Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Tune in for live coverage from 10th April 2015


Thank You & See You Next Year in Birmingham

I would like to thank Carol Read , the IATEFL Machester Conference 2015 president for these interesting sessions .And I would like as well to extend my thanks to the British Council Manchester Online team,Julian,Martin,Monika ,and Rebecca, for their undeniable efforts to make IATEFL notch up success.

Tune in for live coverage from 10th April 2015

Day (4): Coverage of IATEFL Manchester 2015


 Opening Plenary by :Harry Kuchah 
                                            Lecturer in TESOL

                                         University of Bath
 
 Harry Kuchah in IATEFL Plenary on Day (4)
 
ELT in Difficult Circumstances: Challenges, Possibilities and Future Directions
 

To see the plenary,click on the following link:

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/session/plenary-harry-kuchah


To download the slideshares and handouts of the IATEFL'S Plenary,click on the following link:

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/files/harry-kuchahiateflhandoutdoc/download?token=cliSV0sg

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/files/harry-plenaryppt/download?token=QZg6qehe


Now let's see what Harry says in his interview with Kristeen :

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/interview/interview-harry-kuchah

My View of the Plenary 

Harry Kuchah and the Poor Conditions of Education

The percentage of  ESL/EFL students is getting higher around the world,particularly in the Third World Countries.These students exert termendous efforts despite the harsh conditions they get through during their language .For instance,crammed classrooms ,insufficient coursebooks ,unavailability of bookstores ,slight exposure to the English langauge .Moreover, the cultural restrictions is another intricate issue that could impede the students from learning.
 
Tune in for live coverage from 10th April 2015














Day (3): Coverage of IATEFL Manchester 2015
 

Opening Plenary by:      Ann Cotton
                                                 Founder and President of Camfed
                                                  
 
 Ann Cotton in IATEFL Plenary on Day (3)
 
The justice and imperative of girls’ secondary school education – a model of action
 

To watch this plenary, click on the following link:
 
 
 
To download the slideshares of the plenary,click on the following link:
 


My View of the Plenary
Ann Cotton  and Educational Files
 
In this plenary,Ann highlights the right of education for every child. Camfed, an international non-profit organisation tackling poverty and inequality where Ann works,,reveals how girls are deprived from education because of grinding poverty and arbitary decisions. Ann erupted  arguments around the factors that underpin the attitude toward the deprivation of girls from education like cultural backgrounds and unjust traditions.She mention in the plenary Camfed had launched support with rural communities in five African countries ,Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe..Undoubtedly,stressing on the right of the girls' eduaction in some parts of the world is considered to be one of the most vital issues in relation to the protection of human rights.Lending a hand to such cases is a step forward toward the realization of justice

 To see the interview with Ann Cotton,click on the following link:
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/interview/interview-ann-cotton

 


          ELTJ SIGNATURE EVENT

                                                            presented by
                                     Graham Hall(ELT Journal)

While  many teachers do not like tests, others believe that testes are ‘necessary evil’.Then the question that poses itself:"who gains and who loses from testing and assessment in ELT?" Let's see the debate around the issue of testing in Graham Hall's session,so click on the following link: 
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/session/eltj-signature-event


To download the slideshares of this session,click on the following link:

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/files/eltj-debate-2015-background-slideppt/download?token=TCTDcGA-


To see what Graham says in his interview,click on the following link:

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/interview/interview-graham-hall


Tune in for live coverage from 10th April 2015

Day (2): Coverage of IATEFL Manchester 2015

Opening Plenary by:        Joy Egbert
                                            Department of Teaching & Learning
                                     Washington State University
 
 
 Joy Egbert in IATEFL Plenary on Day (2)
 
Engagement principles and practice in classroom learning, language and technology

To watch this plenary, click on the following link:
 
 
 
To download the slideshares of the plenary,click on the following link:
 



My View of the Plenary 
 
Joy Egbert and the Axis of the Class Engagement

This plenary urges the teachers to care about providing engagement to the students in their classes.This engagement could be realized in the classrooms when technology enhanced environments are available in the classes. The task engagement involves principles of authenticity, connection, interaction.Moreover, it incites the teacher to give feedback to their students  and  harness skills and arouse challenge inside students .Flipping instruction is one of the forms of education that could fulfil this objective, engagement .

 To see the interview with Joy Egbert,click on the following link:

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/interview/interview-joy-egbert

 



The Cambridge English Teaching Framework with  other ELT professional development frameworks shed light upon how the teacher uses the language. When English becomes  the medium of instruction in  the classrooms , the teacher has to represent an accurate model with impeccable language. The following seesion presents this issue to the audience and poses few questions.Here they are:
1-What kind of accurate model  should the teacher represent ? 
2-Can the teacher develop thei language skills to apt to be that accurate model?
3-Are there any differences between a teacher uses English as a L1 and L2?
4-What sorts of curricula could benefit the teacher seeking developing skills?
Let's see the session to see how these questions were handled during the session,so click on the following link:
 
 
To download the slideshares of the session,click on the following link:
 

Monday, April 13, 2015

IATEFL Online 2015 
Day (1): Coverage of IATEFL Manchester 2015

 Opening Plenary by : Donald Freeman
                                           School of Education
                                              University of Michigan
 
 Donald Freeman in IATEFL Plenary on Day (1)
 
Frozen in thought? How we think and what we do in ELT
 





 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

To download the slideshares of the above session, IATEFL'S Plenary, click on the following link:

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/files/donald-freeman-plenarypdf/download?token=R7dCGi51

Now let's see what he says in his interview with Nik Peachey:

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/interview/interview-donald-freeman

My View of the Plenary 

Donald Freeman's Myths and the Ghosts of the   Cultural Obstacles

On Day(1),Donald Freeman talks in the plenary about three myths,Direct Causality,Sole Responsibility,and Proficiency.

The first myth,Direct Causality,hits a crucial point in the teaching methodology.Donald denounces this attitude in the teaching methodology.I view this myth as the vision of what is absolute"correct and absolute"wrong".What is meant is that most of the teachers monopolize the exactitude of the answers and ignore the students' points of views.Here is an example stricken from our real life.A student in school in one of the Third World Countries was asked about mentioning one source of the environmnetal pollution.He answered that garabage is one source of the environmental pollution.Unfortunately, the teacher claimed that their answer is incorrect ,because this piece of information is not mentioned in the coursebook.What is your opinion about this incident? Your comments ,please!!

The second myth,Sole Responsibility,confirms that the teacher should not  be the sole role player in the process of teaching and the students are the receivers of the taught materials who are supposed to show comprehension.I believe that there must be  mutual discussions in the classroom for the sake of creating some room for creativity and innovation.

From Donald's point of view ,the third myth,Proficiency is an unrealsitic objective in the process of language acquistion .
Frankly speaking, if the ESL/EFL teacher targets the objective of creating "proficient"students in English, they will defintely do it.I have experiences for over 15 years since I was able to make students  pass TOEFL and IELTS tests with high band scores.
Your comments,please!!

In fact,there exists ghosts rotating around the myths .these ghosts are called the "cultural obstacles".They represent critical factors in hindering the teacher from achieving anticipated success.In many non-English speaking countries,ELT faces frustrating environments and conditions that could augment  Donald's myths into nighmarish pedagogical realities.These circumstances could be represented in the unavailibilty of the appropriate classrooms ,the poor training of the teachers,the slim budgets consecrated for eduaction,the narrow minds conflciting with modern and technology,etc....What do you think?!

 
IATEFL Online 2015
                       IATEL Manchester Conference 2015
 
Aren't you excited to see what IATEFL will offer us this year in Manchester?
 
Aren't you eager to attend the sessions online or onsite to see what's new in the  world of the ELT?
 
                     Don't Miss this Golden Opportunity!
 
Let's see what Carol Read, the IATEFL president & Rob Lewis,an online presnter tell us
 

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

 
49th Annual International IATEFL
 Conference and Exhibition
Manchester Central, Manchester, UK
11th-14th April 2015
 
Join the IATEFL Manchester Online for live coverage of 2015 Manchester IATEFL Conference.

Manchester Online will provide live online conference coverage of the 2015 Manchester IATEFL Conference.

The coverage of the conference will feature talks, sessions and live video interviews with conference presenters and delegates.
If you can't attend the 2015 IATEFL Conference, follow the event online!
Click on this link to join the events that will start with Pre-Conference Events and Associates' Day on April 10, 2015 on the British Council website:
 
Enjoy it !