Every year at the IATEFL Conference, there is usually a range of interesting talks from teachers, trainers and academic managers from IH schools – and 2021 is no different!
Although the conference has moved online this year, there is a great line-up of IH experts speaking on topics from promoting professional development in CELTA students, to key pedagogic principles in the online classroom, to working with emergent language.
Read on to find out more about the sessions from IH schools at IATEFL 2021!
Saturday 19th June
“I’m with stupid” - harnessing ‘stupidity’ in teaching organisations
- Simon Cox, General Plan IH Shanghai
Would you choose to be ‘stupid’ or have ‘stupid’ employees? Probably not, but I’ll discuss ways that ‘functional stupidity’ can actually make our work more pleasant and effective. Using the ideas of Alvesson and Spicer, I’ll encourage educational managers to consider adapting their managerial practices to help make the most of complex and confusing situations in language teaching organisations (LTOs).
What I’ve learnt about teacher training this year
- Sandy Millin, IH Bydgoszcz
I have recently completed the Trainer Development module of the NILE MA, which means I’ve read a lot of theory about teacher education. In this session, I’ll summarise what I’ve learnt and how it has influenced my work as a teacher trainer and director of studies. You’ll also be able to consider how this theory might be relevant to you.
A question of ethics: what we’re not asking about AI
- Lucie Cotterill, IH Reggio Calabria
It is widely believed that artificial intelligence will play a key role in education from now on. Needless to say, this raises an abundance of questions, but are we asking the right ones? This talk will focus on the ethical use of AI in ELT and suggest questions which should be asked before implementing AI in our organisations.
Creating a positive CELTA experience to promote continuous professional development
- Tatiana Polovinkina and Anna Kashcheeva, BKC IH Moscow
This talk will focus on how ensuring that CELTA is a positive experience for trainees can give them an incentive to keep developing professionally. We will present the system of support that we have been experimenting with in our teacher-training centre, sharing some practical ideas and activities that might be useful for teacher trainers.
Sunday 20th June
New paradigms in business cultural training
- Barry Tomalin, IH London
Training in business? Think business not ELT, especially true in intercultural training? This means that in your proposals, your materials and your reports you need to have a ‘businesslike’ approach in your course proposals, course structure, organisation, language and delivery. This talk explores the differences between language training and cultural training in business with special reference to the language used.
Helping teachers work with emergent language
- Danny Norrington-Davies and Richard Chinn (KCL + IH London)
Working with learner output is an essential part of lessons, but many teachers find this difficult. Based on observations and interview data, this workshop shows how teachers respond to emergent language and explores the beliefs underpinning their choices and techniques. We then suggest how teachers can develop their ability to notice and work with emergent language in their own classes.
Fitting it all in: fully exploiting texts for exam classes
- Steven Ferrara, IH London
Managing learners’ expectations while at the same time juggling content and coursebook material is still one of the greatest problems that exam teachers face. By applying principles of testing and assessment, this talk explores how to reduce tension between testing and teaching by fully exploiting classroom materials to maximise both linguistic development and exam practice for Cambridge main suite exams.
Seven things you should know before teaching live online
- Choreanne Frei, IH Zurich Baden
Teaching live online can be a rewarding, albeit daunting experience. There are many pitfalls, but how can we avoid these? We will look at the pedagogic principles that underly the online classroom, and the skills that teachers can transfer to synchronous online teaching. We will also look at what support teachers and learners need, and how to provide this.
Monday 21st June
How to give a presentation at an international conference (with Sandy Millin)
- Sandy Millin, IH Bydgoszcz (How to session)
Giving a presentation can be a stressful experience. This session will give you ways of organising yourself before your presentation and conducting yourself during your presentation to reduce that stress. The aim of the session is to make your presentation a more satisfying experience for you and for your participants.
Turning 21st century teenage problems into learning opportunities
- Sofia Leone, IH Palermo Language Centre
This talk looks at how teachers not only have the ability to get upper secondary teens to talk about their first world problems, but how we can also transform them into fun and significant learning opportunities. Participants will come away with tried and tested materials and refreshing ideas, ready to face any teenage challenge head on.
Training outcomes: going backwards in order to go forwards
- Joanna Stansfield, IH London
Both research and inspection bodies suggest effective teaching is evidenced through setting and achieving communicative outcomes, yet much initial and in-service training relegates these, prioritising language aims instead. This talk explores ways of re-designing paperwork, input, feedback and reflection to encourage developing practitioners to see an end ‘output’ goal as priority, with language just one step along the way.
Find more information in the IATEFL 2021 Conference Programme here >>