IATEFL News

Awards and scholarships

Scholarships are managed by the Scholarship Working Party (SWP), and give help to deserving winners so that they can attend attend IATEFL’s annual international conference. A new category, Awards, of which currently there are just two, are designed among other things to provide chances for people who are unable to attend the conference to take part in IATEFL Online and to win online training courses provided by the sponsors. Up till now the SWP has publicized both scholarships and awards, but this will end after the Liverpool conference 2013. Thereafter, the SWP will deal only with scholarships, with the aim of having 50 scholarships on offer by 2016.

Awards will in future be handled by the IATEFL Membership committee. See below for details of the Consultants-E and the Sue Leather Associates awards, and do please pass this information on to all the teachers you know who aren't able to make it to Liverpool.

The Consultants-E Online Award

This is an award for teachers unable to attend the IATEFL annual conference in person but who make effective use of the Liverpool Online conference website, as outlined below. The Award is given by The Consultants-E and is open to members and non-members of IATEFL.

The award consists of a fully funded two-week online course to be selected from any Blogs, Wiki, eNetwork or podcasting in June or July 2013, and a one year's membership of IATEFL. Details and application form here.

The Sue Leather Associates Award

This new award funded by Sue Leather Associates is for all those interested in leadership and management in ELT. Candidates for the award will be unable to attend the annual IATEFL conference in person but able to participate actively in the online conference by making frequent and relevant postings on the subject of leadership and management. You do not have to be a member of IATEFL or of LAMSIG to apply for this award.

The award consists of either a fully-funded ‘Fundamentals of Project Management’ online course (running for six weeks in February/March, May/June or October/ November) or a fully-funded ‘Project Management Plus: Leadership and Management’ online course running for four weeks in February/ March or October/November.  In either case winners will also win a year's membership of IATEFL and the Leadership and Management Special Interest Group.

You can find full details and an application form here (go to ‘News’ and click on ‘IATEFL Online Award’).

Eryl Griffiths, SWP Coordinator

Come and meet MaWSIG!

MaWSIG has three guiding aims:

• To encourage greater expertise and professionalism in the creation of teaching material
• To offer new opportunities for professional development to IATEFL members
• To offer support for IATEFL members who wish to develop their materials writing skills professionally

MaWSIG will share and promote best practice among authors and materials writers, encourage new authors, and disseminate information regarding professional writing opportunities among members.

Key activities will include:

• Creation and launch of a writers’ forum
• an e-newsletter
• Organization of " writers workshops" and other events, including a PCE at IATEFL 2014

MaWSIG kicks off at Liverpool 2013 with a very informal drinks gathering (buy your own drink at this early stage!) on Wednesday 10 April at 18.30 in the Lounge Bar at the Hard Day's Night Hotel, Central Buildings, N John St, Liverpool L2 6RR - just around the corner from the Cavern Club.

If you would like to contact the Committee at this early stage, just email us at mawsig@iatefl.org, and we'll be in touch.

Nick Robinson and Byron Russell, Joint MaWSIG Coordinators

Liverpool PCE

There are still a few places left for our Liverpool Conference PCE. For all information contact David A Hill (LMCS SIG Coordinator) by email.

11-12 October: 2013 LMCS SIG joint event with LAKMA

We should like to invite members to the conference we are organizing in Vilnius, Lithuania from 11-12 October 2013. You will find full details of it in the Call for Papers here. I hope that many of you will be able to come as presenters and others as participants.

For presenters and participants who are IATEFL LMCS SIG Members we have a very special booking rate of only £16 for the 2 days of the Conference! The big news is that we are offering a scholarship to an IATEFL LMCS SIG Member, as follows …

Scholarship Announcement

The IATEFL LMCS SIG is pleased to announce that it is offering a scholarship of £300 to one member of the SIG who offers a paper at the joint Conference with LAKMA in Lithuania 11-12 October 2013 (‘Intercultural Competences in the Global Village’) which is accepted as part of the event. The money is intended to help with travel and accommodation costs. SIG Members interested in applying for the Scholarship should send a title and abstract for a 60-minute workshop related to the Conference themes by 1 April 2013. The winner will be selected by the IATEFL LMCS SIG Committee on the basis of relevance. Please send your proposals by email to David A Hill (Coordinator).

You will be able to book your place at the event via the IATEFL website from 1 August 2013. Please feel free to circulate the Call for Papers to as many colleagues and others whom you think may be interested.

David Hill, LMCS SIG Coordinator

Liverpool PCE 2013: Continuing Professional Development
The LAMSIG PCE workshop is essential for all ELT professionals with an interest in CPD. With the emphasis on personalisation, individual ownership, learning outcomes and demonstrable impact on your work, this workshop is for school and academic managers, and for people involved in teacher and staff development. Whether your interest is in developing your school, developing your teachers and staff or developing yourself for work, the LAMSIG programme will be of great value to you.
Through presentations, discussions, and interactive activities, we will:

• Explore how to apply modern theories and principles of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in a way that suits your school or organisation
•  Identify practical ways to integrate a successful CPD programme into your busy school life
• Consider ways in which managers can help guide and support their teachers and staff in a flexible CPD programme
• Select from a wide range of ideas and activities on how teachers can engage in personalised professional development
• Discuss how you can become an exemplary model of CPD yourself

Programme presenters and facilitators are Loraine Kennedy (independent educational consultant), Fiona Dunlop (Academic Manager, Wimbledon School of English) and Josh Round (Director of Studies, St George International)

May 2013: Conference with Yasar University, Izmir, Turkey
LAMSIG is pleased to announce a conference held jointly with Yaşar University SoFL (School of Foreign Languages) entitled “Quality and Standards in Language Teaching; A Quest for Excellence” which will take place in Izmir, Turkey on 3-4 May 2013.  Plenary speakers include Adrian Underhill, George Pickering and Teresa O’Donnell (Executive Director of the Commission on English Language Accreditation). 
To submit a proposal, please contact Andy Hockley by email.
LAMSIG Day 11 April
At the LAMSIG Day, on Thursday 11 April, the line-up is:

1035-1120 Mark Rendell & Fiona Dunlop, ‘Managing to Improve’
1155-1300 Stephanie Dimond-Bayir & Vicky McWilliam, ‘Moving into academic management: tips for teachers’ (followed by the LAMSIG Open Forum).
1400-1430 Ian Collins & Engin Ayvaz, ‘Evaluating without grading: a new approach to staff appraisals’
1445-1530 Duncan Foord, ‘Letting go – how to get better at delegating’
1605-1650 Sue Leather & Andy Hockley, ‘Leading questions. Leading answers’
1705-1735 Duncan Jamieson, ‘Creating a successful staffroom culture’
1750-1820 Maria Araxi Sachpazian, ‘Assessing the unassessed or the unassessable: issues of school evaluation’

The LAMSIG Open Forum
The LAMSIG Open Forum is a chance to meet the committee and other ELT managers. Following a specially chosen session with a theme that reflects part of the mission of the SIG: ‘Moving into academic management: Tips for teachers’, we will look at the activities of the SIG in the past year and discuss plans for the coming year.

LAMSIG Newsletter
The next LAMSIG Newsletter will be published ready for Conference.

Jenny Johnson, LAMSIG Coordinator

Liverpool 2013 PCE
Don't miss out on YLTSIG's dynamic PCE on Drama in the EFL Classroom. Drama experts will cover ideas for becoming a storyteller and actor-teacher; how to motivate students in the EFL classroom: the success of taking part and speaking English at an early stage of learning (young learners); tackling scripted drama and exploring a range of engaging practical activities (teenagers); opportunities of approaches through drama (teacher development and teacher education). The PCE will examine meaningful and manageable TEFL methodology from young learners in the primary school to secondary school intermediate learners. The social, interactive dimension of language learning is foregrounded in drama projects. And drama is FUN – as we will demonstrate.

YLTSIG Very Young Learners Forum
During the upcoming Liverpool conference, YLTSIG will host a Very Young Learners Forum with Sandie Mourão, Carol Read and Sophie Ioannou-Georgiou: ‘Principals, parameters and practicalities of early year’s language education’.

YLTSIG Open forum Debate, "Tackling Issues"
During the YLTSIG Day, see below, YLTSIG will organise an Open Forum. At the YLTSIG Open Forum delegates are welcome to participate in the Open Forum Debate, "Tackling Issues", with contributions from, amongst others, Luke Meddings, Herbert Puchta, Ken Wilson, Hans Mol and YOU! You can ask those burning questions about the relationship between materials and mixed classroom realities. The open forum is also an opportunity to learn more about the SIG and its activities.

Committee positions and vacancies

There are two vacancies on the committee in the near future: Online Events Coordinator and Web & Design officer. Notification has been sent around and nominations have been coming in.

2013 YLTSIG DAY: Mixed Abilities, Mixed Realities

The YLTSIG Day at the Liverpool Conference is a combination of talks and workshops, as well as a debate, around the topic of Mixed ability classrooms. Differentiation may be 'old hat'; it is still a most elementary and essential requirement that teachers, trainers and materials’ developers have to deal with every day. It shows itself in many different ways, whether you use course books ornot. A line-up of prominent speakers will touch upon aspects of this overall theme on the day.

Speakers will be

1035-1120 Ken Wilson, ‘Is anybody listening?’ (workshop)
1155-1225 Herbert Puchta, ‘Dogme with YLs and teens? A material writer’s response’. (talk)
1225-1300 Luke Meddings, Ken Wilson, Herbert Puchta, Hans Mol and YOU!, ‘The YLTSIG Open Forum Debate: Tackling issues’ (debate)
1400-1430 Vanessa Esteves, ‘Promoting critical thinking to enhance learning in the classroom’ (talk)
1445-1530 Bonnie Tsai, ‘Mixed levels: an intelligent approach’ (workshop)
1605-1650 Cathy Glover, ‘Doing more with less; exploiting the course book’ (workshop)
1705-1735 Senem Oskul, ‘Learning geography in English cool or fool?’ (talk)
1750-1820 Zarina Markova, ‘Multiple intelligences reconsidered’ (talk)

Hans Mol Coordinator, YLTSIG

IATEFL PronSIG PCE Liverpool 2013

The PCE will take place on Monday 8 April 2013, and the theme will be ‘English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)’. The concept of English as a Lingua Franca is not new, and research into ELF has been going on for over 15 years. Speak Out!, the PronSIG newsletter, published research findings as long ago as 1996. In ‘Changing pronunciation priorities for successful communication in international contexts’ Jennifer Jenkins gave us a first glimpse into how an ELF approach to pronunciation might work.

But what has happened since then? Has later research proven Jenkins’ initial ideas to be wrong? Do academic research findings have any direct consequences for what we do in the classroom? Can ELF pronunciation actually be taught? And if it can, what do we teach, what models do we use, which techniques should we employ, and how do we plan or assess outcomes?

This PCE will answer these questions, both at a theoretical level, and in terms of classroom practice for teachers and trainers. Specifically the PCE will look at ‘Accent, intelligibility, & priorities’, ‘Using the learner's L1 phonology’, ‘Accommodation for ELF pronunciation’, ‘Planning & assessment’ and ‘Costs and benefits of an ELF approach to pronunciation’.

Whatever your position on ELF, by the end of the PCE you will be better informed about the principles involved, and be in a stronger position to relate to wider issues arising from the globalisation of English. Speakers at the PCE will be Robin Walker (author of Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca (OUP, 2010) and editor of Speak Out!) on ‘Accent, intelligibility & priorities’; Grzegorz Spievak (Head ELT Consultant for MacMillan Poland and contributor of the section on Polish in Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca) on ‘Using the learner’s L1 phonology’; and Mark Hancock (the author of Pronunciation Games (CUP 1995) and Pronunciation in Use (CUP 2003, 2012) and a regular contributor to Speak Out! on ‘Accommodation for ELF pronunciation’. There will also be a round table on ‘Costs and benefits of an ELF approach’.

Find out more about IATEFL PronSIG here or come to our SIG Day on Tuesday 9 April 2013 where we will have speakers Mark Hancock, Sascha Euler, Piers Messum, Barry Cusack, Richard Cauldwell and Annette Ure Weje. Don’t forget our Open Forum during the SIG day and do come and visit us on the IATEFL Exhibition stand!

Wayne Rimmer, PronSIG Coordinator

Monday 8 April 2013: IATEFL ESOLSIG Pre-conference Day

Join us at the ES(O)L pre-conference event in Liverpool 2013 for a thought-provoking day where international presenters, both practitioners and researchers, share their insights and experiences on a variety of themes of relevance to the ES(O)L profession. The theme of the PCE will be ‘Good Practice in ES(O)L Teaching’.

We look at good practice in a broad sense, including materials development and use, skills development, technology and the challenges of particular settings and learner groups. The day will provide a host of practical ideas for teachers as well as exploring the wider issues which need to be considered in delivering effective language teaching to ES(O)L learners.

Sessions will be as follows:

• ‘What research can tell us about good practice in teaching English to migrants and refugees’, Philida Schellekens (Consultant, UK);
• ‘Writing for the real world’, Jane Allemano (Adult ESOL Teacher Educator, Institute of Education, UK); 
• ‘ESOL Nexus and Quick Reads – start a new chapter’, Dot Powell (British Council) and Sue Southwood (NIACE, UK);
• ‘Film projects in the ESOL classroom’, Genevieve White (ESOL teacher, Shetland, UK);
• ‘Refugees and English language teachers’ training needs in Sudan’, Hala Salih Mohammed Nur (Assistant Professor, University of Khartoum, Sudan) and Asjad Ahmed Saeed (Assistant Professor, Salman Ibn Abdelaziz University, Saudi Arabia);
• ‘Family language maps: bridging the gap between home and classroom’, Sheila Macdonald (ESOL teacher, Kent Adult Education, UK);
• ‘Trauma and learning in the ESOL classroom – what do we know, what can we learn?’, Janet Isserlis (Professional Development Worker, RI Adult Education PD Center/Lecturer, Brown University, US);
• ‘Harvesting engaged English learners from seasonal farm workers, in rural Fife and Tayside’, Pauline Blake-Johnston (Freelance ESOL Teacher, UK).

Booking and further information here.

Elaine Williamson and Caroline Okerika, ES(O)L SIG Joint Co-ordinators 

Monday 8 April 2013 TDSIG Pre-Conference Event

Last year, in Glasgow, TDSIG restricted the number of participants for the Pre-Conference Event to create good working atmosphere for improvisation and drama activities. The all-day workshop was a success, but it disappointed members who wanted to join after all the places had already been filled. This year our Liverpool PCE can take a much bigger audience and we would like to make it possible for more members to share their love of music with us. The number of participants is not unrestricted, however, and the places are filling up quickly, so if you are thinking of singing your way into this year’s conference, book soon to avoid disappointment.

Our practical full-day event – ‘A magical mystery tour from the Beatles to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic via Half-man half-biscuit’ - will provide activities based on voice, music and silence. It doesn’t matter if you are a musical prodigy or tone-deaf - come along and take part!

All good concerts have that special moment when a surprise guest takes the stage to play with the band: we are proud to welcome on stage Luke Meddings, who will be jamming on the theme of teaching and the Beatles.

We are sure that the close co-operation in an all-day workshop will form strong bonds among the participants, making it possible for teachers to share experiences throughout the rest of the conference with their new Teacher Development band members. Find out more about this event here.

And finally, there are very few opportunities for our members to meet TDSIG Committee members in person. If you would like to see the people behind the names, join us either on our Programme Day on 9 April or come for a chat to the IATEFL Exhibition stand on 10 April (08:30-10:20) or 11 April (11:35-13:40).

Mojca Belak, TDSIG Coordinator

 8 April 2013: Pre-Conference-Event (PCE)

The theme of the LASIG Pre-Conference-Event (PCE), 8 April, Liverpool will be “Learner autonomy and today’s technologies: challenges and possibilities”. There is still time – and space – to join a group of colleagues interested in this topic. The programme will give plenty of opportunities for participants to engage in discussions as well as share experiences with presenters and the rest of the audience. To give food for thought as well as to trigger the discussions, we have our keynote speakers, David Little, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and Jo Mynard, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan, as well as a number of smaller talks and interactive poster sessions from all over the world. You can see and download the programme for the day and read the long abstracts of all presentations here. For bookings visit here.

10 April 2013: LASIG DAY

If you are staying for the general IATEFL conference, then you might be interested in coming to our LASIG Day. This year the focus will be on three areas of learner autonomy: authenticity, peer mentoring and tutoring, as well as strategies and self-regulation. The programme provides an interesting and engaging combination of talks and workshops. For a detailed programme as well as the abstracts for the presentations, please visit our website.

LASIG Open Forum and Business Meeting: Where do we go from here?

At the end of the LASIG Day and after a free drink, presenters and participants will consider possibilities for bridging the gap between classroom activities and the learners’ experiences outside the classroom. The business meeting, where one has the chance to meet a number of the LASIG committee members, will include a brief review of the SIG’s current activities,  plans for the future, and new guidelines for the election of committee members – all of it open for questions and discussions.  A free raffle will end the day. Everyone is welcome.

The LASIG Open Forum is sponsored by Authentik, Clarity, and Pearson.

Leni Dam and Lienhard Legenhausen, Joint LASIG coordinators

8 April 2013: IATEFL ESP SIG Pre-conference Event (PCE)

The theme of the PCE will be ‘State-of-the-art ESP and what transpires from beyond the multi-layered world of acronyms and abbreviations’. For more details of the Pre-Conference event see here. For a complete timetable see here.

Mark Krzanowski, ESPSIG Coordinator and the ESP Committee

21 April 2013: Weekend Workshop 

The next weekend workshop will take place on Sunday 21 April, 14.00-15.00 (CET) and will be presented by Bob Dignen and Steve Flinders from York Associates. Bob and Steve will be sharing ideas for teaching English for international management. Details here.

World Blog

This month’s interview on the BESIG World Blog is with Atul Sharma from India. Atul talks about what it's like to be a Business English teacher in India today and his concerns that Business English training in India is not fulfilling learners needs to the extent that it should be. As this year's IATEFL BESIG Facilitator Scholarship winner, Atul also talks about what winning the scholarship means to him.

BESIG Annual Conference Online Programme

Those who were not able to attend the 25th Annual IATEFL BESIG Conference in Stuttgart can watch recordings of Gavin Dudeney´s plenary and the simulcast sessions with presenters such as Nik Peachey, Charles Rei, Adrian Pilbeam, Kate Baade & Nathan Wale, Paul Emmerson, Mercedes Viola and James Schofield on the BESIG website here.

Many of the speakers have sent their slides to us and these are now also available on the BESIG website. We will continue to add other slides from speakers as and when we receive them here.

Monday 8 April 2013: Pre-Conference Event

This PCE will look at new methods and ideas for teaching Business English in an ever-changing world. The use of technology in the classroom is growing as well as the emphasis on teaching soft skills and communicative methods to work with a variety of different businesses and in different cultures. Students of Business English often ask for realistic materials they can immediately apply to their own working environments, increasing the challenge for the trainers. We will look at various aspects of working with learners of Business English and provide the PCE participants with new ideas and methods they can use with classes and corporate clients.

For further details about the speakers and talks, see here.

BESIG Day at Liverpool

The BESIG Day will take place on Tuesday 9 April and will consist of a selection of talks and workshops given by Business English trainers. The Open Forum, sponsored by Cambridge University Press, will take place at the end of the day. Members will have the chance to meet up with other BESIGers, talk to committee members and mingle over refreshments. We will be introducing our 2013 BESIG Facilitator Scholarship winner, announcing the winners of the lesson plan competition, filling you in on plans for future events and gathering input and ideas from members. Don’t miss this opportunity to get to know the committee and other SIG members as well as hear about the latest news!  In addition, there will be a raffle sponsored by various publishers. For further information on the speakers, topics and timetable, see here.

1st IATEFL BESIG Online Conference

On 15 June 2013, IATEFL BESIG will be hosting a landmark event: our first online conference. This will be a full day of free online workshops and ‘how to... sessions’. We are looking forward to welcoming a large global audience to the conference and hope that the online format will allow more Business English professionals in a wider range of locations to participate in this event, either as  speakers or delegates. As long as you have a reliable internet connection, you can take part.

The theme will be Business English and ESP materials and we are looking for sessions which focus on the creation, development, selection and exploitation of materials in Business English and ESP contexts. Proposals for workshops and how to...sessions can be submitted from until 22 March.

We are now able to confirm that our two plenary speakers for this online conference will be Evan Frendo and Vicki Hollett. Evan will be speaking about researching and analysing in-company discourse communities to create in-company materials in the morning plenary session from 9.00-9.45 (CET). In the afternoon plenary session from 13.00-13.45 (CET), Vicki Hollett will be sharing her experience of creating and using video materials in the context of Business English courses.

Please note, there will be no attendance fee for participation in the conference.
For further information about the online conference, to download the speaker guidelines and submit your proposal, see here.

26th Annual IATEFL BESIG Conference

IATEFL BESIG are pleased to announce that the 26th Annual IATEFL BESIG Conference will be held in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, from 8-10 November 2013. The event will take place at the modern and easily accessible Prague Congress Centre, not far from the picturesque medieval city.
Important dates

• Call for papers opens: 26 March 2013
• Call for papers ends: 24 May 2013
• Early bird and speaker booking: 1 June 2013 – 31 August 2013
• Normal booking: 1 September – 26 October 2013

For more details on the conference see here.

Marjorie Rosenberg, BESIG Coordinator and the BESIG committee

Newsletter

Research SIG's spring newsletter is about to reach members. The message from the coordinator explains what the SIG is doing at the Liverpool conference and at the end of the issue there are full details of our exciting Pre-conference Event and Research SIG Day presentations (see here). Full contents of the newsletter are available only to members, as are the scholarships we offer to members to attend our events (the latest recipient is Daniel Xerri, a teacher in Malta, who has been awarded our PCE scholarship).

On the other hand, anyone interested - Research SIG members and others - can join in our next research article discussion, starting on 18 March, in our freely accessible Yahoo!Group. Graham Hall will be facilitating discussion of a State-of-the-Art article he co-authored with Guy Cook for the journal Language Teaching on 'Own-language use in language teaching and learning'. We encourage you to download the article, join our Yahoo!Group, see the questions for discussion and contribute your own experiences and opinions in relation to this important topic. Further information here.

Dr Richard Smith, Research SIG coordinator