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Simon Greenall is a long-time member and past president of IATEFL. He very kindly agreed to be the first individual member featured on the blog.

Tell us a bit about you and your teaching career

I left university and went to work as a lecteur in the Université de Lyon 2, France, where I taught for six years. I belonged to the Faculty of English and the Continuing Education Department, and worked with undergraduates as well as mature students with specialized needs, such as learning English to be better equipped for the job markets, business English, legal English and even English for petro-chemical engineers and Galenic Pharmacists. For some of these courses, as the director of studies, I had to write specialized material, although it often transpired that many of these students already knew the specific lexis of their specialism but just wanted to be a member of an international linguistic community.

What inspired you to join IATEFL initially?

I returned to the UK in 1982 with a couple of book commissions and began work as a textbook writer. But I was very conscious that even after six years teaching, I still had an enormous amount to learn. IATEFL was and still is the highest profile and most accessible association for teachers this side of the Atlantic.

So for me, IATEFL was the fast track to developing my very limited knowledge of language teaching and to learn about teaching contexts beyond my own country-specific experience. This was essential not just for my own work but for my awareness of the international dimensions and requirements of ELT.

How long have you been a member? How has the organization changed over that time?

I suppose I must have joined in 1983 or 84. The first IATEFL conference I attended was at Strawberry Hill in London. It was small but very active and busy, and most notably with the same welcome as the vastly larger IATEFL conference offer today.

IATEFL came into existence at a time when ELT had yet to develop into the extensive industry it is today. At the time, English still wasn’t the international language it is today, but the professionalism showed by those early volunteers for the association was very apparent.

Over the years IATEFL has grown bigger and better in so many ways. In the same way that teachers are now professionalized by qualifications and students by the need for standardized assessment, IATEFL kept pace with the process of professionalization. It couldn’t have survived otherwise. But what I like especially about IATEFL is that its spirit of commitment to quality education and its friendly, relaxed support for its members and associates is the same as it was on a much smaller scale all those years ago. That’s an incredible achievement for such a large association with such an international and culturally varied outreach.

How would you summarise your experience of IATEFL?

As a rank-and-file member I saw IATEFL as essential to my professional development. As a young textbook writer, I gave presentations at the annual conference almost as a rite-of-passage and on one occasion attended by as many as four people.

As president of IATEFL from 1997–99 I achieved an overview of international ELT which would never otherwise have been possible. I met so many different people from teachers to publishers to other textbook writers to ministry officials and exam specialists. It also directly led to my work in China which has absorbed most of my time since I stepped down as president. No one in China knew my name or my books at that time, but they did know about IATEFL and my work as president. When my publishers suggested I might be suitable to join a team preparing a course for Junior High, Senior High and universities, my Chinese colleagues approved my appointment with enthusiasm. Thanks to IATEFL!

Are you a(n active) member of a SIG? What made you choose it? What do you get out of it?

I’m no longer an active member, but nevertheless I belong to the recently formed MAWSIG, the Materials Writing SIG, which despite a slow start, has become very active and, I believe, extremely helpful to people at any stage of their writing career.

Do you work with any other teaching associations or organisations? What makes IATEFL different?

No, I don’t belong to any other teaching associations, although I’ve attended conferences and done training in about fifty countries around the world.

In the 1990s, the British Council conference in Italy was the biggest event apart from the IATEFL annual conference. It was superbly organized and made a huge contribution to ELT in Italy and in the region. It was the first time I spoke to audiences of over 1000. TESOL was and remains an essential date in the ELT/ESOL calendar, although for my taste, it’s too big and impersonal now. TESOL Greece was a conference I attended regularly, and the friendliness of the organizers and participants was something I appreciated greatly. Conferences all over the world are motivated by the teachers’ pleasure in meeting professional colleagues and learning from them.

IATEFL has been fortunate to benefit from all the positive aspects of these and many other conferences I and other volunteers have attended, and I hope has avoided some of the negative aspects as well.

Can you share one activity, tip or resource that you’ve learnt about thanks to IATEFL? Why did you choose it?

Not really a tip or a resource, but I learned that what makes you suitable to be elected president of IATEFL was nothing to do with the skills you had used in the job. I discovered managerial skills which I didn’t know I had, and developed a great deal of self-confidence, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the daily issues of management and lose sight of the big picture. This was invaluable for everything I’ve ever done since.

Do you have any interesting stories to tell related to IATEFL? For example, from an event you’ve attended, a person you’ve met, or an idea you’ve used in the classroom.

I wish I could think of something funny, because I have the impression that alongside the hard work, there was a great deal of laughter and great fun to be had with people who were at the top of our profession.

One idea which disappeared: while I was president, we decided to carry out a makeover of the IATEFL brand, introducing its logo and its mission Linking, developing and supporting English Language Teaching professionals worldwide, both of which are still in use today. We also started to take a stand to our associates’ conference in the hope of raising membership. Jill Stajduhar, the Executive Officer at the time, asked for some publicity material for the back of the stand. We negotiated and developed a map of the world, not the usual Mercator Atlantic-centred one, but a Peters projection, Pacific-centred one, with the strapline: Join IATEFL and look at the world in a different way. I thought it was great, but we could only afford to print a hundred, which got sent to our associates, and then the whole idea got forgotten.

Why would you recommend joining IATEFL?

Friendly, efficient, committed, professional, highly organized – these are both the qualities of IATEFL’s teachers and volunteers and of the association itself. Long may it continue to perform its essential function in ELT!

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Simon Greenall is a long-time member and past president of IATEFL. He very kindly agreed to be the first individual member featured on the blog.

 

Why PronSIG?

Pronunciation is often a relatively small part of teacher training programs. When we are thrown into the classroom, we have little guidance regarding how to answer the many pronunciation questions that our students have.

Many teachers (both native and non-native English speakers) lack the confidence to teach pronunciation because they don’t sound like the speakers on the CDs that come with our textbooks, but pronunciation is arguably the most important part of learning a language. At least that is what we believe in PronSIG.

I transitioned from being a general Business English teacher to focusing only on pronunciation training because I found that this is the area that holds my students back the most. Despite having studied English for many, many years, they worry about being judged not for what they say, but how they say it.

As members of PronSIG, we are passionate about helping our students speak up in the world. We are interested in pronunciation and its relationship with other language skills, particularly listening. We are all about encouraging and promoting best practice in pronunciation teaching across a range of contexts, from young learners to professional and academic English.

Who is PronSIG for?

PronSIG is filled with a great mix of teachers, accent specialists and the top researchers and authors in this field. I was intellectually star-struck when I attended my very first PronSIG event (the PronSIG PCE in Manchester two years ago) to find myself surrounded by the authors of all my favorite pronunciation textbooks and references.

The warm and welcoming attitude of the members of this closely-knit community can be felt from the minute you walk in the door. It is a place for open sharing, learning and dialogue. We truly enjoy each other’s company and have a “no one eats alone” rule that has led to us organizing many casual dinners and get-togethers in conjunction with our live events.

All are welcome in PronSIG. Whether you are a teacher looking for practical pronunciation activities to apply to the classroom, or a researcher who likes to discuss global trends in English pronunciation, you’ll feel at home in this community.

PronSIG Events

In addition to our yearly PCE at the spring IATEFL conference in the UK, we organize one or two other live events, as well as online webinars throughout the year. Just this last weekend in Brighton, we had a fascinating one-day event, Different Voices, featuring plenary speakers John Wells and Adrian Underhill in addition to a strong panel of 12 additional speakers running breakout sessions. The day’s topics covered everything from intonation to the physicality of creating sounds, to specific pronunciation exercises that can be applied to the classroom.

Our most exciting PCE is coming up at the next IATEFL conference in Glasgow, where we will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publication of Daniel Jones’ landmark English Pronouncing Dictionary. Featured presenters include the editors of the current edition of Daniel Jones’ dictionary (Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th Edition), Peter Roach, Jane Setter and Robin Walker. They’ll be walking us through a century of changes and developments in English pronunciation. You can learn more and register on the IATEFL website.

SpeakOut! The Journal of the IATEFL PronSIG

The PronSIG Journal, SpeakOut!, is a biannual publication featuring articles and reviews on pronunciation and listening. It is a leading resource for pronunciation professionals and researchers worldwide. The 55th issue was just released last month.

The journal is free for members of PronSIG, and non-members can purchase past issues through IATEFL. You can view “tasters” of past issues on our website, including activities you can try out in the classroom.

Learn more about Pronunciation and PronSIG

We welcome you to attend our events (both live and virtual), follow us on social media and subscribe to our SIG journal, SpeakOut!.

We have an active presence on Facebook and Twitter and you can learn much more about us and our upcoming events on our website.

 

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Heather Hansen is Director of the corporate training firm Global Speech Academy and is a member of the PronSIG organizing committee. Based in Denmark, she works globally delivering keynote talks, running corporate workshops and coaching leaders in pronunciation and presentation skills. She is creator of the online Pronunciation Mastery Program, has a significant YouTube following and is author/contributing author of 4 books.

The Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA) is a registered non-profit professional forum for ELT practitioners in Bangladesh, a country in South Asia, small in size but with a massive population. BELTA was first established in 1984 and was an active forum for more than a decade when it provided a robust direction to the English Language teaching community, particularly at the regional level.

Unfortunately, during the nineties BELTA remained dormant but, in September 2003, after a spate of strong lobbying by a number of forward-looking English language teachers, it was officially revived and an ad-hoc committee was formed before an elected Executive body took over. Since then, BELTA has not looked back. It now has a membership of nearly 2500 with thirteen regional chapters besides two SIGs – Young Learners and Assessment.

BELTA’s mission is to link and support English Language teaching professionals throughout the country and thus contribute to improving teaching/learning and subsequent capacity building of the learners themselves. Its objectives are to assist in developing and empowering English teachers (primary and secondary levels), to facilitate effective communication within the English language teaching community and to enable teachers to network and find their own voice.

In recent years, BELTA has additionally focused on the following:

• Reaching out to teachers in marginalized communities.
• Focusing on teachers in 30/40-year age group in order to promote young teacher engagement and encourage the growth of leadership amongst them.
• Promoting tolerance and appreciation for diverse religious and ethnic groups by selectively targeting teacher participants, particularly in the outreach ELT programs.
• Expanding the outreach focus to women teachers with a knock-on effect on empowering girls as most women teachers are based in girls’ schools.
• Encouraging the use of technology and encouraging members to take up opportunities for teacher development through MOOCs and free on-line courses on offer.

BELTA has international links with IATEFL, TESOL, AsiaTEFL, JALT, MELTA, SPELT, NELTA and AINET. It has MOUs (memorandum of understanding) with most of them which facilitates one member (sometimes two) from each TA to participate in the annual international conference of the other TAs. In addition, registration is waived and accommodation is also provided. Over the last 25 years, BELTA has actively participated in a number of collaborative projects in the South Asia region. Below I will describe one such project.

Sharing Best Practices: Strengthening Teachers Associations in South Asia

A six-day intensive seminar in December 2011, sponsored by the British Council, brought together 30 members of seven South Asian English Language Teachers Associations in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Organized as a retreat in an idyllic location in a lush-green suburb, it brought together TA [Teaching Association] reps from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan and Iran. Each TA was represented by four members – a mix of experienced and newer members.

The objective of this seminar was to enable TA participants to share best practices and learn specific skills related to running and extending their associations effectively. In addition, it explored ways of creating stronger links between TAs in the region. The sessions focused on strategic planning, financial management, marketing, fund-raising & sponsorship, promoting transparent succession planning and raising the confidence levels of less experienced members in their volunteer roles. The participants gave joint presentations about their own TAs, and shared success stores and challenges. On the final day, TAs delivered short presentations on the post-seminar projects which they had designed and would be carrying out.

During the seminar, a sub-committee looked into future regional co-operation between the TAs. The following proposals were made:

• Signing Memorandums of Understanding which would include the exchange of newsletters, journals, sharing of information regarding visiting speaker itineraries and annual conferences and a waiving of conference registration fees.
• Participation in Peer Support Reviews, in which TAs would self-assess themselves and then be peer reviewed by TA members from other TAs at their annual conference.
• Exploring opportunities for future collaboration by setting up a Virtual Learning Environment or a Discussion Forum e.g. Yahoo group.
• In the longer term, organising a regional conference and carrying out joint research.

The longer term success of this seminar needs to be evaluated through the performance and the commitment of the TAs, and the extent to which TA representatives are carrying out their post-workshop projects. With regards to BELTA, we have organised workshops to address issues BELTA had identified as major challenges – ‘Personal Effectiveness’ and ‘Leadership Growth’. BELTA had also identified the challenge of keeping its regional Chapters alive and interested. With this in view, a bilingual Chapter Handbook has been devised, providing realistic and user-friendly guidelines for new Chapters to be mentored and to develop into effective TA entities.

The most significant post-seminar outcome was the Peer Support Review (PSR) that was initiated in Sri Lanka during SLELTA‘s International Conference the following year. Again supported by the British Council, two representatives from among the seven TAs attended – first undertaking training on PSR, then carrying out the actual review and finally giving feedback to the host TA, SLELTA. Simultaneously, the visiting participants represented their respective TAs on a Panel Discussion and presented papers at the SLELTA conference. Similar PSRs were carried out later at other conferences, including during BELTA’s international conference in 2015.

To conclude, although BELTA members all have regular jobs with professional, social and personal commitments, BELTA is fortunate in having a core group of motivated and hard-working individuals who believe in the following: Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

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Arifa Rahman, Ph.D, Professor of English Language & Teacher Education, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Immediate Past President, BELTA, is an English language teacher-educator and researcher. She is also an editor, reviewer and educational consultant. With numerous international publications, she has presented widely at national and international conferences. She is passionately involved with BELTA activities. You can contact her on [email protected] and you can also visit BELTA’s website.

Like many other teachers around the world, my route into ELT was poorly planned and probably a little haphazard at best. I came to Asia having quit a career I did not enjoy back home and with little in terms of what to actually expect. My only teaching experience was limited to tutoring math, teaching sales people how to use an HP10B financial calculator to calculate vehicle loan repayments and coaching chess. Looking back, I should probably have done a CELTA way before starting in ELT, but I didn’t. By the time I decided that I actually enjoyed teaching and wanted to keep doing it, I was in a race to get myself qualified and find role models. Unfortunately, in Asia, that is a little harder than one would probably expect it to be. At first, it was easy to find senior teachers or examiners willing to chat over a beer, but soon, I felt like I had outgrown that kind of professional development and wanted something more. My wife and I started a small language school and soon I was the person people were asking for advice. I realized how little I actually knew and to be honest, I was embarrassed by it. I had done a few TEFL certificates, but nothing as robust as a CELTA or Trinity Cert.

At that point, I joined IATEFL for the first time. Due to the costs of studying (I did a Delta, MSc Ed and a PGCE, but not all at once), I let my membership lapse for about two years until my studies were completed and then rejoined. Overall, I have now been a member for about 5 years. I have remained a member mostly because I really find it worth the while. The webinars and magazines have a wealth of information that I could apply not only to my school, but also to people asking me for advice. I was aghast at the poor advice I was given by people early in my teaching career and the idea of being in contact with people who actually take this ELT thingy seriously was a breath of fresh air. I promised myself to always make sure I have role models that I can look up to and people that I could learn from and that I would never give the type of poor advice I had received when I started. IATEFL supplied this and more. I have made great contacts through the years and learned a lot. I am currently a member of quite a few Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and all for their own reasons.

• YLTSIG (Young Learners and Teenagers) – In Asia, young learner teaching and examining is a huge part of the market.
• LAMSIG (Leadership and Management) – I had to learn how to manage my teachers and school better and used lots of their articles in my Delta module 3 as I did it on ELT management
• TDSIG (Teacher Development) and TT&ESIG (Teacher Training and Education) – To help me develop my training skills
• TEASIG (Testing, Evaluation and Assessment) – As a big part of what I do now is examining and assessment and occasionally training assessors and examiners
• MaWSIG (Materials Writing) – And this has actually lead to some writing work that has been very rewarding.

I also subscribe to most of what is available through IATEFL in terms of magazine and other subscriptions and find that although there’s a lot of reading, I have remained true to what I set out to do, which is learn and find role models and hopefully be a role model for others.

So, what exactly did I do?

Meet people

Finding the role models was actually fairly easy. If you find an article that really appeals to you, email the author. Very often they are more than willing to answer questions and direct you to other reading. I have managed to connect with some of these people on Facebook or at seminars and conferences, and they have introduced me to others.

Write and contribute

Once you’ve read the publications a few times, why not contribute. It’s great for development and one of the reasons I am writing this. Magazines like the SIG publications or ETP or Modern English Teacher are always looking for articles. You might not get published immediately, but the process is well worth going through. If the idea of writing an article is daunting, why not start with a review or a blog post, perhaps for the IATEFL blog?

Watch the webinars

There are so many it is often hard to choose. Actually seeing people at conferences or seminars that have done webinars is a great conversation starter and again puts you in contact with people in the industry that actually make a career out of it, and that is what I really wanted; to make a career out of teaching.

Attend the conferences

This, unfortunately, is not something I have been able to do, but it is on my list of things to do. I would love for more IATEFL conferences to take place outside of Europe, but considering that the main conference is often streamed online, there is no reason to not take advantage of this.

In short, I don’t think I would even have known what Delta was had I not joined IATEFL and the people I have met, webinars I have watched and articles I have read have made every cent I spent on membership and subscriptions worthwhile. I look at myself 15 years ago and think “I have grown into something I can be happy with.” I am hoping I can do the same for others. The role of IATEFL in this process has been amazing and I hope others get to experience it as well.

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Gerhard Erasmus is currently the Director of Studies at a language centre in Taipei, Taiwan, and actively involved in teacher training, from entry-level qualifications to tutoring on the Cambridge Delta. He has authored a Young Learners series and co-authored the ebook Brainstorming with Hall Houston. His main area of interest in ELT is teacher development, including continuous professional development. He has recently become a member of the YLTSIG committee. You can contact him at [email protected]

Perhaps you’ve recently moved from being a teacher to some form of management role – maybe senior teacher, ADOS, Academic Manager, Coordinator, Director of Studies or some other role or title. You’ve probably faced a few challenges in making that transition (see my article from a few years ago for some of those challenges and some advice). You might have been in a management position for a while, and you may even own your own school.

One of the challenges that managers often face can be a sense of isolation – as teachers we have a ready-made network, a staff room, where we can chat and connect to other professionals doing the same job as us. We can ask for advice, complain about the coursebook, laugh about something that happened in class, and generally have a close professional relationship with a group of our peers.

Managers, however, typically don’t have that convenient network, that community of practice. In a large organisation it’s possible you do have peers at your level, but in many cases you are working on your own, and while you hopefully have a good working relationship with the teachers, you are now working in a different area of focus and you can’t share the same stories and bounce ideas off people in the same way.

So, clearly then, a professional network, a community of practice for academic managers, would be a worthwhile and useful thing. And if you can’t find that in-house, then it will have to be outside.

One of the best ways to find a supportive and professional network is through the IATEFL Leadership and Management Special Interest Group (LAMSIG). As the coordinator of LAMSIG I’d like to share with you some of the things we offer and how we feel we can help you.

 

Face to face Training

While there are dedicated training courses for managers in language teaching organisations, like the IDLTM and DELTM for example, it is possible that you don’t have the time or access to the resources that would make such a course a viable proposition. LAMSIG offers shorter more focussed training held at least twice a year.  Prior to the IATEFL conference itself we annually run a pre-conference event (PCE), a training day for those attending the conference (or, indeed, those not attending the conference – there is no requirement that you attend the whole conference if you wish to simply attend the PCE). In recent years we have held PCEs on performance management, continuing professional development, managing difficult people and conflicts, preventing burnout, and teamwork. The next PCE in Glasgow next April will be on “Ethical and Effective Recruitment and Induction”.

 

 

Webinars

LAMSIG runs 3 webinars a year which are open to all and completely free. Past webinars can be watched as recordings for those who are not able to attend live, and are available to everyone. Among the webinars that have so far been held (and which are still available for viewing) are “How to do ELT management research”, “Coaching and mentoring in ELT”, “Appraisals”, “Revitalising coasting teachers” and “Encouraging teachers to take charge of their own CPD”. All those recordings can be accessed from the LAMSIG webinar page.

 

 

 

Conferences or other similar events

LAMSIG partners in a number of conferences – either one-offs or with partners in annual events.  In recent years we have held or been involved in events in Barcelona, Brighton, Abu Dhabi, London, Dublin, and most recently Warsaw. In February 2017 we will be partnering for the third consecutive year with International House Barcelona in their annual conference.

 

 

Newsletter

LAMSIG members receive two print newsletters and one online e-bulletin per year, with articles and advice written by managers all over the world. This is a great resource for those managing in ELT and the only one of its kind.

Articles

Selected articles from old newsletters are freely available on the LAMSIG website, a resource which many managers make great use of.

Online Community

As well as the website and the various resources contained therein, we have a very active facebook page, on which interesting and relevant articles are regularly posted, a twitter account which also connects ELT managers around the world, and a LinkedIn group for academic managers.

As you can see, as an academic manager you are far from alone. Check out the LAMSIG website, see what we can offer you, and how you can become part of a global community of practice. Join LAMSIG – and get discounts on events and receive the newsletters. And, if there is something we could offer but we are not doing, let us know and we will see what we can do. Finally – get involved. As with everything the more you put into something the more you will tend to get out of it. You have lots to offer to our community too, and we’d love to get your input, participation and contributions.

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Andy Hockley is the co-ordinator of LAMSIG and is a freelance educational management consultant and trainer based in deepest Transylvania. He has been training (both teachers and managers) for 20 years and has been coordinating and training on the IDLTM (International Diploma in Language Teaching Management) since its inception in 2001. He is co-author of ‘From Teacher to Manager’ (CUP, 2008), ‘Managing Education in the Digital Age’ (The Round, 2014) and author of ‘Educational Management’ (Polirom, 2007).

Supervised and operated by the English Language Institute at the University of Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Although the English language Institute started as a branch, it has become an independent institute within the second public university in the vibrant city of Jeddah, The University of Jeddah. To grow even bigger and bigger, we decided to join the prominent IATEFL in 2015 and named our IATEFL organization The Saudi Organization of EFL Education. It is the second IATEFL associate in Saudi Arabia, along with KSAALT TESOL.

At the organization we planned many training courses that aimed at improving professional skills of language instructors across the institute. To make our professional development efforts more interactive and global at the same time, we’ve chosen to associate ourselves with the IATEFL, benefiting from a variety of webinars that offer up-to-date topics related to teaching English.

One of the strong starts for the Saudi Organization is being one of the main sponsors of the 1st International Conference of EFL Education which was held in Jeddah in October 31st till November 2nd. With the Saudi Organization of EFL Education as one of the exhibitors at the conference as well, we have collected many members who are very much interested in applying for membership.

As our future sustainable plans, we are aiming at establishing a plan that connects our activities with the Saudi Vision 2030, leading to enhancing language proficiency all over the country and extending regionally and globally. We also aim at not just being sponsors of conferences, we aim at organizing our own independent conference in the Gulf area. Our website is now under construction and will be launched soon. We can be contacted via our emails:

Dr. Saeed Aburizaizah ([email protected])

Dr. Tahany Albaiz ([email protected])

Dr. Sahbi Hidri ([email protected])

The Research Special Interest Group (ReSIG) brings together people who are interested in doing research in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). It is a broad organisation made up of, not only academics, but also other practitioner researchers, especially a growing number of teachers engaged in action research. The SIG aims to promote and support early-stage practitioner researchers taking their first steps in research. In addition, we provide a professional home for more experienced researchers who wish to engage with a community addressing key issues within ELT research and practice.

Publications

ReSIG’s mission to promote and support teacher researchers is borne out by three publications in the last two years: Teacher-researchers in Action, Teachers Research!, both published in 2015, and Teachers Engaging in Research, published in 2016*. These publications are the result of support for projects encouraging research, followed by conferences to present it. Teachers Research! was the result of an event in 2014. This in turn led to an event in Turkey in 2015 which produced Teachers Engaging in Research. In 2016, there was the ‘Teachers Research! Chile’ conference, from which we eagerly await the next publication.

Other regular publications include an annual newsletter, containing not only research papers but other articles related to research and classroom practice, book reviews, reports on events and interviews. We also produce an e-news mailing for our members three times a year to keep them up-to-date with regular events and webinars.

Events

A regular event in the ReSIG calendar is the online discussion. Running 3 or 4 times a year over a 2- or 3-week period, the discussion centres on a theme, defined by a series of questions, concepts or readings. The most recent one was entitled ‘Views of ELT History’ and was a warmer for the ReSiG pre-conference event in Glasgow in April 2017. I imagine, like me, most people would not think English language learning and teaching has much of a history. However, we all have views about the past which may influence our view of the profession and our place in it. We often assume that things have progressed and that the present is an improvement on what went before. From this discussion, it seems that there may be a lot of ‘myths’ or clichés about the past which historical research can dispel – for example, particular views about how methods have developed, or how much or how little teachers used to use the students’ mother tongue or ‘communicative activities’ in their practice. The profession is much older than I imagined and its history is fascinating. The discussion is available to everyone and can be found on our Yahoo group. The easiest way to access it is through the ReSiG website.

Opportunities to present research are important to academics and teachers alike so a key element of what we do is supporting conferences and offering scholarships to attend them. This year, the 2nd RESIG Teacher Research Conference took place at Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul. Held in June, plenary speakers included Derin Atay, Anne Burns, Kenan Dikilitaş, Judith Hanks, Richard Smith and Mark Wyatt. The speakers highlighted recent developments in teacher research with a focus on different aspects of research engagement.

Earlier in the year, a significant event for ReSIG was the conference for teacher-research in ELT, ‘Teachers Research! Chile 2016′, held on 19 March 2016. The conference was supported by the British Council Aptis for Teachers and IATEFL ReSIG. It also offered two scholarships which enabled teachers from Argentina and Brazil to attend. The two scholarship winners were Laura Aza from Argentina and Debora Oss from Brazil. They each gave excellent poster presentations. Under the slogan, ‘Presentations of research by teachers across Latin America for other teachers’, the conference attracted around 150 participants, with presenters coming from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay. The event was remarkable for placing teachers at centre-stage from beginning to end.

In 2017, we are supporting an online event, Classroom-based Research for Professional Development EVO 2017. The aim of this project is to provide a hands-on introduction to inquiry-based teacher development, especially for teachers working in difficult circumstances (large classes, low-resource classrooms, etc.). The project takes participants through different stages of teacher-research, engaging them in practical activities which will gradually build their confidence in this area.

IATEFL Research SIG Pre-Conference Event, Glasgow, 3rd April 2017

This one-day event aims to show how uncovering ELT history can provide useful new perspectives, both for our own professional practice and for the field more generally. The day-long workshop will be of interest and use to practising teachers and teacher educators as well as to students currently researching their own topics, historical or otherwise.

The day will be led by Richard Smith and Friederike Klippel. Richard is a Reader in ELT & Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick, where he teaches and supervises MA and PhD students. Friederike Klippel held the Chair of English Language Education (ELT/TESOL) at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich from 1994 to 2015. In the academic year 2016-17 she is guest professor for TEFL at the University of Vienna. She has published on a wide range of aspects concerning English language teaching and language teacher education.

This PCE is proving very popular but you still have time to get the early bird discount rate if you get your booking in before 12 January.

Find out more

If you are interested in learning more about the ReSIG, please take a look at our website to find out about our events and upcoming webinars. You can download the books discussed earlier and you should take a look in the Resources section. There is a plethora of useful, interesting and exciting material in there. A real treasure trove! Go and have a look!

We’re also on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/iateflresig and you can follow us on Twitter @IATEFLresig.

We are always happy to welcome new members. Please come and join us!

*References 

Teacher-researchers in Action, edited by Kenan Dikilitas, Richard Smith and Wayne Trotman (2015)

Teachers Research!, edited by Deborah Bullock and Richard Smith (2015)

Teachers Engaging in Research, edited by Kenan Dikilitas, Mark Wyatt, Judith Hands and Deborah Bullock (2016)

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Nicola is an EFL teacher, teacher trainer and materials writer, working on projects all over the world and currently in Mauritania. She has an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL. One of her research interests is in developing learner independence and encouraging teachers to become aware of how their own beliefs about education affect what they do in the classroom. She is on the IATEFL Membership Committee and the ReSiG committee.

Introduction

Our Association had a humble beginning and has grown into one of the largest professional associations of teachers in the world just like a tiny seed becoming in course of time a big Banyan tree. It started with just six members, all belonging to just one city, Chennai, and has grown into a fairly big organization with 3864 members and 40 chapters in different parts of our country. You may wonder how it happened. Well, it is quite an interesting saga.

Journal first, Association later!

It is interesting to note that our Journal was started first and our Association much later. Why and how did it happen? As early as 1974, The Journal of English Language Teaching (JELT) —the first of its kind in our country — was published, thanks to one of the well-known educationists of that time, the late Padmashree S. Natarajan. He really wanted to start a professional association of teachers of English but he knew that teachers would not join it and pay a subscription without some incentive. So he decided to tell teachers they would get a free copy of the Journal if they joined the English Language Teachers’ Association once it was started.

The Journal of English Language Teaching was thus first started and it provided an opportunity for the teachers to get themselves acquainted with recent research findings in the teaching of English and also share their experiences with others. He priced it just a rupee per copy and almost single-handedly promoted its sale. He visited schools and colleges and requested them to subscribe for it. Purely out of pure regard for him some subscribed, but he didn’t give up. He wrote letters to the heads of a few well-known educational institutions in the state requesting them to subscribe for the Journal. He did not have a typewriter nor anyone to assist him and he was, in fact, in poor health with failing eyesight, but with missionary zeal he wrote letters with his own hand and thus did the canvassing. Then there was also the paucity of articles for publication. He requested his close friends — one or two — to write almost for every issue. The point is the Journal saw the light of day only due to the persistent efforts of this old man. At the beginning only a hundred copies were printed and in fact some remained unsold. But he didn’t give up and soon the circulation went up. But unfortunately it never went beyond 400 copies or so.

ELTAI is born!

Eleven years later — in 1985 — Mr. Natarajan started the English Language Teachers’ Association of India (ELTAI). A small group of teachers, including the writer — just six of us — met at his residence. We had a discussion on the importance of professional development of teachers as a key factor in enhancing the standards of education in our country. At that time there were only trade unions of teachers concerned with working for the improvement of their service conditions. At our meeting he mooted the idea of starting an Association of teachers concerned with organizing teacher development programmes — seminars and workshops — for them. We all agreed and assured him of our help in his great venture. He said enrolment of members of the new association would be easier if we said all members of the Association would get a free copy of Journal. Thus our Association came into being and we were able to enrol about 256 members only.

Promoting ELTAI — New strategies

After the passing away of our Founder in 1974, a new team of office-bearers took charge of the Association and decided to carry forward the good work initiated by him, adopting certain new strategies.

For enrolling members it was decided to conduct a number of workshops, seminars and refresher courses for teachers of English. Schools and colleges were contacted and they were told no fees would be charged for their teachers to attend these staff development programmes.

At the events we organized teachers were told about the benefits of joining ELTAI – a free copy of our Journal, opportunities provided for the improvement of their teaching competence, interacting with ELT professionals and also for getting their papers published in our Journal. This strategy is working well and we still have teachers coming forward to join ELTAI.

Another strategy adopted was to provide cash awards for teachers undertaking action research and also for using ICT tools in teaching English. The allotment of some subsidised memberships offered by IATEFL to our members has also helped to enrol new members, besides familiarizing them with the great work done by IATEFL.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

There are two Special Interest Groups — English Literature SIG and Computer Technology SIG — both of which quite active. The former has been running an e-journal — Journal of Teaching and Research in English Literature — for the past five years. The other SIG has been publishing its own e-journal — Journal of Computer Technology for ELT. These two open access journals may easily be accessed on the web by clicking on the direct links given to on the home page of our website at www.eltai.in

IATEFL and Hornby Trust Projects

ELTAI was the first recipient of the IATEFL Project grant along with another country in Europe. We received a handsome grant of GPB3000 for our innovative project on Training the Trainers in Virtual Learning. A group of 17 teachers were selected from all over the country and were trained in using web tools in ELT. They were then required to train teachers in their area.

Another project undertaken by our Association, with support from the Hornby Trust, UK, was on training teachers in using smart phones for the teaching and learning of English.

The project now in progress relates to our ‘Shakespeare lives – 2016’ celebrations undertaken in collaboration with the British Council in six different cities in India. Competitions for students in soliloquies, a quiz and enacting a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays are some of the events. Seminars are being organized for teachers for discussing the relevance of  the playwright’s works for all ages and cultures.

Annual conferences

We hold our annual conferences regularly and they are international too. They are attended by not less than 600 teachers every year.

ELTAI: an Associate of IATEFL

As an Associate of IATEFL, we are able to provide a fixed number of subsidized memberships of the world organization to our members. Almost every year a member is sent to attend the IATEFL conference with some financial assistance from us. A few have won IATEFL scholarships too to attend the international event. There have been a few contributions too from our members during the recent years for publication in Voices [the IATEFL magazine/journal which all members receive for free].

We have had a few IATEFL representatives too at our annual conferences — Peter Grundy when he was the President, as well as Jeremy Harmer, Eric Baber and George Pickering.

Online Discussion Forums

Opportunities for our members to interact with one another and also to give them updates about our association are provided by our Google group discussion forum. Members of the Computer Technology for ELT SIG have got a separate online forum too.

Collaboration with the British Council

The British Council has been collaborating with us in a range of our activities for a number of years now. It provides a plenary speaker for our annual conferences. Along with the IATEFL and Hornby Trust it has provided support to us in carrying out successfully our projects on virtual learning and mobile learning. It has also sponsored an ELTAI member to attend the IATEFL annual conference in some years.

Looking ahead

Our target for the current year is to enrol at least another 500 members.

We hope to start a separate website for providing the e-version of our Journal. At present members may access it only on our website.

If you’d like to find out more about ELTAI or our journals, you can visit the website, facebook or Twitter.

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A former British Council scholar, an alumnus of the London University Institute of Education and former Professor and Dean, Annamalai University in South India. Patron, ELTAI.  He can be reached at [email protected].

Very soon, you will find the latest issue of IATEFL Conference Selections coming through your letter box – or into your inbox if you have opted for the digital version. In this blog post, editor Tania Pattison tells you how this publication is put together and what her role involves.

What is Conference Selections?

Conference Selections is IATEFL’s annual collection of reports of papers delivered at the Conference. The Birmingham issue contains 96 papers – some are reports of plenary talks and key events such as the IATEFL/ELT Journal debate and the Hornby Scholars’ talk, but the majority are reports of individual sessions. It is a refereed publication with print and online distribution to individual members in over 100 countries and is intended to give a taste of the Conference to IATEFL members who could not be there in person. The publication was introduced in 1997 when Simon Greenall was President and is celebrating its 20th birthday in 2017.

How did you become involved with Conference Selections?

I am the publication’s fourth editor. The first was Peter Grundy (1997–1999), followed by Alan Pulverness (2000−2004) and Briony Beaven (2005−2009). I took over with the Harrogate Conference in 2010, but my preparation began much earlier. In late 2008, I saw an advert in Voices for a new editor. At that time I was a full-time EAP teacher, and I had a background in materials development. I had been an IATEFL member for five years, and I wanted to become more involved with the organisation. I applied, had an interview and got the job.

I spent the next year ‘shadowing’ Briony; I also signed up for courses in copy-editing, proofreading and educational publishing through Ryerson University in Toronto. Contributors are often surprised to learn that I do not work at IATEFL’s Head Office in the UK. I am based in Canada (I’m a British expat), and I work mostly from home.

What does your role entail?

Putting an issue of Conference Selections together takes nine months. Work begins with the Conference, where I give my annual talk on writing for publication. The deadline for submission is usually around two months after the Conference (this year’s deadline is 29 May 2017). Some papers come in right after the Conference, but the majority arrive within two or three days of the deadline. I often stay up all night before the deadline, drinking tea and acknowledging papers as they flood in.

When a paper arrives, I make a copy of it and remove all identifying details – name, location, school, etc. These versions are sent to my editorial committee, who spend the summer reading and commenting on the papers. I’ve been fortunate to work with some dedicated and well-informed team members – Edward de Chazal, Chris Lima, Siân Morgan, Sandie Mourão and Amos Paran. Edward and Amos are still on the team, and they will be joined in Glasgow by Jennifer MacDonald. Every paper is given a grade; while these are important, the comments are even more so – it is often these comments that I base my decisions on.

As I get feedback from my editorial team, I start to map out the issue. Planning the chapters is harder than it sounds. If someone writes a paper on, for example, using technology to teach writing to teenagers, does it go in the chapter on technology, on teaching writing or on working with young learners? My difficult decisions about which papers to include are made after all the reviews are in. Not everything can be published, and it’s always hard to decline a paper; I know how much work goes into them.

Most of the actual editing happens in the autumn. When I was working full-time, I carved out time in the evenings and at weekends for this. I’m now freelance, so I can set aside larger chunks of time. When I’m done, the manuscript goes to IATEFL’s copy-editor, Simon Murison-Bowie, who polishes the text. Simon is integral to the entire process; he is not only a talented copy-editor, he also takes on the role of project manager once the manuscript lands on his desk. Another key player in the process is our designer/typesetter Keith Rigley, who miraculously manages to make everything fit within the 240-page limit.

Writers learn the outcome of their submissions in November. At that stage, we deal with queries and make any changes and corrections to the document. It is not unusual to go through six or seven sets of proofs – with a 240-page collection, it takes time to get it right.

Sometime in January, after spending far too many hours staring at proofs, I write an email to Simon saying ‘print’, take a deep breath and hit the ‘send’ key.

What do you get out of this role?

Well, there is a payment attached to the position, but that is far from being the only benefit. After editing more than 700 Conference reports, I have learned a huge amount about aspects of ELT that I am not personally involved in. It is also enormously satisfying to help new writers to find their voice and to get into print, and it’s thrilling to edit the papers of established ELT experts.

It’s also great to play a role in an organisation that has meant so much to me since I became a member in 2003. IATEFL is my professional home; it is my main source of professional development as well as one of the few places I find a community of like-minded people. I am happy to give back to the organisation that has given so much to me; for the same reason, I joined the MaWSIG committee in 2016.

Anything you don’t like about it?

The most difficult thing by far is telling writers they have not been successful. I know how important it is for writers to be published, and I hate to disappoint people.

How has this role influenced your career?

I’ve realised over the years that working with words is what I enjoy most. I am never happier than when I’m sitting by the fire in my home office, grappling with a piece of text that isn’t flowing quite smoothly, or where the grammar is not quite right. My work with Conference Selections has actually prompted me to take my career in a new direction. In 2012, I went freelance. I do some materials writing and curriculum design, and I still do a bit of EAP teaching – but a large part of my business is now editing. As I write this, I am working on editorial projects with publishers in the UK and US; I am also doing an increasing amount of copy-editing with individual clients. Ironically, as I develop my editing business, I am moving beyond ELT and into other fields; I have recently copy-edited texts on archaeology, history, computer technology, fine arts and more. None of this has anything to do with ELT, but my enjoyment of this work started with Conference Selections.

Where can I get more information on writing for Conference Selections?

I will be giving a talk on ‘How to write successfully for IATEFL Conference Selections’ on Friday 7 April 2017 at 8.15 am. If you’re presenting in Glasgow, do come along!

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Tania Pattison has been editor of Conference Selections since 2010. She is also Deputy Publications Coordinator of MaWSIG. She is a freelance writer and editor specialising in EAP and academic materials. Her website is www.contextacademics.com

Young Learners and Teenagers SIG is one of IATEFL’s 16 Special Interest Groups and a key part of the Association’s worldwide network of English language teaching professionals. YLTSIG has developed over the past 30 years to redress the general ‘adult default’ focus in much of ELT. The SIG’s position is that children and teenagers have varied sets of needs, rights and age-related differences which need to be carefully prioritised in YLT English language teaching.

YLTSIG’s Mission

Our mission is to lead, drive change and set standards in teaching English to children and teenagers (2 – 17 years old) for training and development, classroom practice and assessment. We aim to provide practical advice regarding different models of YL ELT (e.g. EFL, EMI, CLIL), age-appropriate pedagogy, and child-safe recruitment, as well as suitable ELT qualifications for young learner teachers. Our members include classroom practitioners, teacher trainers, researchers, academic managers and materials/content developers working in both state and private sectors worldwide.

Pearl Jubilee Events & Publications

We have provided members a variety of exciting commemorative events and publications to mark the SIG’s Pearl Jubilee (30th anniversary) during the past year. This started with the YLTSIG-Garnet Education book Children Learning English: From Research to Practice. This ambitious editorial project was led by current SIG Joint Coordinator, Christina Giannikas, and supported by former Committee members, Lou McLaughlin, Gemma Fanning and Nellie Deutsch Muller. The book is an interesting collection of 16 articles covering topics ranging from CLIL to teacher training, and materials development to classroom practice, all from a variety of contexts and YL age ranges (early years, primary and secondary).

YLTSIG Publications Editor / current Joint Coordinator, David Valente, also edited the Special Pearl Jubilee Edition of the SIG newsletter, launched alongside the SIG-Garnet book at the 50th IATEFL Conference in Birmingham in 2016. This fascinating collection charts 30 years of developments in our field. It provides both recognition and a celebration of YLT and is a must-read for members old and new.

During our SIG Day at the 2016 Birmingham Conference, we also hosted the Pearl Anniversary Symposium, Realbooks to picturebooks: 30 years of illustrated literature in ELT. This was expertly delivered by former SIG Coordinator Sandie Mourão, along with Gail Ellis, Janice Bland, Smiljana Kovac and one of the YLTSIG’s founders, Opal Dunn, famous for her pioneering work with picturebooks for the past fifty years. IATEFL members can read an article based on the symposium in IATEFL 2016, Birmingham Conference Selections.

 

New website and logo

In October 2016, we launched our new SIG website along with a commemorative 30th anniversary logo.

Joint Coordinator, David Valente led on the website’s development which is full of up-to-date content, including professional development ideas for YLT professionals. A particular highlight for both members and non-members is the 28 downloadable back issues of the SIG newsletter, spanning 1998 – 2012.

The new website has enabled us to start a monthly blog where we feature guest bloggers who share ideas, experiences and reflections on YLT from a range of children’s and teenagers’ contexts around the world.

Web Conference, 24 – 26 February 2017

Our Pearl Jubilee celebrations will culminate with what’s promised to be the biggest YLT online event of the year – the SIG’s inaugural web conference, ‘30 Pearls of YLT Wisdom’. Featuring 30 speakers, each giving a 30-minute talk on a different area of YL ELT, the event will include talks for teachers of all YL age ranges. The web conference has been spearheaded by Joint Coordinator, Christina Giannikas and all SIG committee members will be hosting during the 3 days. You can meet them all here.

In addition, we’re delighted to announce that we have a new SIG YouTube channel! Watch our first video with IATEFL Past President, Carol Read, then click SUBSCRIBE to follow us:

Meet YLTSIG

Join us at the 2017 IATEFL Glasgow Conference in the Lomond Room at the SECC on Tuesday 4 April for our SIG Day. There is also a special evening event afterwards, at 19.30 – 21.00, where you can enjoy some specially prepared Scottish nibbles, a wee nip of whisky and other drinks! You will discover how being a member of YLT SIG can really benefit you professionally. Along with the other IATEFL SIGs, we invite you to meet our committee members and hear all about planned SIG activities for the coming year.

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David Valente & Christina Giannikas: IATEFL YLTSIG Joint Coordinators

David Valente has 20 years’ ELT experience which has included authoring teachers’ handbooks and courses for primary and secondary curriculum development as well as methodology training in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Australasia. He is also an online tutor for Bell Delta Modules 2 and 3 courses, specialising in training candidates who teach children and teenagers. David has a MAppLing in YL Programme Management and currently works as Director – Professional and Pedagogical Development for Laureate International Universities, Thailand. He is also an online & face to face tutor for the new CELT-P and CELT-S qualifications for mainstream teachers of English.

 

 

Christina Nicole Giannikas holds a Ph.D in Applied Linguistics, specifically in the area of early language learning, and works for the Language Centre of Cyprus University of Technology. She is an Instructor for an MA in CALL and a Language Instructor for English for Specific Academic Purposes. She is also a teacher trainer, and a freelance materials writer and editor. Her research interests include Computer Assisted Language Learning, Young Learners and new technologies, interactive language learning and teaching through the use of technology, online learning and teaching, early language learning and the use of games in the language classroom in any shape or form.