November Conference

I case you didn't attend the November conference last weekend or if you did then take a look at the countless photos Bethany has spent hours uploading:

http://s1262.beta.photobucket.com/user/tesolfrance/library/TESOL%20France%202013%20Annual%20International%20Colloquium

You can also watch them in the slideshow in the sidebar.

If you have some photos of your add then why not add them to the album. Contact Bethany and she'll tell you how.

Thanks once again to everyone who contributed, participated, attended and even if you just followed on Twitter.

See you next year!!

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One more preview....maybe....

Here is our very own .....

Christina Rebuffet Broadus

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Here's the last preview (I think).....

Csilla Jaray-Benn

Business English Services

Sunday 18 November

11:10 - 12:10

Room 310

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Maria Heron

Speaking on Sunday 18th at 11.10am
Room: Estaunie

If you find it difficult to get your students to speak in the classroom or you need some new ideas for speaking activities, come to my session on Sunday 18th at 11.10 in Estaunie.  It’s a practical session where you will get the chance to try out a range of my favourite speaking activates.  You will leave with lots of new ideas to try out in the classroom on Monday morning!

Summary:

This hands-on workshop will give the participants the opportunity to try out a range of communicative speaking activities which will give their learners the chance to become more fluent and confident.  They will also have the opportunity to discuss how the activities can be adapted to their own contexts, and look at what changes may be appropriate for different levels of language learner and areas of interest.
The workshop will start by evaluating some speaking activities and deciding what elements of designing, managing and reflecting makes such activities successful.  We will also look at what the teacher’s role in such activities is and the extent to which this changes with different types of learner.
The audience will then have the chance to try out different activities which focus on personalisation and move from controlled to free. Depending on time, the workshop will include some of the following:

·        Communicative Activities – for example, information or opinion gap activities.

·        Mingling Activities – for example, getting to know each other or collecting data.

·        Pyramid discussions – for example dessert island or balloon type debates.

The workshop will finish with a chance for teachers to ask questions and share their own experiences and issues.

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The TPRS Revolution

An exciting new approach to teaching foreign languages is spreading like wildfire in an unexpected place, the United States, the world’s most monolingual country. It’s called Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling. Recently a teacher said, “This is my first year with TPRS. I taught with the books for the past 15 years
and after just two months, I can tell you that I will never go back.”

If you want to know what TPRS is and why respected and successful teachers with years, even decades of experience, have discarded whole libraries of textbooks, grammar exercises and worksheets in order to teach with TPRS, come to see me in the Rubis room, Sunday, November 18th, at 10:00.

Judith Logsdon-Dubois

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Talk: Todays news in your classroom - Rapid Authentic Text Lessons using Technology
By Ian Butler, CEO, LingleOnline

Using authentic text in class is recognized best practice. But it takes soooooo long to do.
Well, not any more!!!.

Come along to our session at room B312 @ 11:10am, Sunday Nov. 18th to see how you can use this award winning technology to turn current news into learning materials in minutes.

Hope to see you there.
Ian

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 What’cha  Lis’nin  2?  

                  Taking music from the CD to CDA
                            
     Julia Alivertis                           and                       Jeffrey Doonan

             Saturday  17th November  10-11am,  Room  Opale

   “Each utterance is filled with echoes and  reverberations of other utterances.”   -Bakhtin

Music is a big part of our students’ lives, but how much of it do they really understand, comprehend? 

In this workshop we aim to take the music from simple listening pleasure to a deeper level of understanding through an analysis of what the lyrics “say” with Critical Discourse Analysis, providing ready-to-use examples. 

Join us if you believe in the power of music and if you agree that although teaching  teenagers and young adults can be challenging at times, it is also fascinating and rewarding, full of interaction and fun.

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GETTING PEOPLE TO LIKE YOU 

[Nick Michelioudakis / Saturday 16:45 ‘Thevenin’]

Think about some of the ELT-related theories you have studied / heard about so far. The ‘Natural Order’ hypothesis, Halliday’s theory of Lexical Cohesion, Transformational – Generative Grammar etc. etc… Q: What do they have in common? A: They are not much use outside the classroom. Now compare these with the following two principles for example: 1) ‘The more we see something/someone, the more we tend to like them’ (The ‘Mere Exposure Effect’) or 2) ‘People like you more if you are less than perfect!’ (The ‘Pratfall Effect’). The difference is that these two principles are useful both in class AND everywhere else! What is more, they are far more interesting for the average person, which means you can discuss them with people outside our field.

This talk / workshop draws on findings from the field of Social Psychology. It is meant to be useful, practical and enjoyable. It is based on the firm belief that we stand to gain enormously by looking at ideas from other fields and ‘importing’ the ones which are relevant to our work. To find out more about the rationale behind this presentation, just watch this short video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toW_BoNj230

To read some articles in the ‘Psychology and ELT’ series, just click on this link:

http://nic313.wix.com/nickmi#!articles

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Literature strikes back! Teaching  literature with technology.


"Literature strikes back!" by Dimitris Primalis 17th November, Opale Room 6.p.m.

In the era of digital literacies, 21st century skills and social networking, the revival of literature seems to be more imperative and challenging than ever. Doukas school in Athens –  awarded twice for innovation and a Microsoft Mentor school for its innovative approaches -  introduced the 1:1 approach (one student to one computer)in 2009  in primary school starting from 4th graders. The students adored their netbooks but concerns were expressed by some parents that literature would become extinct because of technology. How can you acquaint the generation of computer whiz kids with fiction, science fiction and other genres? How can you stimulate students’ interest to start reading? How about using technology? Literature and technology need not be rivals. The split viewing/listening technique, Internet resources and free Web 2.0 tools can be powerful allies to attract learners’ attention.   A workshop for tech-lovers, bookworms and front line teachers, based on activities done with advanced (C2 CEFR) and primary school learners (A1-2 CEFR)

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Surefire Activities to Get Your Students to Speak

Yeşim Çakır    Istanbul Technical University    Istanbul, Turkey

Saturday, November 17     11.15-12.15

Do you have students who are...

Join my workshop to find fun and creative activities to boost their speaking confidence! ...........

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The Power of the Image

Paul Dummett Cenage / National Geographic Learning  Oxford,  UK

Friday, November 16     18.15-19.15 


How much do you make use of Images in your teaching?...



Join my workshop to find out how powerful and generative a teaching tool images can be.

4th preview

Struggles in higher ed reading averted through collaborative reading circles

Tyson Seburn (4C, University of Toronto) - Sunday November 18, 12:45 - 1:45, Room Estaunie

Look at this image. What is Superman doing?



Yes, that’s what I first thought too. I’m sure we’re not alone. Given what we know about Superman and his adventures, a second look enables us to realise he’s not trying to extinguish the light coming from that bad guy with his bodily fluids. We know that superhero cartoons don’t include that type of behaviour (at least ones with classic superheroes!). We know that it wouldn’t be befitting for the character of Superman even if they did. We search for other explanations for what is actually happening and (eventually) make more probable judgments based on our understanding of context.

Imagine, however, that you didn’t know anything about Superman. Or superhero cartoons.  Or hoses, for that matter.  If this were the case, our brains wouldn’t be able to connect this apparent situation with the hidden context. Our non-existent background knowledge wouldn’t fill in the gaps like it did above. What you see would be what you know. We would lose the cartoonist and writer’s intended meaning.

This same problem with context and background knowledge applies to our learners in their exposure to texts they encounter in their university classes, the news and even blogs. So often authors utilise references to key figures, events and places to demonstrate and strengthen their points. When our learners read texts they are assigned or even given for language practice, these contextual references are often missed or skipped over, leaving comprehension superficial and inadequate.

The “Contextualiser” role gives learners practice identifying and using contextual references in texts to help them better understand what they read.  It, along with five other specialised roles in the collaborative reading circles activity (I refer to as “academic reading circles” or “ARC”), have greatly contributed to improving my students’ reading abilities at higher levels.

If you attend this workshop, we will take a closer look at all six roles (Discussion Leader/Devil’s Advocate, Visualiser, Connector, Summariser, Highlighter & Contextualiser) and how they can help your students with their higher level reading too.

3rd preview

From Coach to Awakener, Bonnie Tsai Pilgrims Teacher Training Sat. at 11:15



This workshop will explore how coaching  is being used to involve learners in determining their own outcomes and to find the path that is best suited to their needs.

I will be representing Pilgrims Teacher Training and I look forward to welcoming you to this workshop.

2nd November conference preview

Getting students to think in CLIL classes

Amanda McLoughlin, British Council, Bilbao, Spain:

Saturday 14.00 - 15.00

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This is the first preview of one of the talks at the upcoming November conference. If you are presenting and would like to give us a preview of your talk, please follow the instructions in the email I sent out yesterday.

Teachers can have their cake and eat it, too!

Gabriel Diaz Maggioli, THE NEW SCHOOL, New York

Saturday, November 17th - 1:00 - 2:00 pm - TEVENIN

Is this what you feel when asked to attend yet another mandated workshop?

What if your professional learning were rather like this?

:

Come to my presentation to explore over 10 strategies that will make your professional development (and that of your colleagues) not only effortless, but FUN!