ELT Conference:
Learning to Learn
Saturday September 26, 2015
Registration and Sign up: 09.30 - .9.55
Please sign up for the sessions you would like to attend.
First Session: 10.00 – 11.15
_______________________________________________
Workshop: Mindful single-tasking with teens!
In this workshop we'll look at practical activities to help enhance focus, creativity and flow
in teenage classes. Teens are increasingly gadget centric, and multi-tasking is the norm.
Here are some ideas to provide a counter-balance, to help them to develop their language
skills, in particular writing skills, through focused, creative and reflective activities, which
include some ‘mindfulness’ activities.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary
Speaker: Jo Dossetor (British Council)
Jo Dossetor is a teacher and CELTA teacher trainer, who has been working
at the British Council for over 12 years. She works at the Bonanova Young
Learner Centre, and has extensive experience of teaching all ages of young
learners, from primary to secondary
_______________________________________________
Seminar: Think, pair, share
This workshop looks at how we can introduce our students to the ideas of working
collaboratively and learning to learn together in the EFL classroom. The session will
concentrate on practical activities and techniques, with a focus on the skills of reading,
writing, listening and speaking.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary
Speaker: Sally Trowbridge (British Council)
Sally works on LearnEnglish Kids, the British Council website for children.
She also teaches English to young learners at the British Council in
Barcelona and writes learning materials for students of all ages.
______________________________________________
Workshop: PRONUNCIATION to avoid DISCOMBOBULATION
Have you ever taught pronunciation to your pupils? Would you like to work on it with them?
If so, join this talk and you will go back to class with a compilation of some fabulous games
and practical activities that will make your pupils have oodles of fun while learning the
correct pronunciation of words.
Interesting for teachers of: Upper Primary ( ages 10 – 12 )
Speaker: Carmen Santamaría Pena ( APAC )
Carmen Santamaría Pena is a passionate English teacher and philologist
who enjoys teaching and constantly learning English. She has been active for
the last 10 years working at several state schools.
____________________________________________
Workshop: Implementing autonomous communicative activities in a
VYL/Lower Primary class
Our learners’ level of English is improving at an earlier stage. Very Young Learners and
Primary Level learners are demonstrating that, with the appropriate implementation, they
can carry out autonomous communicative pair-work/group work. Such activities prepare
them for communicative pair-work which appears in text books aimed at higher levels and
deters from monotony in the classroom by granting students control of their learning. This
session focuses on how to create and implement such activities.
Interesting for teachers of: Very Young Learners Primary
Speaker: Clare Sheppard (British Council)
Currently teacher and trainer on CELTA and DELTA courses at IH Barcelona, Gerard has
an MA in ELT and is one of the authors of Next Generation; Bachillerato by Cambridge
English. He is also webmaster and resources officer for TESOL-SPAIN.
______________________________________________
Workshop: TeachingEnglish – the new global home for teachers
A new CPD ( Continuous Professional Development ) framework, hundreds of teaching
resources, teaching tools and a new crowdsourced online ELT magazine are just some of
the features available on the new TeachingEnglish website. With a strong emphasis on
professional development, this talk we will look at some practical ways in which the
redeveloped global home for teachers can be used.
Interesting for teachers of: Primary, Secondary and Adults (Teacher Development)
Speaker: Paul Braddock (British Council)
Paul Braddock is the manager of the British Council’s Teaching English website. He lives
and works in Barcelona, where he was previously a senior teacher at the British Council
Young Learner Centre, responsible for the training & development programme. He has
lived and worked as a teacher and teacher trainer in Lisbon, Budapest, Tokyo and the UK.
______________________________________
Workshop: Learning to Learn: using authentic texts with teenagers
During this session we will look at using authentic texts to help teenagers become
independent learners. We will look specifically at how authentic texts and authentic
communication in the language class room can help students take responsibility for their
learning.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary
Speaker: John Lavery (British Council)
John Lavery has taught at the British Council Yong Learners Centre
Barcelona since 1999 and is currently studying for an MA in TEYL with the
University of York.
____________________________________
Workshop: Aptis For Teens. A best test option for evaluating students’
English in Catalan schools?
Aptis for Teens is the British Council’s Computer Based test for teenage
learners and has recently been piloted with 4 ESO learners in secondary
schools in Barcelona. If you are interested in finding out more about the pilot
results and how Aptis for Teens can be offered as an English test for your
learners in your school, pleased come along.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary
Speaker: Jon Kear ( British Council/Exams)
Jon Kear is the Exams Manager at the British Council Barcelona, where he
previously worked as a teacher and Senior Teacher. When he’s not
managing exams, Jon very occasionally gives talks to Escola Oficial English
students throughout Catalunya.
______________________________________
Workshop: Let´s have a chat about written feedback and error
correction.
Despite the fact that marking and correcting form such a large part of a language teacher´s
work, teachers often report that there is very little guidance on this area in their teacher
training courses. This workshop aims to provide a brief opportunity to explore some of the
key issues when correcting student´s written work. In this session we will be looking at
different error correction methodologies and seeing how we can mark our students´ work
in more pedagogically effective and interesting ways.
Interesting for teachers of: Primary, Secondary, Adult
Speaker: Neeraj Dhanani
Originally from London, Neeraj has been teaching YLs and adults at the BC in
Barcelona for almost 10 years. He has done a diploma in ELT and recently
completed a masters in applied linguistics from a UK university.
________________________________________
11.15 – 11.55
Breakfast & raffle & time to browse the publisher’s
tables
____________________________________________________________________
Second session: 12.00 – 13.10
Workshop: Real Life Communication
In this age of fast-changing technology and global communities, students have an even
greater need to use English to communicate. How can we help students convert what they
know about the language into actually doing something with it? In this talk we will look at
ways of exploiting resources for real communication in order to help students interact
outside the classroom in real life contexts.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary
Speaker: Jade Stevens (Macmillan)
An experienced teacher and trainer, Jade has worked for The British Council in Europe,
The Middle East, and North Africa. He has delivered Cambridge Training courses and
trained Primary and Secondary teachers in various parts of the world. He currently works
as a Teacher Trainer for Macmillan Education ELT.
________________________________
Workshop: Stories with primaries
Stories are a rich source of language and learning for primary students and a mainstay of
the EFL classroom. How can we make the most of these texts and experiences so that our
students' imaginations are fully engaged? And how can we wrap activities around them so
that they can be exploited for students' enjoyment and understanding?
Interesting for teachers of: Primary
¡
Speaker: Jenny Jones (British Council)
Jenny is a teacher and coordinator at the British Council Young Learners
Centre in Barcelona, with over 15 years teaching experience and a love of
children's books and stories.
__________________________________
Workshop: Collaborative tasks to get your students speaking!
Do you find it difficult to get shy students to speak? Do you find that your teenage
students ‘dry up’ in tasks which involve giving opinions? Collaborative tasks are designed
for cooperative learning and to maximise the participation of all students. This workshop
will focus on jigsaw tasks and information gaps, and will include practical ideas to take
away.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary and Adults
Speaker: Anna Blackmore (British Council)
Since 2003, Anna Blackmore has taught ELF to both adults and young
learners in Europe and Asia. She has an MA in Applied Linguistics and
Language Acquisition from the University of Barcelona, where she completed
her research project on interaction.
__________________________
Workshop: Helping teachers to give clear instruction to VYLs.
This session focuses on instructing Very Young Learners; it highlights the strategies and
aids which can be used to deliver clear instructions without relying on the learners’ native
tongue. It also considers situations in which use of Learners’ native tongue may indeed be
of more benefit to the evolution of the class.
Interesting for teachers of: Very Young learners
Speaker: Clare Sheppard (British Council)
Clare Sheppard has worked as a TEFL teacher in Italy, Spain and Hong
Kong. She joined the British Council Young Learners Centre in 2011 where
the majority of her work focuses on VYLs and Lower Primary groups. In 2015
she completed the Trinity Diploma TESOL.
__________________________
Workshop: Learning to Learn: using authentic texts with teenagers
During this session we will look at using authentic texts to help teenagers become
independent learners. We will look specifically at how authentic texts and authentic
communication in the language class room can help students take responsibility for their
learning.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary
Speaker: John Lavery (British Council)
John Lavery has taught at the British Council Yong Learners Centre
Barcelona since 1999 and is currently studying for an MA in TEYL with the
University of York.
______________________________
Workshop: Supporting and extending learning: from subject to general
study skills
Trinity’s revised Integrated Skills in English examinations are firmly based on recent
changes in educational needs and rigorous academics, and so support the development of
a) individually relevant language, and b) transversal study skills. We provide highly
detailed diagnostics for teachers and students with individual scores for each traditional
language skill – as well as our unique personal feedback for teachers.
Interesting for teachers of: Primary, Secondary, Adult
Speaker: Barry Lynam (Trinity)
Barry was a teacher and language consultant for 22 years before becoming
Trinity College London National Consultant in 1996. He has presented and
run workshops at many national and international conferences. Trinity Spain
now has over 2.600 registered examination centres.
______________________________
Workshop: Collaborative and Creative Classes through Poetry
Poetry is one of the most versatile forms of expression, but we don´t often find time for it in
class. Using examples from several genres, this talk demonstrates how poetry can be
used as a one-stop shop to improve learners' Receptive and Productive skills, Grammar
and Vocabulary. Teachers will leave with ready-made activities designed to motivate and
inspire their students.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary Adults
Speaker: Faye Murton (British Council)
In 2009, Faye started her EFL career teaching English Literature and
Language to YLs in Baku, Azerbaijan. Six years and two thirds of a DELTA
later, Faye teaches at the British Council. Areas of Interest: Material design,
CLIL, one-to-one learning.
_______________________________
Workshop: The Language Class: Teaching and Learning through Drama
This is a workshop for teachers of English who wish to explore the possibilities of Drama in
Education with their classes.
There will be constant focus not only on language learning but also on cross-curricular
competences such as collaboration, self-confidence, initiative and creativity.
We will experiment with a few drama techniques and reflect on the various processes at
work for the benefit of our pupils in the language class.
Interesting for teachers of: Primary, Secondary & Adult
Speaker: Catherine Saint Jean ( Lycée Française )
Catherine Saint Jean is a teacher of English at the Lycée Français de
Barcelone. She is also a teacher trainer and educational advisor for French
schools in the peninsula as well as a certified drama pedagogue. She has
taught in France, England, Germany and Austria before coming to Spain.
_______________________________
Workshop: Let´s have a chat about written feedback and error
correction.
Despite the fact that marking and correcting form such a large part of a language teacher´s
work, teachers often report that there is very little guidance on this area in their teacher
training courses. This workshop aims to provide a brief opportunity to explore some of the
key issues when correcting student´s written work. In this session we will be looking at
different error correction methodologies and seeing how we can mark our students´ work
in more pedagogically effective and interesting ways.
Interesting for teachers of: Primary, Secondary, Adult
Speaker: Neeraj Dhanani
Originally from London, Neeraj has been teaching YLs and adults at the BC in
Barcelona for almost 10 years. He has done a diploma in ELT and recently
completed a masters in applied linguistics from a UK university.
____________________________________________________________________
Third session: 13.15 – 14.30
Workshop: Collaborative tasks to get your students speaking!
Do you find it difficult to get shy students to speak? Do you find that your teenage
students ‘dry up’ in tasks which involve giving opinions? Collaborative tasks are designed
for cooperative learning and to maximise the participation of all students. This workshop
will focus on jigsaw tasks and information gaps, and will include practical ideas to take
away.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary and Adults
Speaker: Anna Blackmore (British Council)
Since 2003, Anna Blackmore has taught ELF to both adults and young
learners in Europe and Asia. She has an MA in Applied Linguistics and
Language Acquisition from the University of Barcelona, where she completed
her research project on interaction.
_________________________________
Workshop: Stories with primaries
Stories are a rich source of language and learning for primary students and a mainstay of
the EFL classroom. How can we make the most of these texts and experiences so that our
students' imaginations are fully engaged? And how can we wrap activities around them so
that they can be exploited for students' enjoyment and understanding?
Interesting for teachers of: Primary
¡
Speaker: Jenny Jones (British Council)
Jenny is a teacher and coordinator at the British Council Young Learners
Centre in Barcelona, with over 15 years teaching experience and a love of
children's books and stories.
_____________________________________
Workshop: Gamify Your Lesson Plan
Gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game applications
and it’s a natural fit for educational contexts. Gamification approaches are
motivating and useful in their ability to help students understand learning
processes and work collaboratively and creatively. In this session, we will
look at some main principles of gamification and how to apply them to your
lesson plan to deepen your students’ engagement with classroom content.
We’ll also look at some easy-to-use applications that can help you develop
your own gamified content for classroom learning projects.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary
Speaker: Rachel Playfair ( OUP )
Rachel grew up in Canada and has lived in Barcelona since 1993. Her academic
background includes Psychology (B.A), ELT and Applied Linguistics (M.A. level) and RSCUCLES TEFL Certification. She has been teaching English for over 20 years as well as
working in TEFL management, ESL / CLIL and publishing. She is also a qualified coach
with her own business, Language Strategy Coaching. She also works as a teacher-trainer
for OUP and Ramon LLull University and consults on educational projects. Her current
professional interests are coaching and motivation for language learners, intercultural
training and CLIL.
______________________________________
Workshop: Using your course book creatively: ideas to liven up your
lessons.
For many of us the coursebook is a fundamental resource and may even provide the
backbone of our syllabus. Good teachers draw on their experience to adapt it creatively
and squeeze the most out of it. Let’s discuss how to use your coursebook flexibly and see
some particular activities which will help us toward this end.
Interesting for teachers of: Secondary & Adult
Speaker: Elena Merino ( Pearson)
Elena Merino is a Teacher Trainer for Pearson. She’s worked as a teacher for twelve
years in different contexts and for different types of students and learning styles. PhD in
Communication and Multilingual Education, she’s concerned about meaningful tasks that
engage students to communicate in English.
______________________________________
Workshop: Implementing autonomous communicative activities in a
VYL/Lower Primary class
Our learners’ level of English is improving at an earlier stage. Very Young Learners and
Primary Level learners are demonstrating that, with the appropriate implementation, they
can carry out autonomous communicative pair-work/group work. Such activities prepare
them for communicative pair-work which appears in text books aimed at higher levels and
deters from monotony in the classroom by granting students control of their learning. This
session focuses on how to create and implement such activities.
Interesting for teachers of: Very Young Learners Primary
Speaker: Clare Sheppard (British Council)
Currently teacher and trainer on CELTA and DELTA courses at IH Barcelona, Gerard has
an MA in ELT and is one of the authors of Next Generation; Bachillerato by Cambridge
English. He is also webmaster and resources officer for TESOL-SPAIN.
______________________________________
Workshop: PRONUNCIATION to avoid DISCOMBOBULATION
Have you ever taught pronunciation to your pupils? Would you like to work on it with them?
If so, join this talk and you will go back to class with a compilation of some fabulous games
and practical activities that will make your pupils have oodles of fun while learning the
correct pronunciation of words.
Interesting for teachers of: Upper Primary ( ages 10 – 12 )
Speaker: Carmen Santamaría Pena ( APAC )
Carmen Santamaría Pena is a passionate English teacher and philologist
who enjoys teaching and constantly learning English. She has been active for
the last 10 years working at several state schools.
_______________________________