Let’s have a walk around a typical classroom setting of a random Bangladeshi school in 2026.

The school bell rings, benches are filled with students, their books are open, and eyes are fixed on the blackboard. The teacher stands in front and writes on the board –

“Present Continuous Tense = Subject + am/is/are + verb + ing.”

The students repeat it in unison. Again. And again. They know the structure of these tenses by heart, but if asked what the tense means or when to use it, silence. Then there are also translation exercises. English sentences are turned into Bangla, Bangla into English. There is little to no speaking, little listening.
Only rules, structure, and memorisation.

This scene is not unusual. It reflects the reality of many schools across Bangladesh, especially in rural areas. English is taught as a subject to pass exams and not as a language to use. In some urban English-medium schools, the situation is slowly changing. There, teachers are beginning to understand the importance of learner-centred classrooms where students speak, interact, and use language in real situations. But for a large number of learners, the old system still dominates.

This system is known as the Grammar Translation Method, often called GTM. It is one of the oldest methods of language teaching. It comes from a structural view of language, where language is seen as a set of rules to be learned. The method focuses mainly on grammar and vocabulary. Students translate texts between their first language and the target language. Reading and writing are given priority, while speaking and listening are often ignored completely.

Historically, GTM was used to teach classical languages like Latin and Greek. At that time, the goal was not communication but understanding written texts. This method later spread to modern language teaching. In GTM classrooms, the teacher is the authority. They explain grammar rules, give examples, and correct mistakes. Students listen, memorise, and practise through written exercises.

In Bangladesh, even though the national curriculum has shifted towards Communicative Language Teaching, or CLT, the reality in classrooms tells a different story. Many classes still depend heavily on memorisation and translation. As a result, students may score well in exams but struggle to communicate in English. They know the rules but cannot use them in real life.

One of the major reasons behind this is the lack of trained teachers. Many English teachers, especially in rural and underprivileged areas, do not receive proper training in modern teaching methods. They teach the way they were taught.
GTM becomes the easiest and safest method to follow.

Another reason is the context of Bangladesh itself. It is not an English-speaking country. When the curriculum was designed many years ago, English was mainly needed for academic purposes, and focusing on reading and writing may have been enough. But today, the situation has changed. Students need English for communication, higher education, and global opportunities. The old method no longer meets these needs.

This is why there is a growing need to move towards more communicative approaches such as CLT, Audio-Lingual Method, Task-Based Language Teaching, Direct Method, and many more. These methods focus on using language in real-life situations, providing students with actual experiences to learn from. Moreover, they also encourage interaction, participation, and practical learning.

To make this shift possible, however, teachers are highly in need of support and proper training. They need to understand different teaching approaches, methods, and techniques. Only then can classrooms become places where language is not just learned but lived.

This is why, in this series, we will explore different contemporary teaching methods and their characteristics, and how a teacher can apply them in the Bangladeshi context.

Toodalu