IATEFL Conference

This will be a very short post to give you a brief rundown on what I did in Aberdeen, I shall make longer more detailed posts relating to a number of the individual sessions I attended.
It was a very worthwhile weekend, even if I am still feeling rather weary!! I arrived in Aberdeen Friday night, attended sessions all day Saturday and Sunday morning before flying back. I tried to choose a mixture of sessions, obviously of personal interest but also that would be of use in some way to the school. I attended a number of sessions relating to learning and technology. This included a session given by Debbie Lee and Jen MacArthur in which they went through a number of free online tools that you can use in EFL. They made a wiki of all their notes which you can look at online by clicking here
I also went to a session on blended learning by Pete Sharma (from Brookes) and Barney Barratt, and to the Blended Learning Symposium on the Sunday. Here several people talked about their own teaching situations and how they have incorporated blended learning into them. This ranged from extremely sophisticated virtual learning environments where students from all over the world can log onto a course whenever they like, through to very simple situations where a course consists of a mixture (or blend) of computerised and face-to-face learning. I also went to a couple of sessions that were more related to ELT management. Adrian Underhill (Sound Foundations)gave a talk to a very crowded room entitled "Growing your school as a learning organisation" - extremely thought-provoking. And the final plenary session on Sunday was called "Dealing in Hope" and was really about leadership in schools and the sustainability of that leadership.
In terms of teacher development, I went to 1 session by Simon Phipps from Bilkent University in Ankara about how much difference teacher education has (or not) to a teacher's beliefs, teaching, confidence, awareness. Also a session on "noticing", as in noticing when you're observing and how to notice more.
The plenary on Saturday was called "You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink" , and was based around the well-known fact that wht we think we are teaching is not the same as what students learn, and led on to outline MOGUL, a theoretical framework for language processing. To look at the website for this click here
I also went to a session about a new project called English Profile, aiming to produce level descriptors for all levels in the Common European Framework of Reference in terms of language rather than can do statements. Linked here.
And first thing Sunday morning I thought I needed something a bit lighter (9.15 on a Sunday morning in a rainy Aberdeen is probably not the best time for heavy theoretical sessions) and attended a session on Practical dictionary activities to practice collocations.

As well as the sessions, I spent quite a lot of time going round the differnet stands, where I picked up quite a lot of books and othere bits and pieces. I'll make a separate list of what I've brought back and will put them all out in the staffroom. I also spent a while with a woman on the CUP stand who was demonstrating our new whiteboard (or one just the same anyway!) More on that later.

Over the next 2/3 days I shall make longer more detailed posts on a number of these sessions, and what thoughts they gave me for Eckersley. So keep looking (please!!) and make any comments you would like.

And finally for now, I'd like to repeat what a great experience it is to spend a bit of time in this kind of environment. I came away with a renewed energy for improving myself as a professional and full of ideas for the school. I would highly recommend to all of you to take any opportunities like this that you are offered.
See you later.