In the past few weeks Chris Graham, IATEFL President, Aleksandra Popovski Golubovikj, IATEFL Vice President, and Jon Burton, IATEFL Chief Executive, have been attending events run by IATEFL Associate teaching associations and partners in Asia.
AzETA International Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan
Christopher Graham, IATEFL President, and Aleksandra Popovski Golubovikj, IATEFL Past President and Vice President, kindly sponsored by the British Council, were warmly welcomed by AzETA at their 15th International Conference in Baku. The event was a special one, celebrating 20 years of meaningful collaboration between the two associations. More than 150 English teachers from across the country came together to share ideas, reconnect with colleagues, and reflect on two decades of professional partnership.
As part of the celebrations, AzETA also brought a smaller version of the conference to Ganja, the second-largest city in Azerbaijan. Aleksandra Popovski Golubovikj joined this historic occasion, which marked the first ELT event of international nature held in this beautiful city. It offered local educators a unique opportunity to connect with the wider ELT community.
Global English Education China Assembly in Beijing, China
Report from Christopher Graham, IATEFL President:
“At the end of July this year, our Chief Executive Jon Burton and I attended the the Global English Education China Assembly in Beijing during which IATEFL signed a memorandum of understanding with the organisers, 21st Century English Education Media. This allows us to explore options for cooperation around support for EFL teachers in China, IATEFL membership opportunities and CPD delivery. The conference itself showed the huge significance of English language teaching in China, and specifically the technological innovations that are happening around language teaching and learning.
While the conference had a number of international speakers and delegates, the vast majority were from China and it was fascinating for me to learn more about the Chinese ELT context with teachers from primary up to tertiary, and to understand more about their challenges and the opportunities they have. The conference was very wide-ranging both across the plenary talks and the parallel sessions, and it was complemented by a series of panels one of which Jon and I were glad to sit on. In addition, I delivered some short opening remarks and a plenary around sustainability and ELT, and Jon delivered some closing remarks.
The great thing about ELT conferences is the always great level of enthusiasm and excitement amongst teachers not just about what they hear in the sessions, but around their opportunities to exchange ideas, learn from each other and provide mutual support. This conference was no exception to this. I hope to see some Chinese colleagues at our international conference in Brighton next year, and both Jon and I encouraged Chinese teachers to become members of IATEFL, and also once they do to consider volunteering either on one of our committees or through a SIG. We’d like to thank the organisers for inviting us, the British Council China for providing support, and above all to the teachers for their enthusiasm and energy.”
Photos courtesy of TCA and British Council China
Future events and conferences
Find out about up-coming IATEFL events, and also find out about up-coming events being organised by IATEFL Associate teaching associations around the world. If your teaching association is part our our IATEFL Associate network, and is planning an event, please contact IATEFL Head Office with the details so that we can help you publicise it.