Language Event

Coverage of The 47th Annual International IATEFL Conference & Exhibition

April 9-12,2013

Day (2):Plenary Session: Dr.Deniz Kurtoğlu Eken

Dr. Eken  is a Head of School of Languages at Sabanci University in Turkey.It is clear throughout her lecture that she has  distinguished ideas about the  methods of teaching languages.She wants to break all the traditional rules  when the teachers stick to the textbooks without attempting to change the dry material into interesting material that would attract the students' attention and assist them in learning.

Dr.Eken strikes few examples in her lecture about how the teachers can meet any challenges related to any linguistic incomprehension regardless of the students' cultural background.

Dr.Eken was able to add some fun to her lecture ,so that the attendees would not have got bored.I feel that that was appreciated by the attendees as well.

Alan Maley

Mr.Maley is currently the dean of the Institute for English Language Education, and director of post-graduate programs in TESOL at Assumption University, Bangko. Today,he talked about the importance of improvisation ,ast the teachers can not frame themselves into the curriculum of the textbooks ,but they must allocate some time for improvisation as a mental exercise that would help the students to grasp the language in a very practical way and know how to utilize it in everyday life.

Mr. Maley encourages the teachers to set some mental games and exercises ,because the students would get incited to learn.He is against the idea of discarding the old methods of teaching languages ,but to mix the old methods with the new methods ,since the old methods of teaching could support the new methods parallely.

Hywel Coleman

Dr.Coleman is an Honoray Senior Fellow at University of Leeds,U.K.He has much experience in teaching  English to French-speaking students from different French societies.He has been dealing with students from African countries where the mutual interests between the English-speaking population and the French-speaking population exist.

In his interview at IATEFL, he talked about the poor conditions of the education environment  where the West and South African students learn.He said that the classrooms are not equipped with electricity or any educational illustrations.He talked about the sufferance of those students to learn and their persistence to make success inspite of all these harsh circumstances.

Jamie Keddie

Mr.Keddie is a European-based teacher, teacher trainer, writer and presenter. He is the founder of Lessonstream, the site that was formerly known as TEFLclips, winner of a British Council ELTons award.Today,he focused on the importance of the storytelling in the ESL classes as one of the most effective ways of teaching..He is into the Digital Method of teaching English.Throughout his interview,one feels that he is against any teacher who is still using the traditional method of teaching or unable to introduce digital cultures in classes.

Jermey Harmer

Mr. Harmer  is not only  a teacher trainer, an author of books and articles for both teachers and students of English as a foreign or second language,but also a musician.He is able to mix the world of TESL with  the world of music to create some kind of harmony in the TESL classes.

At IATEFL ,he continued to resemble the experience of learning English to that of learning music.

In fact,Mr. Harmer  interviewed a  TESL teacher,Vicky Saummel, from Argentina.Ms.Sammel talked about her experience in using technological tools in the classrooms where that is not something familiar in a Latin American society,but that is challenge for her against any obstacles.

Anne Searle

Ms. Searle talks about the role of the British Council in attempting to facilitate learning English around the world.She talked in her interview at IATEFL about some future plans on behalf of the British Council to make English courses available online for all the ESL students around the world.These courses will tackle developing  various skills that the ESL students would look for.