At the beginning of July, I had the pleasure of attending the 7th International ETAI (English Teachers’ Association of Israel) Conference in Ashkelon.
To be honest, I was a little concerned that the content of the conference sessions would be directed towards school teachers, therefore not relevant to my online teaching. However, when I discovered that Marjorie Rosenberg was one of the plenary speakers, I renewed my membership and registered. The conference slogan was ‘Engage, Enhance, Energize', and it successfully delivered all three E’s. I came away inspired and motivated. I had the opportunity to meet and learn from some amazing educators and participate in an excellent international conference.
In this post, I'll write a few words about the sessions that I attended and share useful links related to the speakers, their work, and further information about the content of their talks.
Andy Curtis - President of TESOL International
Enhancing Effectiveness Through Contextualization
Andy’s keynote talk was thought-provoking and inspiring. He spoke about the importance of context in teaching. He made the case that where we do what we do is at least as important as - and possibly even more important than - who does what to whom, in the language classroom. Andy is a wonderful speaker and a natural-born anthropologist.
Related links:
Penny Ur OBE - Retired English teacher, teacher trainer, author and ELT guru
Enhancing Language Learning: The Primary Goal
In Penny’s plenary, she shared valuable insight into the art of effective language teaching in schools. Her advice was clear and understandable, informative and extremely down to earth. She challenged many of the traditional myths concerning classroom teaching techniques, like the effectiveness of group work, and checking homework in the classroom.
Related links:
Hugh Dellar - Teacher, teacher trainer and author
Making the Leap from Grammar to Lexis
Hugh gave a hilarious and brilliant plenary about the importance of teaching 'lexically'. He suggested a number of practical ways to successfully teach lexis and gave many examples of why traditional teaching methods don't work. It was an inspiring and entertaining session.
Related links:
Hugh Dellar - Teacher, teacher trainer and author
Language-focused teacher development
Hugh’s keynote talk focused on how teachers need to develop their language awareness on an ongoing basis, in order to effectively respond to students' language needs in the moment. I found Hugh's sessions particularly relevant to my style and method of teaching. I came away feeling confident about what I’m doing in my online classes, and motivated to continue developing my materials and lessons to teach students 'lexically'.
Related links:
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/red-word-game/ (Test your awareness of word frequency)
Dorothy Zemach - Author, publisher, and teacher trainer
Teaching Study Skills
A superb session looking at the importance of teaching students how to study. Dorothy demonstrated useful techniques for teaching and practicing academic study skills. This should be an obligatory workshop for all teachers and parents.
Related links:
Marjorie Rosenberg - IATEFL President, teacher, teacher trainer and author
Engaging and Fun Business English Activities
I thoroughly enjoyed Marjorie’s lively, and extremely engaging workshop. We participated in a variety of NTP (no teacher preparation) activities suitable for Business English groups. Marjorie asked for feedback and gave examples concerning how the activities could be adapted to suit any class. I must admit after Marjorie’s inspiring workshop, I found myself yearning for the energy and interaction of a group class again.
Related links:
Marjorie Rosenberg - IATEFL President, teacher, teacher trainer and author
Making Lessons Memorable
Marjorie’s closing plenary was a treasure trove of practical lesson ideas. She shared activities and tips for creating fun, relevant and engaging lessons. She highlighted activities for different learning styles and explained their methodology. I hope to add the PowerPoint presentation of the plenary at a later date because it contained a tremendous amount of information.
It was a memorable plenary to end an excellent conference with.
Related links:
I would like to thank everyone involved in organising this conference, I can't imagine the amount of work that goes into planning such an event here. And a special thank you to the local and international speakers for sharing your wisdom!
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