30 December 2011

TESOL France's 30th Annual Colloquium Videos are now available for viewing!

Get a taste of what TESOL France has to offer!

Watch the November 2011 Closing Plenary Session by Geoff Tranter "That's a Funny Way to Learn a Language" and Mike Hogan's talk "Teaching Business English Online Using Clients' Virtual Meeting Software".

Once you click on the link, an Adobe page will come up. Wait at least 30 seconds for the video to appear.

Watch now! 
Geoff Tranter: "That's a Funny Way to Learn a Language"
Mike Hogan: Teaching Business English Online Using Clients' Virtual Meeting Software

Watch interviews conducted during the conference by checking out our TESOL France YouTube Channel! 

22 October 2011

TESOL France's 30th Annual Colloquium! - Celebrating 30 Years!

This year, TESOL France celebrates 30 years of sharing knowledge, experience and best practices in English language teaching in France. The 30th annual International TESOL France Colloquim will be held in Paris, France.

Autumn is an exciting time for TESOL France! The association is proud to bring you a truly international conference with 68 speakers and 20 poster presenters from over 23 countries around the world. This three-day event will take place from November 4 to 6 at Télécom ParisTech, 46 rue Baurrault in the 13th arrondissement. Stephen Brewer, Luke Meddings, and Geoff Tranter will be the Plenary Speakers.

Complete program and Registration

68 conference talks on these themes:

  • Adult Learners
  • French Learners
  • English for Specific Purposes
  • Technology in the Classroom
  • ELT Careers
  • Primary Learners
  • Higher Education
  • Classroom Management
  • Teacher training
  • Pronunciation
  • Business English
  • The Four Skills
  • Grammar and Vocabulary
  • Materials Design
  • Using Corpora
  • Young Adult Learners
  • Language Testing
  • Classroom Techniques
  • Intercultural issues

Plus: a talent show, stand up comedy and networking receptions !

Making it REAL - Conference, Sèvres (France)

Some of you may be interested in attending this conference right after the TESOL France Conference.

Over the last three years the REAL2 project, co-financed by the European Commission, has worked to set up a Network of Language Teacher Associations in the form of a sustainable membership organisation. As the project draws to its close, join us this November in the beautiful former Sèvres Porcelain Works on the outskirts of Paris to discover more about what has been achieved so far and how to get involved in our ambitious initiative to give a voice to Europe’s language teachers.

Our Objectives

The conference will enable you to:

  • find out more about how the new European Network of Language Teacher Associations (REAL) is working to support associations and defend linguistic diversity in Europe ;
  • share your concerns, ideas and experiences about the world of teaching and learning languages with other like-minded professionals;
  • get practical tips and ideas on how to run your association ;
  • debate and exchange about key aspects of linguistic policy affecting language teachers and learn more about how you can change things.


Our approach

The seminar will be based around three types of activities led by experienced speakers from associations, schools and universities:

  • Plenary sessions given by leading lights in the language teaching world such as Prof. Michael Kelly (University of Southampton, UK) and Uwe Mohr (Goethe Institut, Belgique) focusing on the activity of the Network and wider issues on languages and European linguistic policy interpreted simultaneously in English, French and German;
  • Practical workshops to share good practice on running language teacher associations, to find out about how associations can be involved in European projects and to help define REAL’s political stance on key political issues.
  • A roundtable for exchange and debate on the role of individual language teacher associations in Europe.

In addition to these sessions, there will be a whole host of more informal opportunities for networking and dialogue.

Participants will also have the possibility to display disseminate material from the projects and association activities that they are already involved in. All sessions will provide adequate time for questions and answers.

Target group

  • Active members of language teacher associations
  • Members of organisations involved in language learning and teaching

Languages

The REAL network is firmly in favour of protecting European linguistic diversity. As the most widely spoken and learnt languages in Europe, English, French and German have been chosen as the conference’s main working languages. There will of course be many opportunities to use other EU languages given the diversity of those attending.

See the full programme here: http://www.real-association.eu/content/making-it-real-final-conference-sevres-france#tabset-tab-2

17 June 2011

Watch TESOL France Talks Live Online!

How to join the workshop

The event takes place in the IATEFL online conference room.

Before entering the room you will be prompted to "Enter as a guest". Please use this model to enter your name for example: Carl Dowse (Germany)

This will make it easier for attendees to identify you.

Once in the room, you will be able to communicate with other attendees using the text chat window at the bottom of the screen.

Please note: there is a limit to about 100 participants in the room.

Session 1: 9:15 - 12:15 CET (Paris time)
Click here to check your local time
Click here to enter the room

9:15- 10:30: Curtis Bartosik How to Find Clients. 5 Steps to Successful Selling
10:45 - 12:00: Getting your CV Right! Erin Douglas
 
Session 2: 13:15-18:15 CET (Paris Time)
Click here to check your local time
Click here to enter the room

13:30 - 14:45: Ken Wilson Plenary: Ten ways to get your students to DO something
15:15 - 16:30 10 Ways to Earn More Money as a Language Trainer Claire Oldmeadow
16:45 - 18:00: Don't Just Work...Work on your EFL Career! Carol Bausor

10 June 2011

The Spring Day on Professional Development

Come to this exciting one-day conference: The Spring Day on Teacher Development

Venue Télécom ParisTech, 49 rue Vergniaud 75013 Paris, France
Click here to see a map of the neighborhood and get directions to the venue.
Click here to download a map of the venue and the neighborhood.

This conference will include seminars on:


  • Professional development and the decisions of today's teachers
  • Motivating young learners
  • Motivating students with role plays
  • Marketing yourself
  • Teacher CVs
  • Continuing education options for teachers
  • Boosting your salary
  • The state of ELT in France

Plenary Speaker: Ken Wilson

Ten ways to get your students to DO something

Ken Wilson

English language materials are bursting with good content and ideas for skills exploitation, but to make them work and get the best out of them, you need to engage your students' interest. This isn't always easy, especially if they are at the end of a long, hard week or "aren't in the mood". At times like this, you need to challenge them, make them curious and encourage them to be imaginative. Sometimes you simply have to find out what they're good at or even give them responsibility for what happens in the class. In this talk, I will suggest ten ways that you can uncork their interest and their talents. Maybe you can show them talents they never knew they had - drawing, miming etc - or even specialist knowledge about insects or outer space. It's all there, waiting to be exploited. Remember, in a class of 30 students, there are 32 sources of information - you, the book and the students themselves. 
Ken Wilson is an author and trainer. He has written about 30 ELT titles, including a dozen main courses. He also writes supplementary material and in 2008, OUP published Drama and Improvisation, a collection of about sixty of his drama activities for teachers. His first ELT publication was a collection of songs called Mister Monday, which was released when he was 23. Since then, he has written and recorded more than 150 ELT songs, published as albums or as integral parts of course material. He has also written more than a hundred ELT radio and television programs, including fifty radio scripts for the BBC Follow Me series, thirty Look Ahead TV scripts and a series of plays called Drama First. For many years, Ken was artistic director of the English Teaching Theatre, a company which toured the world performing stage-shows for learners of English. The ETT made more than 250 tours to 55 countries, including several visits to France. Ken lives in London with his wife Dede and their two cats, and works in a shed at the end of his garden.
List of talks and times (NB: some will be repeated):

9:15 - 10:30
-The state of play of the French language Training Market -- by Andrew Wickham
-How to Find Clients. 5 Steps to Successful Selling Especially for Auto-entrepreneurs, Travailleurs Independents -- by Curtis Bartosik

10:45 - 12:00
-Don't Just Work... Work on your EFL Career! -- by Carol Bausor
-Thinking Critically About Teaching and Research -- by Jean-Paul Narcy-Combes
-Getting Your CV Right! -- by Erin Douglas

13:30 - 14:45
Plenary by Ken Wilson: Ten ways to get your students to DO something

15:15 - 16:30
-10 Ways to Earn More Money as a Language Trainer -- by Claire Oldmeadow
-How to Find Clients. 5 Steps to Successful Selling Especially for Auto-entrepreneurs, Travailleurs Independents -- by Curtis Bartosik
-Letting Go of the Classroom - from Role Play to Improvisation -- by Damian Corcoran

16:45 - 18:00
-The state of play of the French language Training Market -- by Andrew Wickham
-Motivating Young Learners -- by Dede Wilson
-Don't Just Work... Work on your EFL Career! -- by Carol Bausor

18:15 - 19:00
Q&A with the Speakers

19:00
Reception

This event is FREE of charge to TESOL France Members and Speakers.
More information: http://www.tesol-france.org/springday11.php

8 February 2011

TESOL-France Grenoble workshop: Using Podcasts in Language Teaching

The next TESOL-France Grenoble workshop will be on Thursday, February 24th from 1:30pm to 5:00pm. It will be a joint TESOL-France / APLIUT / Grenoble-INP event.

http://www.qualitytime-esl.com/spip.php?article111


The agenda will include a presentation on “Using Podcasts in Language Teaching: Lab, Classroom and Assignment Activities” followed by a swap shop on “Encouraging Our Students to Speak!” A swap shop is an exchange of ideas through short presentations and/or demonstrations by anyone interested in sharing materials or techniques. 

The event is free for members of TESOL France or teachers at the hosting institutions.
For other participants the fee is €8.

The event will be held in the center of town at:
Grenoble INP-Ecole de génie industriel  (GI is not far from the railroad station behind the church and next to IUT 2.)
46 avenue Félix Viallet
38031 Grenoble

A second event in Grenoble will be held on Thursday, March 31st. The theme and the venue will soon be communicated.

Marianne Raynaud and her “5 Minute TOPs”

Marianne Raynaud, our TESOL France Grenoble Coordinator, has introduced a new series of podcasts that has been cited among the iTunes France selection of “Nouveautés” under “Enseignement”. Just scroll down from “Podcasts” in the black tool bar and choose “Enseignement” or look at the screen capture here below. Let me remind you that all podcasts on iTunes are free audio or video recordings that you can download directly.
The TOPs in the title stands for “Training with Oral Practice”. Marianne’s podcasts are oral exercises that incite the listener to speak. The exercises are based on quotes and song lyrics. On her website www.qualitytime-esl.com you can find links to videos to go with the exercises.
So please subscribe to Marianne’s podcasts to help her go up in the rankings, and ask your students to subscribe too. For the latter this will provide 5 minutes of oral practice outside of class at least once a week. It’s better than nothing!
Marianne has two other podcast series that are doing well too. Type her name “Marianne Raynaud” into the search window of iTunes (in the upper right-hand corner) to find them: “QualityTime-ESL Podcasts” (grammar) and “Your English” (vocabulary).
Marianne welcomes suggestions for her future podcasts!