Michelle (K) kindly invited us to her place for our May 4th committee meeting. Despite the weather, it was a cosy gathering. Thanks to Michelle for hosting! We had a packed agenda, with the main focus on our plans for the 30th anniversary celebrations this year. By now, all of our members have received an […]

The IATEFL ESP SIG in Bochum is not in September as I stated in a previous blog. It’s on May 11th, the theme is “Mediation” which is the new CEFR criteria, and registration closes on April 10th. The official title is “English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) Conference 2019 at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum Language Centre […]

That’s it for me from IATEFL 2019 at ACC Liverpool. As always, a challenging, enriching experience. See you next year in Manchester?

Lindsay Clandfield gave a landmark speech this morning on education technology in ELT. I sure hope it was recorded. Takeaways: “We should be realistic about technology and its potential but also about what it isn’t and what it cannot.” (This from an acknowledged expert on technology in ELT.) “Context matters. We have agency.” For example, […]

An amusing end to a long conference day: Six brave ELT souls entertaining us with Pecha Kucha. Bravo!

Of all the ELT gurus wandering the halls here at ACC Liverpool, here is my one of my favorites, John Hughes, giving his session on personalization. Just as I was asking myself where the female gurus were in this industry of 80% women professionals, I was lucky enough to attend the session of Jill Hadfield, […]

Know this guy? If not, then you’re really missing something! He is David Crystal. Check him out, and if you ever get the chance, hear him speak. Here he is in the IATEFL stand, good naturedly letting many people like me take his picture!

Thursday was the day of the big guns! I was very excited to attend the session from Scott Thornbury, “Answering Grammar Questions”. It was so reassuring to hear him say: “There is never a right answer. Grammar is not a linguistic straight jacket. Most grammar is choice,” and, perhaps most provocatively, “a marked enthusiasm for […]

Telc entertained exhibition visitors with Beatles songs and a Beatles quiz.  Note the far out sunglasses and mini Yellow Submarine on display.  Cathy Duffek live from iATEFL  

What I learned at the SIGs event on Wednesday evening is that the ESP English for Special Purposes SIG, which is also for EAP English for Academic Purposes, is having an event closer to home in Bochum on September 9. These types of events are held all over the world, so it’s quite fortunate for […]

Today is the second day of the full conference and it is amazing how many sessions are on offer. In each time slot there is always something which attracts my interest. This year’s facility, the ACC Liverpool and neighboring Jurys Inn Hotel, is a vast improvement over the venue in Brighton last year. The problem […]

Are you lucky enough to be attending the IATEFL International Annual Conference next week?  Then we would like to hear from you! We would like to keep our members updated and what better way to do this than to post your blog from the conference. Write about an interesting workshop, talk or forum with a […]

Helping language learners to change their behavior and not be too authentic is the topic of Ian’s workshop. Presenting practical classroom activities, Ian will look at the key communication skills needed in business. For more information and to register click here:  Workshop on helping language learners to change their behavior and not be too authentic

At the AGM in January, all of the existing ELTAS committee members agreed to serve another year. We all enjoy working together and are a good team. We are very happy to welcome two new committee members, Michelle Kremser and Nicole Heusser. Both will be focusing on social media activities, Michelle in Xing and LinkedIn, […]

Developing Learners’ 21st Century Skills with Tim Phillips We still have seats available for this workshop with Tim and  sponsored by National Geographic. Make sure you secure your place now with only 14 days to go! We are all looking forward to an interesting workshop on how to develop learners’ skills in this constantly changing […]

What a team! It was great to get together for the first committee meeting since our AGM in January. Michelle (K) and Nicole joined us for the first time and were assigned new roles and responsibilities, more details on this in a later post. 2019 is going to be an exciting year for our members […]

Digital change effects all aspects of life and education is no exception. Digital change needs digital education, this includes imparting digital skills as well as learning with digital media. This year, over 320 exhibitors came to LEARNTEC to show educators their solutions to these digital challenges. I was lucky enough to get complimentary tickets to […]