Where are we heading? Revisited....

Back in April 2007, I was asked to give a workshop and a session at the APPI conference in Lisbon about the situation in Europe regarding the teaching of English.

I spent a good month preparing the session because I wanted the information I was sharing to be as accurate and up to date as possible.

A lot of work, believe me, but as so often happens, I've found that the information that I discovered has come to be so useful since then.  Facts like the percentage of teachers in Europe who were set to retire in the following 10 years (opening the doors to new teachers and maybe the chance to make changes in a school).  I know one school locally that is doing just that.  They wanted to introduce a bilingual project and teach subjects through English.  As teachers retire, the new staff member they take on has a good level of English.  If only this kind of forward planning could take place more often ..... .

Which brings me to what caused me to write today's post.  The school year is kicking off.  The number of emails I'm receiving every day has grown tremendously and suddenly.  I was looking through some of them and clicked on the links in the TeachingEnglish newsletter.

One of the links took me to the

I remember drawing on the information in the previous survey when I prepared my APPI presentation.

I think it will make interesting reading for many of us.  Just added it to my 'to do' list for today!

(Now I can cross off 'Write a blog post' from my list!  Done!!!)

Today we chat with Gerard McLoughlin who will be delivering a talk at The Cambridge Experience Valencia

Today I have the pleasure to chat with Gerard McLoughlin. Gerard has been a teacher and trainer for 20 years. He is currently a teacher and trainer on CELTA and DELTA courses at International House Barcelona. He has an MA in ELT and is a co-author of Next Generation, a Bachillerato coursebook for Cambridge University Press.

Gerard will be delivering the talk "Accuracy to Fluency" next Saturday 11th of May at the Cambridge Experience Valencia - Hotel Silken Puerta Valencia. 

Entrance is free but teachers wanting to attend need to register in advance here.

Hello Gerard! Why did you decide to go into English language teaching?

When I first finished collage I knew I wanted to live in Italy and asked around about how I could get work there. Friends told me about teaching English and that’s what made me start. Once I was there I realised that being in the classroom suited my personality. I love helping people and the classroom gives me an opportunity to do exactly that. I could never see myself doing anything else. I never get bored whether I’m training teachers or teaching.

Gerard McLoughlin

Who or what inspires you?

My students! Our classes are about sharing information and I learn so much from being with them. It has really helped me to grow as a person and understand what makes people click.

What's your all time top-tip for English language teachers?

Be yourself, listen to your students and help them say what they want to say.

Do you have a favourite ELT website?

This is a hard one as I have so many both ELT and non-ELT. One of the things I do in my classes is try to develop students’ awareness of issues and world conditions they might not have considered. My all time favourite for doing this is Disabled Access Friendly   It has a wealth of material and lesson plans that I use quite regularly in my classes. But as most teachers I also find a lot  of ideas on everday websites such as The Guardian  and New York Times.

A gadget you can't live without?

I’m not a big gadget person. I suppose it’s because of my generation.  I couldn’t live without my laptop, I use it all the time for keeping in touch with family and friends and keeping up to date with what’s happening in the world.

And finally, why do you think teachers should see your talk?

That’s a hard one.  My talk is about how I help students develop their speaking. I find that speaking is also about listening and both speakers have a role. It’s a two way conversation and how do we make that seem natural? Come and find out! 

Thanks Gerard! It's been a pleasure to chat with you!

TESOL Spain

Just over a year ago, I gave a session at the 2012 TESOL Spain Convention in Bilbao.

I didn't make it to this year's convention in Seville because I had other commitments, but I have heard a lot about it and as a reader for the TESOL Newsletter and with friends on the Board, I try and keep up with what's happening in TESOL Spain.

I receive the e-newsletter once a month by email.  You can read this month's edition online here (and also look through the previous 10 editions). The Question and Answer with Dr David Crystal (whose plenary I had the pleasure to attend in Bilbao) is well worth reading.

I've just been looking at the TESOL Spain website too and have begun downloading the handouts from the sessions in Seville.








The fact that you can access speakers' handouts even though you weren't at the Convention or were there but couldn't go to everything at once is great.  A great initiative!


I've downloaded several sets of handouts to look through in more detail.  Many of them contain your take-away-and-use-today ideas - for example Andrea Littlewood's ideas for personalisation in the YL classroom or Fiona Mauchline's Putting the Creative Back in Writing.

And of course, our very own Cambridge English Seminar Presenter, Katie Curbelo (or Katie Maunder as she appears on the programme) was in Seville.  Her session was called Speak, Write, Learn:  Fun Activities for the Adolescent Classroom.  I'm sure the session was as practical and as useful as always.

I'll be looking at the other articles in the newsletter and downloading more handouts in the coming days when I have time to come back to the site.  If you do the same, pass on recommendations to the rest of us via this blog!

And I hope to see some of you in Granada on Saturday!

The Cambridge Experience events start in Porto

Today I have the pleasure (and the time!)  to chat with my colleague Nick Shaw, member of the Cambridge English Presenters Team who will be delivering the talk "Worried about going for Schools?" at The Cambridge Experience Porto , next Saturday 23rd of March at Hotel Eurostars das Artes

Nick Shaw graduated in Modern Languages from the University of Cambridge and subsequently completed a PGCE course at the University of London and taught French and Spanish for a year before deciding to move into English language teaching. Although he has been preparing candidates for Cambridge English exams since 1977, his active involvement with the organisation began as an oral examiner in 1985. 

In addition to being a member of the Seminar Presenter and Centre Inspector teams in Spain, Nick acts as a consultant to Cambridge University Press on a variety of projects including mainstream coursebooks, examination preparation materials and grammar books.

Nick delivering a seminar at the latest
Cambridge Experience in A Coruña

Hello Nick, first of all: why did you decide to go into English language teaching?

After graduating from university with a degree in Modern Languages I spent a year trying to get myself converted into a trainee accountant, after which my employer and I mutually agreed that the honorable profession was not made for me (or vice-versa). So I decided to take myself off for a year to reflect on my future, and answered an advert for English teachers needed in A Coruña, a town near which I had spent a couple of months four summers previously. Thirty-seven years later, I'm still there and still reflecting!

What is the favourite bit about your presentation?

The questions from the audience, for a variety of reasons. First , if there aren't any I feel that I have failed to engage and interest participants in what I wanted to say. Secondly, they show me to what extent I have been successful (or not) in getting my message across, and most importantly of all, they more often than not make me think on my feet and remind me that we're all learners.

Who or what inspires you?

The teachers I work with, not only at the school in A Coruña, but at events and conferences I attend (not always as a speaker!). There's always so much you can learn from your colleagues if you remember why we were born with two ears but only one mouth...

What’s your all-time top tip for English language teachers?

Softly softly catchee monkey. Or to put it another way, a slow, careful and persistent approach to what you do, giving your students time to grasp a concept, make their mistakes, practice until they get it right more often than wrong and finally internalise it is almost always going to give you better results than a showy display of classroom fireworks that leaves them dazzled, but only able to remember that they'd had a good time.

Do you have a favourite elt website?

No, I don't do favourites. ELT websites, authors, musicians, football teams - you name it, there's good and bad to be found in absolutely everything, and if you keep your ears, eyes and mind open and exercise critical judgement, you can generally get something of value from anything you come across - even if it's realising that although questions don't necessarily have to have a right answer, they can certainly have wrong ones...

A gadget you can’t live without?

A P38 can opener (see picture). I first came across this amazingly versatile and useful item on one of my earliest camping trips to Spain when I was a teenager, and it instantly replaced the much more cumbersome, expensive and pocket-stretching Swiss Army knife as my number one gadget. In my experience, small is beautiful and the simplest solutions are always the best.

And finally, why do you think teachers should see your talk?

You'll have to ask them! I hope that my talk will help to allay some of the fears surrounding the idea of 'external evaluation' and show that Cambridge English: Preliminary for Schools and Cambridge English: First for Schools examinations are not as daunting or unattainable as we may think, and in fact to a great extent mirror the way our students use the language they are learning from us in real-life situations, making what they do in the classroom much more relevant to them.

Thanks Nick! It's been a pleasure to chat with you!

Cambridge monitor

Hello again from Alcalá de Henares!

(note: I'm not in the above photo because I'm taking the picture of our lunch table at the beautiful Parador!)

In one of our sessions today, the Cambridge Monitor was mentioned.

I received an email about the Cambridge Monitor just over a week ago.

What is the Cambridge monitor?

It's basically a survey of 1,700 Spanish speakers and their attitudes to English, their level of English and learning English.

There are 98 infographics, tagged with one of 19 labels (false friends, apps, errors, celebrities, etc.)

Here's one of the infographics you can find on the site:

It makes me think of some years back when I was in a village in Cantabria, listening to three 8 year old girls singing a Spice Girls song.  They had no idea what they were singing (I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want...) but were making a very good job of imitating the Spice Girls!!!

Check out the infographics on Cambridge Monitor - some interesting and amusing facts are reported!

Hello from Alcalá de Henares!

Just a quick hello from Alcalá de Henares, where centre managers, seminar presenters, inspectors, team leaders and many others are gathered for the Centenary CEM Cambridge English conference.

As I walked from my hotel to the Parador, I was intrigued to see so many storks nesting on the top of so many buildings.

This afternoon, the conference was officially opened in a beautiful setting: in the Paraninfo Universitario Colegio de San Ildefonso of the Universidad de Alcalá.

Then, Mike Milanovic shared many amusing and intriguing facts about the history of the Cambridge exams.
And after that, we enjoyed some great food, music and company in the Parador.

Tomorrow will be a busy day.  Time to turn off the computer and the light!

"Distraction in Listening" - Anne's talk at #TESOL2012

Hello Anne!

Forgive us (your colleagues from Cambridge ESOL) for "hacking" your blog! :-)

We have discovered that you are going to deliver a talk at TESOL 2012, which will take place in Deusto from 9th-11th of March, and we would like to know a little bit more about it.

Why did you decide to go into English language Teaching? 

I'd spent a year in France at a Primary school as a language assistant.  Loved it, so when I finished my degree, I came across to Spain for a year before going into international banking or marketing. Never became a banker or a marketer!!!

What is your talk about? 

My talk is about listening and distraction!  (The title says it all!)  

Why do you think teachers should see your talk?

Why do you think teachers will find your talk interesting/useful? What do you think teachers will get out of attending your session/talk? 

We will consider things that distract us when we are listening, how we can help our students overcome distractions when listening, recognise things in listening texts that can help steer them through a listening text, and last but not least, consider how distraction is used as a testing tool to check whether students can understand the listening texts used in the Cambridge ESOL exams.

I hope that the teachers who come to the talk will think about how they approach listening with their students and that they will find the tips and suggestions interesting, relevant and immediately usable!

What's your all-time top tip for English language teachers?

Inspire as much as you can while you teach!  That inspiration can continue even after your students have left the classroom.

 

Thanks Anne! Looking forward to see your talk! 

Anne's talk "Distraction in listening" will take place on Saturday 10th of March, 17.00 - Room 210

The provisional programme can be downloaded,  here.