InnovateELT 2023 Conference

Introduction - Duncan Foord

Plenaries: 

Katherine Reilly - Promoting an Inclusive ELT Environment: Creating a supportive environment that embraces learners of any background will set the foundation of an inclusive society. ELT is no exception as we have an obligation to engage all students regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation, thus promoting respect and dignity.

Scott Thornbury - I have a theory: Is teaching theory-driven or practice-driven? If the former, what are the criteria for adopting theory A rather than theory B? If the latter, what counts as good practice? These and other related questions are the focus of my talk and the Q&A session that follows it.

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In this demo class we will use an app to give learners an opportunity to practise their speaking & get feedback on their performance: among other theoretical themes, we will discuss Krashen's affective filter, and see how technology can help learners who are reticent to speak in class.

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If you’re an enthusiastic educator interested in innovative, effective methods and tools that can be implemented into the classroom setting – this workshop is not to be missed. You'll get a chance to learn the insights of therapeutic teaching from a practitioner (teacher, tutor & therapist in one).

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We are going to play several REGIPIO language games and discuss how incorporating game-based activities into language learning can develop students' social and communication skills necessary for real-world interactions.

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Instant Messaging (IM) and concise writing is a reality for students, parents, teachers, colleagues…everyone. This skill is given little to no time in curriculums and, I would argue, most teachers don´t help students to improve it.

The goal of the workshop is to help teachers write great short messages and enable their students to do the same.

Teachers will bring this real-world skill into their classroom through 3 interactive teaching activities;

1. Pinpointing cues of misunderstanding
2. Chopping down wordcount
3. Writing short messages

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Micro-listening activities are effective in theory but limited in practice, given the time (not) available in lessons and the barriers to sharing copyrighted material.

Discover what micro-listening is (if you don't know), and share your thoughts on how ready you feel to do it in the classroom.

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The workshop will cover what Growth Mindset is (and what it's not), practical ideas to adapt and use with YLs and why a Growth Mindset is beneficial for both students and teachers alike.

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Perhaps theories are for the theoreticians. Do practising teachers have time to worry about theory? Would anything really change if there was no theory? Or is our development as a teacher dependent on theory, even the bad theory?

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The rising demand for tailor-made courses and lessons makes teachers seek innovative teaching methods and tools. The workshop is about combining theoretical principles of lesson planning and an interactive online platform to create and sell original teaching materials.

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Did you know that extensive reading helps students improve in all areas, even speaking? With Oxford Reading Club it is easier and cheaper than ever!

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This talk will examine methods, based on principles of habit formation, to encourage students to make “atomic” 1% improvements to their study habits in order to reap long-term benefits. We will cover practical classroom ideas as well as an overall framework for improved language acquisition.

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Nowadays most EFL students face difficulties while doing speaking activities with their classmates. Educators and teachers should update their speaking tasks and provide students with real-life situations as well as using ICT tools to enhance their output.

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Lev Vygotsky encouraged teachers to make use of learners' Zone of Proximal Development, where learning happens through a series of student-centred efforts accompanied by a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) to make sense of oral input. Come and meet the MKO in this listening-related session.

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Ambra Pacchioni - Craft your own teaching philosophy: In order to avoid losing sight of what really matters to us as teachers, we need to adhere to a teaching philosophy that reflects us and reminds us of the type of impact we want to have on our students' development.. let's craft your own today!

Jedrek Stepien - All schools need is English: Imagine foreign languages were the only subjects taught at schools - would it suffice to produce well-rounded graduates ready for challenging lives and careers? I dare say yes, and I have got big names and thick books to prove I’m right.

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In this practical workshop, I'll revisit a session I've presented in the past containing 15 low-prep ideas to use in class on Monday. I'll reflect on whether I would still do the same activities nowadays, as a more experienced teacher.

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Do your students believe in The Magic Chair Theory? (That they will learn just by sitting in class.) Have you ever felt that you are working harder than your students? That can't be right! This session will look at simple ways we can encourage them to take a more active role in their own learning.

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The talk will start by outlining how we initially became interested in the idea of using VR for language teaching and then explain how funding from a transnational Erasmus KA2 project (called VR4LL) allowed us to develop a series of virtual worlds and tasks, specifically designed for in-classroom use by students of different ages and levels. The talk will also show examples of the sort of activities we have developed, outline the underlying teaching methodology, and show some short videos of students and teachers working with the materials. We will then go on to predict how we see this technology developing in the near future, in the Metaverse, and the sort of opportunities these developments could provide for language teachers and learners worldwide.

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The session strengthens the teacher's ability to engage a variety of ECTS sampled from different genres and times. That activity of engagement begins with observation, recognition, comprehension, analysis and evaluation, as well as how that technique is organized and how it presents itself.

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This session will introduce the content area of ‘Academic Writing for Multilingual English Speakers’ as a new area of expertise development for EFL teachers. I’m choosing this topic as the need for ELT qualified Academic Writing Instructors far exceeds current supply worldwide. It builds on the theory that 'the more dynamic the instructor, the more engaging the class'. The session will look at the types of writing and skills necessary to transition from EFL teacher to University Lecturer or Professor. I will present the session with a mix of presentations of the content area as well as several interactive tasks that engage the participants in the subject matter. This session will be based on my own transformation from EFL teacher and teacher trainer in Europe to becoming a University professor in the United States.

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When going deeper into the topic of language anxiety, one can find very general recommendations on how to cope with it. 'Addressing the problem of anxiety directly and explicitly ‘as a normal human feeling’, first and foremost, ‘requires that we accept that anxiety does exist’, and that in some moments anxiety levels ‘do occasionally rise above a beneficial level’ (Crookall & Oxford, 1991, p. 144). In my speech, I'd share a concrete case of working with language anxiety in retail companies from the positions of BE trainer and HR BP and give recommendations not only from the teaching perspective but also keeping in mind the peculiar features of business and industry.

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The proposed workshop presents a series of short video clips of me coaching my clients (different videos to those shown at last year's conference). Attendees are given short tasks to reflect on whether the coaching techniques presented either support or refute mainstream theories of language learning and teaching.
The talk will be of interest to experienced language teachers who wish to either add further value to their work by expanding their current skill base to incorporate coaching techniques into their teaching of one-to-one or small group classes, or those who wish to take the plunge into the fascinating and rewarding new world of language and communication coaching.

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The session is in 3 parts:
We set off by defining the components of learner autonomy, a range between a lack of autonomy and an autonomous learner. Next, we will focus on how we can adjust the learning environment for different needs, lacks and wants, as well as how these environments can help our students combat their fears.
The second part is devoted to practically trying out and assessing different multimodal materials, their lacks and affordances in an ELT classroom
The final part is for Q&A and reflection

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Teens and adults simply love learning English songs. The most popular way to do this is by providing them with gap-filling worksheets, but what about music video clips? In this workshop, participants will learn how to enhance learners' motivation by creating short activities based on music videos.

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We'll have plenty of discussion points about whether attendees themselves have experience with foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA), either as they learned a foreign language or observing students in their class. We'll brainstorm their ideas about why students might be nervous and how to reduce FLSA to share knowledge and experience. Then I'll go into what I learned while researching my thesis + my results and give some practical suggestions. For example, making use of technology, and improving classroom dynamics.

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Teens may want to pass their exams, but don’t often come to class brimming with enthusiasm. This leads to the question: is extrinsic/instrumental motivation useful? In this workshop, we’ll focus on practical ideas on how to engage teens, drawing on insights from modern motivational theory.

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What does SLA theory say about the interface between implicit and explicit learning? How does it affect grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary teaching? Participants will examine a communicative task and decide how adopting different views of the interface affect how the task is taught.

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