One day Marathon for English Teachers: Experience. Excellence. Expertise

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Date: 26 October 2024 (Saturday, Online)

Time: 9:50 - 16:30

Schedule: 

9:50 - 10:00 - Opening

10:00 - 11:00 - Anka Zapart

11:15 - 12:15 - Olga Connolly

12:30 - 13:30 - Raul Pope Farguell

13:30 - 14:00 - Break

14:00 - 15:00 -  Anna Kashcheeva

15:15 - 16:15 - Heather Belgorodtseva

16:15 - 16:30 - Closing

Format: Online

Speakers:

Olga Connolly, Lead of Methodologists at English for Yandex Practicum. CELTA and DELTA trainer and assessor, MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics (UK)

Students generally find listening the most difficult of the four skills. It is because when people are speaking English at natural speed, they are using all sorts of pronunciation features that make their speech sound different from what students expect when they see written English text. Therefore, understanding pronunciation features and then training the ear to decode authentic speech are the fundamental steps in helping learners progress in listening comprehension. These two are exactly the focuses of my session.

Ensuring Accuracy and Fluency in Speaking Tasks

In this talk, I will explore the essentials needed for successful speaking tasks. The focus will be on establishing the difference between accuracy and fluency, the various elements that make up being able to speak fluently and accurately, before showing where they meet. We will then go through frameworks and tasks that achieve both these seemingly different goals. 

Anna Kashcheeva, CELTA and DELTA trainer, The New Economic SchoolSenior Instructor. MSc in Educational Management (University of Portsmouth, UK); Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (DELTA, the University of Cambridge); MA in TESOL (Pedagogical Degree); International HouseTeacher Training Certificate(IHTTC)

Empowering Learners by Giving Useful Feedback on Writing

Giving feedback on writing is essential, but collecting information about learner writing responses and balancing feedback can be a daunting task for many teachers. We tend to choose feedback techniques based on our teaching beliefs and preferences, but it is crucial to prioritize learner needs. In this workshop, we’ll explore the purpose and focus of feedback, discuss some benefits of the humanistic methods and examine how establishing clear assessment criteria can help us evaluate student responses effectively and cater to their individual needs.

Heather Belgorodtseva, Trinity Cert. TESOL, Delta, PGCE in Secondary School Teaching from the Institute of Educaiton, University College London, CELTA Tutor and Teacher Trainer.

Harnessing the power of AI in the classroom

Talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what it can do for language learning is hard to ignore. Will it help students, by providing new opportunities for exposure and practice? Or will it hinder them, as they become dependent on AI instead of learning crucial skills themselves? Will it (whisper it) replace teachers altogether? In this session we will discuss how we can support students in constructive rather than destructive use of AI tools, and explore practical activities for the language learning classroom which provide engaging but purposeful fun, making the most of this new technology.

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