IATEFL 2016 conference

IATEFL Birmingham 2016

By Victoria Searle, Assistant Director of Studies

Everything you know is wrong! Throw out your old methods and try this one!

An ELT (English Language Teaching) conference is certainly an eye-opener and keeps you on your toes when it comes to teaching!

I went to the IATEFL (International Association for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) in Birmingham in April and it was a fantastic event! The conference brings together teachers, teacher trainers, publisher and materials writers from around the world.

You can learn about anything from technology to teens at this conference and it’s a really good chance to talk to other professionals about the industry and how to make our classes better!

For me, the highlights were sessions about creativity in the language classroom: from something as simple as Andrew Wright’s ‘quick flash picture’ technique, to the very modern and relevant ‘English for the Zombie Apocalypse’.

A big theme at IATEFL for me this year was technology! As a school, we have to keep up with  the modern world, and with so many different techniques, social media sites and resources for the classroom, we have to be up-to-date!

Stay tuned for developments in technology provision at Communicate!

 

A ‘test’ for you: look at the picture and check how many of these words you know? They all have something to do with visuals and technology! Email your answers to victoria@communicateschool.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Eye-opener (n) – a situation that is enlightening

To keep someone on their toes (idiom) – to make sure that someone gives attention to a task that they are doing

The Highlights (n) –an outstanding part

Keep up with something/somebody – to stay equal with somebody

up-to-date (adj) – incorporating the latest information

stay tuned – wait for more news on a subject