2015 Excom Election addresses

It's time to elect a new Executive Commitee, and this year we have three new people putting themselves forward for election. Before you decide whether to approve them, here are their election addresses, so you can find out about them:

Rosemary Benard:

I started my teaching career on the JET programme in 1992 in Japan after a first degree in French and German at Aston University, UK. Having completed the RSA DipTEFLA course at Swansea university, I got itchy feet again and went to teach in Dublin. I combined having my children and teaching privately in Northern Ireland and Scotland until 2010 when we emigrated to France. It was during this period that I also branched out into environmental impact assessment on a new school project for an architects' practice. I am now the Director of Studies at a language school in Toulouse.

Dianne Chen:

Originally hailing from California, Dianne has been living and teaching English in Bordeaux for the past six years. She started her tefl career in Taipei, Taiwan, which she misses tremendously, except for the heat and pollution. In her spare time, she can most likely be found scouring the internet for lesson plan inspiration or feeding her crafting habit.

Wojtek Koszykowski:

Teaching English as a second language was my childhood dream which came true when I was 18. I started from YL but discovered very quickly that it was not my cup of tea. Hence, I started to teach young adults and adults which has been inspiring and energizing. I hold B.Sc. in Business Administration, M.Sc in Management and I am currently working on my PhD in creativity. I did my CELTA a long time ago and more recently followed a stimulating DELTA course in Strasbourg. After many years of teaching in different countries and working as a DoS, I moved to Brest in 2010 where I have been in charge of Language Department in the local Business School. I am particularly interested in creativity in EFL, learner-autonomy and pronunciation. Apart from teaching, I work as a photographer, I enjoy hiking along the Ocean coast and watching Judge Judy every day.

33rd Annual TESOL France Colloquium: November 14, 15, 16

33rd Annual TESOL France Colloquium: 

November 14, 15, 16 2014

with Stephen Krashen and Carol Read
and a host of other speakers and presenters

November 14,15 16th 2014.
Friday: 17:00-21:00
Saturday 9:00 - 19:00 + Special Dinner, Reservations Required
Sunday 9:00-17:00

Click here to access the Registration form

Click here for important information for delegates

Venue:
Télécom ParisTech
49 rue Barrault
75013 Paris, France
(map and directions here)

Please bring a photo ID to present at the venue entrance.

This event is FREE to TESOL France members and exhibitors.
Non-member registration fee: €49 euros.
Please bring exact change.

If you like, joining TESOL France, €49 (or renewing your membership) will be possible on the day. If you would like to join, simply fill out the pre-membership form here.

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For our three day colloquium we are welcoming talks from English Language Teaching fields which focus on the teaching and administration of language from working with young learners to business English as well as how to promote yourself. More than 60 presentations and 14 poster presenters will be available for your choosing. Times of exchange and sharing will be the overriding atmosphere of the conference as you will have many opportunities to mingle, be challenged, learn, share and take home ideas in order to improve your teaching and interactions with students and administrators.

Here are two abstracts for our Plenary speakers:

Stephen Krashen:
Developing Academic Language: Not just the easy way but the only way

This presentation presents a simple hypothesis: We develop academic language by reading. Nearly all of the conventions of academic language, its special vocabulary, grammar and discourse style are subconsciously absorbed, or acquired, from reading texts written in the academic style that are relevant to us.
Extensive self-selected reading alone will not develop full academic language competence, but develops the background knowledge and language competence that makes academic reading comprehensible. Self-selected reading is the bridge between conversational and academic language competence.

Carol Read
Reflections on how to be a highly effective teacher

In this session we will take for granted that teachers need to be confident in their subject knowledge and skilled in the craft of teaching in order to achieve desired curriculum outcomes. Instead we will aim to explore the more intangible personal capacities, attitudes and beliefs that make for highly effective teachers who have a profound influence and make a long-lasting difference to the lives of their learners. We will consider the role of the teacher as educator in fast-changing social and technological times. We will also discuss a notion of professionalism that supports learners in leading fulfilled and productive lives as citizens in both a local and global context. Among the areas that we will investigate during the session will be self- awareness, personal development, emotional intelligence and engaging with other people. There will also be opportunities to reflect on your own ideas about what it means for you to be a highly effective teacher in your context.

Grammar survey

Could you please complete this survey about English Grammar for a French app developer. They are developing an app to help students of English with areas they usually find tough and want some help selecting what to include.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8ZFNDHY

Thanks!

-Phil

Election addresses from election Candidates

It's time to elect a new Executive Commitee, and this year we have three new people putting themselves forward for election. Before you decide whether  to approve them, here are their election addresses, so you can find out about them:

Yvonne Chappell

My name is Yvonne Chappell and I live in Strasbourg. I am British and hail from the North of England but after studying in London I decided it was a nice city and stayed there until my departure to France. I have a B. Sc from London University in Sociology and Economics, an MA in Social Policy from Brunel University, a Law diploma from Leeds Law School and an MBA with an option in European Business Studies. I have been in France for 5 years now and during that time I have taught in both the higher education and private sectors. I have also taught in a children’s home in a voluntary capacity. When I first came to France clutching my CELTA qualification I found that there was very little in the way of support or professional development for English teachers and I sometimes found myself not knowing where to turn. Then, almost by accident I discovered the existence of TESOL France and it is no exaggeration to say that it turned my teaching career around. The help and support it has given me has really enabled me to develop as a teacher. I really believe in the professional development of teachers, if we are confident in ourselves then we will become successful in the classroom and our students will flourish. This is why I want to join the executive com

Aline Grasser

I was born and educated in France. I studied English at the University of Strasbourg, where I got my Maitrise in English. I spent two years of my studies in the USA, one as a student and one as a French Instructor. I’ve been teaching English in France since 2010, but only passed my CELTA in 2013. I teach General and Medical English classes, as well as one-to one. I joined TESOL in 2012, and since then I’ve been more and more involved in it. I’ve joined the Strasbourg branch committee, and in 2013, I was part of the organizing committee of the Spring Day in Strasbourg, helping in the organization of the event and designing the program leaflet. I’m passionate about languages and I’m interested into non-traditional approaches to teaching and education.

Csilla Jaray-Benn

Born and raised in Hungary, completed graduate studies in linguistics and literature in English and French. Obtained three Master of Art’s degrees in English language and literature with teaching certificate, French language and literature and in Theatre Arts. (University Eötvös Lorànd, Budapest and Université Sorbonne nouvelle Paris III).

Worked five years in international cooperation in social sciences at Collegium Budapest Institute for Advanced Studies and at CNRS in Paris. Lived in Canada for three years. Have been living in France (Grenoble) for twelve years. Worked at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Grenoble for five years as business English consultant and trainer. Currently provide in-company professional language training in business English and as a part-time university lecturer Business Communication Skills development courses for Master’s degree students at IAE Université Pierre Mendès France, Grenoble. Also deliver translations in the fields of arts and science, business communication, management, marketing and Human Resources.

Founded Business English Services (www.bes-grenoble.com) professional training organisation in September 2007. BES offers professional training in business English, translating and interpreting to corporate clients in France and outside France.

Introduced a primary school programme for learning English at Ecole Rondeau-Montfleury, Corenc.

Member of TESOL France, IATEFL, IATEFL’s BESIG and LASIG and IATEFL Hungary.

Delivered conference talks on:

One-to-One Dynamics, TESOL France Annual Colloquium 2012

Collaborative Creative Learning, TESOL France Spring Day 2013 Strasburg & TESOL France Lyon Workshop 

The Question is Your Answer, IATEFL BESIG Online Conference, June 2013

Collaborative Creative Learning in Professional Training, IATEFL Hungary Conference, October 2013

Role-Playing and Identity: Motivating in Language Learning, TESOL France Annual Colloquium 2013

Published articles:

Teaching in France: Why is it so difficult? Teaching Times. Spring 2012.

Les Objets-personnages et les personnages-objets dans le theatre de Roland Dubillard. Revue d’Esthétique n°34. 1998.

Other activities:

Head of the Research Committee of “Les Amis de Roland Dubillard”

Maria OSSEI works as a freelance English teacher in a Cambridge ESOL exam centre, a business school and the Chamber of Commerce in Saint Etienne. She has a CELTA and PGCE (equivalent to the CAPES) in Modern Foreign Languages from the Institute of Education, London. She seeks to find creative and fun ways to deliver Cambridge exam preparation classes which motivate students and help them realise their full potential. She has a particular interest in EAP, ESP and using digital resources in the classroom.

TESOL Affiliate news

We are very proud to be featured in the latest edition of the TESOL Affiliate News. TESOL France appears alongside many other organizations around the world who are all dedicated to helping and supporting English teachers as one community.

We would like to thank Larisa Olesova for inviting us to contribute and spending so much time putting everything together. She is a true inspiration!

http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolalc/issues/2013-03-11/email.html

English News Lessons

If you like using the news in your lessons then you have to check out a fantastic blog called EnglishNewsLessons.com.

It offers free discussion lessons for EFL teachers / learners based on news stories from around the globe. Lesson texts are graded and designed to be easier to read so that learners can focus on discussion activities and develop speaking skills. New lessons are added throughout the week and are always based on the most recent news stories. 

All of the lessons come in a downloadable pdf format, and can be easily reproduced for the classroom or personal study. 

EnglishNewsLessons.com is run by David Harbinson, who is currently working in South Korea as an EFL Teacher.

The Language Point’s Top Five of 2012

There was an article in the last issue of Teaching Times about a new lesson share website called The Language Point. It's a great place to share your lessons with other teachers. Here's Marie O'Sullivan from The Language Point to present her fave lessons from 2012:

The Language Point’s Top Five of 2012

I’m a bit of a pushover for those end of year lists, so when The LanguagePoint was invited to share its top EFL resources from the past year, I couldn’t resist!

We love receiving great resources to share with other teachers, so we regularly choose an item uploaded at The LanguagePoint, and reward its creator with an Amazon voucher for €50.

We took a look back at our first year in operation, and here (in alphabetical order!) are our top five shared ELT resources for 2012:

• The Art of Winemaking - Gary Jones records interviews with native English speakers for his resources, and this one is a fascinating look at the wine industry.
• Coldplay – Vicky Loras loves Coldplay and loves using different types of text with her classes – what better than song lyrics from her favourite band?!
• Eurovision Song Contest – A reading/discussion lesson about why we love and hate the Eurovision Song Contest, by Phil Wade.  It is a real ‘Marmite’ event, isn’t it? I love it!
• Interviews: Ask me a Question – Students often find asking questions difficult, so Carlos Eduardo Santanna de Souza Silva shared these activities to make practising more fun.
• Place hacking the London Shard - reading, speaking and vocabulary activities based on an article about people climbing the London Shard building, by Mura Nava. The building officially opens to the public in February, so it’s a topical theme.

For the coming year, why not think about sharing one of your favourite resources at The LanguagePoint?  Not only could you win yourself a little treat, but you could make our list for next year!

Everyone at The LanguagePoint wishes you a very happy and successful 2013!