LAHORE, May 31: The two-day Phonetics Workshop concluded in Lahore on Tuesday amid applause by the participants.

As part of its “Dawn-in-Education Programme”, Dawn Media Group organised a series of phonetic workshops in collaboration with the Oxford University Press.

The workshops were conducted by Mr Mohammad Ali Khan, a doctoral researcher at the Department of Linguistics and English Language at UK's Lancaster University and a senior instructor and coordinator of the Professional Link Committee at Aga Khan University, Karachi.

On each day two sessions were held, each lasting two-and-a-half hours, to accommodate 186 teachers from 82 schools across Punjab. Most of these schools have also been registered for the 7th DAWN Spelling Bee Competition 2011.

These workshops not only afforded the teachers an opportunity to grasp the fundamentals of phonology but also incorporated discussions, activities and feedback tools to enable them to gain a holistic understanding of the subject.

The eagerness of public and private schools alike to swiftly register for the workshop and the enthusiasm of all participating teachers was a heartening experience.

Mrs Sidra Afzal, a teacher at Garrison Academy for Boys, said: “The whole event was superb. It was a source of knowledge and inspiration. The important tips we learnt are applicable to all languages and I'd give the workshop a solid 9.5 out of 10.”

Mr Arastus Attir of The City School's Iqbal Campus also expressed satisfaction with the workshop. “It covered all the fine details and nothing could have made it any better than it was. All schools should participate and send in teachers as I strongly feel that when it comes to spoken English, there are great pronunciation problems,” she said.

The teachers also communicated their desire to participate in all future workshops Dawn-in-Education Programme intends to conduct. After a series of workshops in Karachi, Hyderabad and Lahore the workshop will move to Islamabad.