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This year our 47th Annual Conference took place at a fabulous venue on the historic waterfront of Liverpool, a lively, modern city resonant with history and culture. The conference offered 2,633 delegates the choice of attending approximately 550 sessions over four days. There was also an extensive exhibition displaying the latest ELT products and a lively and varied evening programme to suit all tastes.
Feedback from over 800 delegates who attended the conference has generally been extremely positive with comments such as: ‘Excellent venue. Well-organized programme’; ‘The general atmosphere was great’; ‘An amazing event with a lot of useful talks’; ‘Excellent overall quality of presentations’. The feedback has also given us a lot of useful food for thought about things to improve for the Annual Conference in Harrogate 2014. These principally relate to raising the overall quality of speaker proposals, re-considering session formats that are offered such as symposia, marking the difference between talks and workshops, matching the sizes of rooms to the popularity of topics and speakers, bringing back favourite evening events such as Pecha Kucha, and fixing the glitches that some people experienced with the smartphone app. We would like to thank everyone who took the time and trouble to send us their conference feedback. We’re already working on the areas you highlighted - and much more - to try and bring you an even better conference next year!
Meanwhile, we’re very excited to announce the start of a new series of IATEFL webinars with leading experts in the field of ELT. It kicks off with IATEFL’s patron in a session called ‘Questions about language with David Crystal’ on Saturday 25 May at 15.00 BST. Please make a note of the date in your diary now to make sure you don’t miss this unique event and spread the word to colleagues and friends who may also be interested. See our new eBulletin section on IATEFL webinars below for full details and how to join the webinar on the day.
At IATEFL we are continually striving to improve the benefits we offer to members and we would very much like to thank the 127 people who answered our online survey on Voices in the January 2013 eBulletin. Overall most respondents felt happy with the content of Voices as it is now. From detailed comments, there emerged a general feeling that Voices’ purpose is to help readers feel connected to each other, to IATEFL and the global ELT community, as well as to provide practical teaching ideas. As for the design of Voices, just over half of the respondents wanted no change. Among those who did, the main changes suggested were to the front cover, editorial and contents page, where it was felt that more impact, information and signposting was needed. You can read a full report on the results of the survey in the current issue of Voices 232. We’re planning to start implementing some of the suggestions from the survey as from the post-conference issue of Voices 233 for June-July 2013 – so look out for our re-styled cover, including photos, coming soon!
In the rest of the eBulletin, you will see that the SIGs have been as active as ever since their highly successful PCE programmes and SIG Days on offer in Liverpool and there are some fantastic SIG conferences to look out for during the rest of this year. Two exciting online events coming up in the near future are the BESIG Weekend Workshop on 9 June 2013 and the first ever BESIG online conference on 15 June 2013. YLTSIG, together with TEASIG and TTEdSIG, are organizing an event on testing and assessment at NAFLE 2013 in Beijing, China in July 2013. There’s still just time to submit a paper for the LMCS SIG conference on ‘Intercultural competences in The Global Village’ in Vilnius, Lithuania on 11-12 October 2013. Another interesting event to look out for is the ReSIG 3rd international conference on classroom-oriented research in Konin, Poland from 14-16 October. In other SIG news, you can also learn about the appointment of new committee members, opportunities for scholarships and awards, and resources from previous conferences that are now available online.
Last but not least, it was wonderful to meet so many IATEFL members in person at the conference in Liverpool last month and, if you were able to be there, I hope you found the experience enjoyable and inspiring. Whether you attended or not, please don’t forget that there is an amazing resource of sessions and interviews still available thanks to the British Council at Liverpool IATEFL online which will give you hours of pleasurable, professional viewing. Enjoy!
With best wishes
Carol Read, Chair of Publications Committee and President, IATEFL
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In response to requests from members, IATEFL is delighted to announce the start of a new series of webinars with leading experts in the field of ELT as part of our membership benefit enhancement. These webinars will run once a month and aim to include a wide diversity of speakers, countries and specialties within the field of English Language Teaching. The goal is to provide easily accessible web-based teacher development opportunities for members around the globe. The webinars are open to all and without cost or pre-registration. Members, however, will be able to access them later in the archives where they will be kept.
The first webinar in this series will be with the patron of IATEFL, Professor David Crystal called ‘Questions about language with David Crystal.’ This event will take place on Saturday 25 May at 3pm British Summer Time (BST). For more details on this event as well as a link to check the time in your region see here. On the day of the webinar, you only need to go to the link and log-in to the website. We recommend logging in some ten minutes in advance to make sure your audio is working properly so that you can hear everything.
The following webinar will take place on Saturday 22 June with Penny Ur and is titled ‘Using higher order thinking skills’. Future webinars will be announced soon.
Marjorie Rosenberg, Membership Committee
From the Literature, Media and Cultural Studies SIG
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Call for Vilnius papers extended
The submission deadline for the joint conference that LMCS SIG is organising with LAKMA in Vilnius, Lithuania has been extended to 1 June 2013. The theme of the event is ‘Intercultural Competences In The Global Village’ and it will take place from 11-12 October, 2013, in the Hotel Panorama, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Plenary Speakers will be John Corbett, David A. Hill, Alan Pulverness, Daryl McCarthy and Marlene Wall and submissions are now invited for Workshops (45 minutes) and Poster Presentations.
How to submit papers
In the first instance, please send a Word document with your presentation title and type, and an abstract of 100 words maximum, together with your full name, place of work or affiliation, also saying whether you would be attending under your own aegis or sponsored by an organization or publisher. Then email your document to both the Coordinator of the IATEFL LMCS SIG and the LAKMA President as soon as possible, and not later than 1 June.
More about the Conference
The conference seeks to explore aspects of the competences necessary for learners to interact successfully in English with speakers of other languages and from other cultures. This is a vital aspect of their linguistic abilities in the second decade of the 21st century. We are looking for presentations which deal with all aspects of this topic, for example: what English(es) to teach and learn, what methodologies to adopt in order to teach and practise such competences, how to test students in these competences, and the implications of such approaches for teacher training, curriculum planning and materials development.
Conference dates are:
- 1 June 2013 – submission of proposals
- 1 July 2013 – notification of acceptance
- 1 August 2013 – online booking starts
- 7 October 2013 – online booking ends
David A. Hill, LMCS SIG Coordinator
From the Young Learners and Teenagers SIG
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Post-Liverpool news
YLTSIG would like to thank all speakers, committee members and SIG members for contributing, helping out, speaking and simply being at the Liverpool PCE and Conference. Articles from PCE speakers and from our 2013 Roving Reporter Gemma Fanning will appear in the next issue of C&TS. Speaker notes and PowerPoint presentations from the YLTSIG Day will be uploaded to our website so you can consult them there.
New committee members
The Liverpool conference also saw the 'inauguration' of four new committee members: Charles Goodger (Italy, Web & design), Graham Stanley (Spain, Online events), Gemma Fanning (UK, Events support), and Christina Giannikis (Cyprus, Online events support). We are looking forward to working with them and setting up new initiatives and events for our members.
Upcoming events
Upcoming events will be held in July at NAFLE 2013 in Beijing (with TEA SIG and TTEdSIG), on ‘Testing and Assessment’, and you can check out the Call for Papers or submit a proposal here. We are exploring collaboration with TEASIG at an event in Turkey, as well as discussing the planned Very Young Learner Conference in Cyprus in 2014. As other events pop up, we will let you know more.
Keep your eye on our website for further news.
Hans Mol, YLTSIG Coordinator
From the Business English SIG
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Weekend Workshop with Jennie Wright
The next weekend online workshop will take place on 9 June at 14.00 (BST) / 16.00 CET. The theme will be ‘Developing presentation skills using free speech visualisation technology’.
For information about this session and speaker, and to sign up for the workshop see here.
World Blog
This month there are two new posts on the BESIG World Blog. On 7May we published Steve Flinders’ responses to the questions he didn’t have time to answer at the end of his weekend workshop on 21 April ‘From Business English to Management training – Where are we going and what do we do when we get there?’
On 15 May we published a video interview with John Paul Smith, a Business English trainer who works at LiveLanguage in Glasgow, Scotland. John discusses his teaching context, the approaches to Business English teaching that he uses and also shares some teaching tips.
You can visit the world blog here.
Annual Conference Online Programme
Those who were not able to attend the 25th Annual IATEFL BESIG Conference in Stuttgart can watch on the BESIG website 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. Click here to visit.
Many of the speakers have sent their slides to us and these are now also available on the BESIG website here.
1st IATEFL BESIG Online Conference
On 15June 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, presented by some of the top practitioners in the fields of Business English and ESP. We are looking forward to welcoming a large global audience to the conference.
We are delighted to have Evan Frendo and Vicki Hollett as our two plenary speakers. In the morning plenary session from 9.00-9.45 (CET) Evan Frendo will be speaking about researching and analysing in-company discourse communities to create in-company materials. 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.
We will also be cooperating with the IATEFL ESPSIG and the recently-founded Materials Writing SIG (MaWSIG) on this event, and representatives of both groups will be running workshops.
Please note, there is no attendance fee for participation in the conference.
For further information about the online conference and to download the programme 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. There is still time to submit a proposal for the conference.
Important dates:
- Call for papers opens: 26 March 2013
- Call for papers ends: 24 May 2013
- Early bird booking begins: 1 June 2013 – 1 September 2013
- Normal booking: 2 September – 26 October 2013
This year our Local Scholarship Scheme is aimed at fellow teachers from Hungary and Poland. The scheme allows teachers from these two countries to take part in the IATEFL BESIG Annual Conference in Prague at significantly discounted rates. More details will be available soon in the Scholarship section on the BESIG website.
For more details on the conference see here.
Stuttgart Conference Selections
The IATEFL BESIG Editorial Team (BET) is in the final stages of putting together BESIG's first ebook Stuttgart Conference Selections (SCS). The ebook is due for publication in early June and will then be available to all IATEFL members for download on the BESIG website.
Online CertIBET Scholarship
IATEFL BESIG is currently accepting applications for the ‘CertIBET scholarship’. This will enable an IATEFL BESIG member to take part in the online CertIBET course beginning in October 2013. It is run by the Consultants-E and sponsored by Trinity College London and English UK. Applicants must demonstrate that they will benefit professionally from the course and can meet the technical requirements necessary to take part in the online course. The deadline for submissions is 15 June 2013 and the winner will be informed by 16 September 2013. For details on the course and the submission process see here.
BESIG Facilitators Scholarship
Applications are now being accepted for next year’s ‘BESIG Facilitators Scholarship’. This award gives an IATEFL BESIG member the chance to attend the IATEFL Annual Conference and to present on the SIG day. We are looking for members who are interested in facilitating local Business English events in their home country. These can be small events such as workshops or mini-conferences, or satellite events in which a group of trainers come together and watch a live-streamed IATEFL BESIG event. For details on how to apply and exactly what the award covers, see here. The submission date is 22 August 2013 and the winner will be informed about the award by the end of September 2013.
David Riley Award
Submissions are now being accepted for the prestigious ‘David Riley Award for Innovation in Business English and ESP’. If you are interested in submitting material, the criteria can be found here.
Members can also suggest innovative BE EFL products (games, websites, apps and courses as well as published material etc.) to the jury (emails below) and we will then write to the relevant publisher/operator to ask them to enter.
The deadline is 31 August 2013 and the winner will be announced at the opening ceremony at the IATEFL BESIG Annual Conference in Prague on 8 November 2013.
The jury, look forward to hearing from you by email. Please contact Julia Waldner, Akos Gerold or Carl Dowse.
Marjorie Rosenberg, BESIG Coordinator
Resources from the 2013 Pre-Conference Event
The Research SIG's 2013 Pre-Conference Event on 'Researching Professional Talk' (Steve Walsh and Steve Mann) in Liverpool was a very successful and much-appreciated event. Those who missed it or those who would like to refresh their memories can now find PowerPoints and other resources on our webpage here.
Readers are reminded that the ReSIG webpages are open to all. You do not need to be a ReSIG member to consult them.
October 2013 Conference on Classroom-Oriented Research in Konin, Poland
ReSIG is happy to announce the 3rd international conference on classroom-oriented research, ‘Classroom-oriented research: Reconciling theory and practice’, to be held in Konin on 14-16 October 2013
The conference is organised by The Institute of Modern Languages State School of Higher Professional Education, Konin; The Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz; The Institute of English Studies, Faculty of Philology University of Łódź, in collaboration with IATEFL Research SIG.
The conference will be devoted to various aspects of broadly-understood classroom-oriented research and will provide a forum for disseminating latest research findings in this area, which is critical for foreign and second language pedagogy. In particular, it will focus on the ways in which theoretical positions and empirical findings can inform everyday classroom practice. The event will be of relevance not only to academics, researchers, teacher educators and material writers, but also to language teachers wishing to enhance their instructional practices.
Plenary speakers will be Anne Burns (Aston University), Jean-Marc Dewaele (Birkbeck College, University of London), Elaine Horwitz (University of Texas at Austin), David Nunan (Anaheim University), Norbert Schmitt (University of Nottingham), David Singleton (Trinity College, Dublin; University of Pannonia, Veszprém) and Paul Meara (Swansea University).
ReSIG is offering one scholarship of £250 to a ReSIG member to assist with costs of attendance.
For full details of participation, call for papers and application form for the scholarship please visit the Research SIG site here.
ReSIG Pre-Conference Event, Harrogate, 1April 2014
ReSIG is happy to announce that the ReSIG Pre-Conference Event at Harrogate will be on the theme ‘Teachers Research’.
This will be a special day dedicated to research by teachers for teachers. The day is intended for everyone with an interest in Teacher Research from people new to the area but wanting to find out more to those who already have experiences to share and who would like feedback and reactions from others. Participation and/or contributions from people on all points on this continuum will be warmly welcomed. The flexible format will allow for informal small group discussions, perhaps around a poster, as well as for more formal presentations and responses.
A special bonus will be the presence of Dick Allwright, Anne Burns and David Nunan who have kindly agreed to act as commentators and respondents at the event.
To find out more please visit here.
Richard Smith, Research SIG Coordinator
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