The Faculty of Arts – Extension Courses, University of Colombo, in collaboration with Partners in Micro development (PIMD), offers a suite of short professional development courses for English language teachers in Sri Lanka.

These courses are designed to strengthen teachers’ theoretical understanding and classroom practice in teaching English literacy skills, with a strong emphasis on evidence-based approaches, local classroom realities, and practical application.

Who Can Apply

The programmes are suitable for:

• Primary and junior secondary English teachers
• Teacher educators and in-service advisors
• Pre-service teachers and recent graduates
• Education professionals seeking structured upskilling in English literacy based on the latest research in the Science of Reading

The English Literacy Teacher Training Curriculum consists of four short courses, designed to be taken in order as follows:

Course 1. Teaching Phonological Awareness and Phonics for English in Schools
(Currently Offered)

Course 2. Teaching Language and Reading Comprehension

Course 3. The Lotus Reading Program

Course 4. Screening, Monitoring and Assessment of Literacy Skills

Teaching Phonological Awareness and Phonics for English in Schools

This course provides teachers with a strong foundation in:

• the structure of spoken and written English (phonology and orthography);

• developing students’ phonological (sound) awareness for English (words, syllables, onset-rime, phonemes);

• systematic and explicit phonics instruction – the relationship between sounds and letter/letter combinations in English (alphabetic code) and spelling patterns and rules for fast, accurate word recognition; and

• classroom-ready instructional routines and activities including an AI-powered webapp (https://phonics.microdevpartners.org/ ) for generating ready to use lesson plans

This course is the required entry point for all participants.
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Teaching Language and Reading Comprehension

This course focuses on how to help students develop their language skills for reading comprehension, specifically:

• activating background knowledge before reading;

• developing vocabulary depth through pre-, during, and post-reading activities;

• the importance of syntax awareness in understanding the mean of sentences; and

• how to infer meaning from texts going beyond what is stated explicitly in the text – an essential skill for reading to learn (as distinct from learning to read).

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The Lotus Reading Program

This course introduces a structured approach to conducting reading lessons using a variety of text types. The approach is designed to integrate and strengthen the skills covered in the previous two courses. This structured approach can be applied in small group and whole class teaching. Participants are given free access to the Lotus eLibrary (https://lotuslibrary.kotobee.com/ ) of electronic story books (ebooks) designed specifically for the Sri Lanan context with Sri Lankan themes.

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Screening, Monitoring and Assessment of Literacy Skills

This final capstone course in the curriculum, shows teachers how to use screening and assessment tools to diagnose a student’s specific reading skills gap(s) and design remedial instruction programs.

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Free of charge

Course 1. Teaching Phonological Awareness and Phonics for English in Schools
(Currently Offered)

These courses are offered at no cost as part of the University of Colombo and PIMD’s commitment to improving English literacy outcomes in Sri Lanka through high-quality teacher education.

Registration

Participants must register using the online application form provided on this website.

Further Information

For queries and additional information, please contact:

Email: info@microdevpartners.org

Course Details

• Duration: Each course is available for 4 months to allow participants to move at their own pace.

• Mode of Delivery: Online and self-directed. There are no scheduled or live face-to-face classes. Learners are responsible for following instructions and completing all modules

• Language: English

• Certification: Participants who successfully complete course requirements will receive a certificate issued by the Faculty of Arts – Extension Courses, University of Colombo and Partners In Micro-development.

Course Dates

• Course 1 Start Date: [To be announced]
• Application Deadline: 09. 02. 2026

Applications must be submitted through the official online application form.

➡ Apply Here: https://forms.gle/MMsDGSF2iXHMZ2Cx8

Please ensure all required information is completed accurately before submission.

Partners in Micro-development (PIMD) regularly conducts free, online seminars on topics relating to literacy instruction. Past seminars are available at:

https://microdevpartners.org/seminars-and-events/ 

Programme Partner:

Partners in Micro-development (PIMD) https://microdevpartners.org/

Email: info@microdevpartners.org

For academic and administrative matters related to Extension Courses, participants will also receive guidance from the Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo after registration.