimulate and promote research into English language studies.’ The first national Chairman of ETAZ was a renowned material writer, Brian Tomlinson and the first National Secretary was Mervyn Ogle. Over the years, the association has expanded its scope to include aspects of teaching local and other international languages taught in Zambian schools. It was thus renamed the Language Teachers’ Association of Zambia on 7th July 2009. LATAZ operates and has representation in all 116 districts in the country and collaborates closely with the Directorate of Standards, Assessment and Evaluation of the Ministry of Education. It is run by a national executive committee headed by the President and has regional and district committees across the country that implement its programmes. With the broadened mandate, the association’s mission is to help language and literacy teachers connect, develop and engage each other professionally through established support systems.
Recent Project
We are delighted to announce that we have been selected to be part of the PRELIM 3 project and will be working in partnership with Hilderstone College to create locally focused resources for the English language classroom. The project which began on January 2 023 will run up to May 2024.
PRELIM – the Partnered Remote Language Improvement project – is a joint initiative from the @BritishCouncil, @IATEFL and @EnglishUK.
We also provide links to international opportunities through our partnership with the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), Africa ELTA, the Hornby Education Trust Alumni Network, the English UK Partnered Remote Language Improvement (PRELIM) Project and many more.
What We Do
Our mission is to Connect, Develop and Support language and literacy teaching professionals countrywide. We provide a variety of teacher and pupil activities to members and the wider language and literacy teaching and learning community. You can join as an individual or institutional member by completing this form. If you are an entrepreneur or business organisation wishing to reach our over 20,000 teaching community or over 100,000 pupils countrywide, advertise with us and grow your clientele.
Current Project CBLT
The Language Teachers’ Association of Zambia, with support from the British Council’s English Connect Project, is undertaking a phased project from July 2024. The project is aimed at building the capacity of primary and secondary language and literacy teachers to implement the Competence-Based Curriculum effectively. The association conceptualised the project in March 2024 and later developed a proposal. After a thorough review, the sponsor approved funding worth £13,213.78 to implement the project. The grant agreement was signed between LATAZ and the British Council on 12th July 2024, marking the commencement of the orientation activities.
Background and Rationale
The Zambian government is revising the National Education Curriculum Framework and shifting from content-based approaches to competency-based education. This revision has triggered further changes to the syllabi, teaching and learning materials, pedagogy as well and assessment. The new curriculum is set to be rolled out in the first term of 2025. “The rationale of the 2023 Zambia Education Curriculum is primarily to reform the education system and align it with global trends, address the identified gaps and challenges of the 2013 Curriculum, integrate emerging issues, align the education system to the National Development Plans, and migrate from an Outcome- Based Education (OBE) to Competence Based Education (CBE) to promote education that will enhance the acquisition of knowledge, skills, positive attitudes and values necessary for the sustainable development of the nation.” (MOE 2023:2).
To help language teachers prepare adequately for this transition, the Language Teachers’ Association of Zambia planned to conduct six regional face-to-face capacity-building workshops and a series of twelve complementary webinars to boost the confidence of primary and secondary school teachers in Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT). The overall aim of the project is to assess teachers’ readiness and build their capacity to implement CBLT in their classrooms by the first term of 2025.
Project Objectives and English Connects
The specific objectives of the project are:
- Assess the confidence and fears of primary and secondary language and literacy in the Competency-Based Language Teaching and Syllabus.
- Build the capacity of the language and literacy teachers in CBLT methodology, materials adaptation/development, lesson delivery and assessment.
- Provide teachers’ awareness of and build their capacity to identify and use contextually applicable learning technologies and resources for CBLT classrooms.
- Disseminate British Council Teaching English and English Connect resources and explore their adaptation for use in CBLT classrooms.
Workshop Dates and Venues
- 9th October 2024 – Kabwe
- 10th October 2024 – Choma
- 10th October 2024 – Livingstone
- 10th October 2024 – Mumbwa
- 1st November 2024 – Lusaka
- 9th November 2024 – Kafue
- 16th November 2024 – Ndola
- 16th November 2024 – Kitwe
- 14th February 2025 – Chipata, Katete & Petauke
- 21st February 2025 – Chinsali, Nakonde, Mpika
Webinar recordings and workshop highlights videos can be found here
