International House World Organisation was proud to host its 12th IH Teachers Online Conference on Friday 22nd May, welcoming IH directors of studies and teachers, as well as teachers and academic managers from all over the world, to share ideas and innovations about teaching.
Like most educators around the world, International House teachers have had to adapt swiftly to the online teaching environment, and many of the talks in the conference were given by teachers who have been working out how to best to teach using online learning platforms.
This was the 12th edition of this popular conference, which takes place every year. The TOC started as a way to celebrate the expertise and experiences of the hundreds of teachers around the International House network, and has grown year-on-year.
Shaun Wilden, Academic Head of Training and Development for International House World Organisation (IHWO), commented, "This year's conference was a testament to the strength of the IH network, illustrating how skillful its teachers have been in adapting to the 'new norm' for education. Over the day, we saw 10 hours of highly practical ideas and advice, which I know several teachers are already trying to implement into their teaching."
Given the current nature of the world due to Covid-19 and the stress upon the language teaching industry, the topic of the conference was focused on teaching online. One of the features of this conference was the short and sweet nature of the talks – each speaker had 15 minutes to present their ideas. The fast turn around of sessions gave everyone the opportunity to speak and allow for more idea sharing, and in total there were 30 different talks. This year, we also introduced the live streaming of the event which was really appreciated by participants who could easily connect at any point of the conference.
Being online, the event was both delivered and attended in many time zones in the world. There were speakers from Argentina, Belarus, Czech Republic, Mexico, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, Russia, and the UK.
Nearly 3,000 teachers, trainers and staff from around the world applied to attend the event. The atmosphere of such a collaborative occasion made us proud of what we are doing and achieving during this difficult time.
Lucy Horsefield, Managing Director of IHWO, commented, "The IH Teachers Online Conference is always special because it is a rare opportunity for IH teachers – past, present and recently trained by IH – to come together and feel part of the IH community. This year, at such a difficult time, it was particularly important to come together and share what everyone has learnt.
"I am full of admiration for all of the IH teachers across our network who made the transition to delivering their classes online so quickly and supported their students during this terrible crisis."
We hope the IH Teachers Online Conference was a memorable event for all teachers around the world, whether they work for, have worked for, trained with, learnt a language with, or are still yet to experience International House.
Sessions will be soon be published on our YouTube channel to make them accessible to watch at a later stage.