2013 Events

Three exciting events planned for 2013 ... and more in the pipeline. Read on!

Liverpool PCE

Liverpool YLT SIG Day

Multi SIG event on CLIL

LIVERPOOL 2013 PRE-CONFERENCE EVENT

Drama for Young Learners and Teenagers

YLT SIG PCE 08.04.2013

Educational drama can bring intercultural awareness alive: when children empathize with the characters and plot, they are transported into another perspective and an alternative world. In the 2013 Pre-Conference Event we will be demonstrating and actively engaging in improvisational drama processes as well as scripted drama for the EFL classroom. Drama experts will cover areas such as:

· ideas for becoming a storyteller and actor-teacher;

· how to motivate students in the EFL classroom: the success of taking part and speaking    English at an early stage of learning (young learners);

· tackling scripted drama and exploring a range of engaging practical activities (teenagers);

· opportunities of approaches through drama (teacher development and teacher education).

The PCE will examine meaningful and manageable TEFL methodology from young learners in the primary school to secondary school intermediate learners with drama. The social, interactive dimension of language learning is foregrounded in drama projects. And drama is FUN – as we will demonstrate at the YLT SIG PCE in Liverpool.

10.00 start

Workshop 1   10.15-11.15 – Teacher Identity: Putting the Human Centre Stage

This practical session will look at how language teachers can borrow approaches and techniques from the actor’s craft.  We will look at ways actors maximise the use of voice, space, movement, humour and gesture to maintain audience attention.  Transposing this to the classroom, we will experience and assess how these techniques can help us teach more creatively, making our lessons more enjoyable and memorable and assessing how the use of these techniques goes towards creating our identity in the classroom and how we develop our rapport with learners.

Mark Almond is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Language Studies at Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK where he teaches on and directs a range of programmes in linguistics and language teaching methodology.  He also runs a weeklong course on drama in ELT for Pilgrims, Canterbury.  His main areas of interest are in teacher identity, the use of drama in the language classroom and performance skills for effective and affective teaching. His book, ‘Teaching English with Drama’, was published in November 2005 by Keyways Publishing

11.15-11.45 Morning break

Workshop 2   11.45-12.45 – Teaching English through Drama using ActionSacks

This experiential workshop outlines the basic philosophy of a story sacks project used in the UK and adapted for teaching English using personalised ActionSacks, designed and constructed by English language teachers. An authentic, original ActionSack will be presented with the contents displayed and practical activities will be explored for participants to enjoy and understand the developmental aspects of Storydrama for all levels, ages and abilities. The participants should leave the session with some new creative ideas for teaching English with ActionSacks.

Susan Hillyardhas work experience in seventeen countries as a teacher, Head of Department, director, speaker, workshop facilitator, consultant, researcher and online tutor. She is a NILE Associate Trainer (Norwich, UK). Susan has co-authored a Resource Book for Teachers Global Issues for Oxford University Press and the Teacher Development Interactive-TKT On-line Course for Pearson, New York. She is a tutor for the online Master in ELT for Language and Globalisation, La Sabana University, Colombia. Susan coordinates English in Action, teaching English through Drama using ActionSacks in Special Education, Ministry of Education, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

12.45-13.45 Lunch break

Interactive talk 13.45-14.30Improvisation: ‘out of control’ practice?

Learners have plenty of opportunities for controlled language practice, but how often do they get the chance for ‘out of control’ practice? The acclaimed Drama in Education specialist, Dorothy Heathcote, said ‘drama is a man in a mess’. Through improvisation activities, learners are empowered to embrace the ‘messy’ nature of communication, and be surprised by their own creativity. This is valuable whatever the level of the learner. In this interactive talk we’ll reflect on this theme, and explore some activities.

Nick Bilbrough has been involved in language teaching for over twenty years, in a wide range of interesting and challenging contexts. He has worked on training courses for teachers in many parts of the world, and is a regular speaker at conferences worldwide. He is particularly interested in the role of drama in second language learning and has written two books in the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers series: Dialogue Activities (2007) and Memory Activities for Language Learning (2011). He now specialises in development courses for teachers, focusing on innovative and creative approaches, at Horizon Language Training in Totnes, UK.

Workshop 3   14.30-15.30 Ways into plays: introducing scripted plays for language learning

Simply reading a play script around the class all too often leads to the students getting bored, the teacher getting cross and everyone disliking the play! This workshop will re-consider what we want students to gain from tackling scripted drama and explore a range of engaging, purposeful, practical activities that involve students working collaboratively within the art form while developing their knowledge and understanding of language.

Andy Kempe is Professor of Drama Education and a Teaching Fellow of the University of Reading where he leads the PGCE Secondary Drama course and the MA in Arts Education. He has extensive experience of working with both trainee and serving teachers in the UK and abroad. His work with students of all ages and abilities has informed numerous articles and chapters covering a wide spectrum of issues in drama, English and arts education. Recent publications include Speaking, Listening and Drama, Progression in Secondary Drama and Learning to Teach Drama 11 – 18 and Drama, Disability and Education.

15.30-16.00 Afternoon break

Workshop 4   16.00-17.00 The Joys of Storytelling: mixed language, intercultural, sensory & physical

Learning another language through storytelling can be a powerful, engaging and delightful experience. In this workshop you will be told a story and respond to and discuss the mixed language, intercultural, sensory and physical features of the storytelling. Then you will have the chance to tell a story yourself to another participant. We will draw on the interlingual and intercultural resource www.worldstories.org.uk

This workshop is suitable for new and experienced classroom storytellers.

David Heathfield is a storyteller who tells tales and runs workshops in the UK and around the world. He also teaches English part-time at INTO University of Exeter, writes about student creativity in language learning, is the author of Spontaneous Speaking: Drama Activities for Confidence and Fluency (DELTA Publishing) and contributes stories, storytelling guides and teaching materials to www.worldstories.org.uk. David’s passion for bridging cultures through storytelling brings him to IATEFL eager to learn stories from you.

17.00 PCE ends

2013 YLT SIG DAY

Mixed Abilities, Mixed Realities

On the YLT SIG Day we have a combination of talks and workshops, as well as a debate, around the topic of Mixed ability classrooms. Differentiation may be 'old hat'; it is still perhaps the most elementary and essential requirement teachers, trainers and materials developers have to deal with on a daily basis. It shows itself in many different ways, whether you use course books or not. A line-up of prominent speakers will touch upon aspects of this overall theme on the day.

SIG EVENT: GISIG, YLTSIG, TTeD SIG AND PRON SIG

GLOBAL ISSUES – Critical Content and Language Integrated Learning

Bielefeld, Germany, 6-8 September, 2013

A banner at a demonstration in Europe in 2011 as part of the international Occupy Education movement stated: "Education can, and should be, dangerous!" In other words confronting what is really happening in the world. One way of putting this into practice would be a kind of critical Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach. Issues that affect our lives in different parts of the globe could provide the content for subjects such as history, art, music, for example, as well as for the English class. This way, CLIL could become more progressive and have a truly transforming role. At the same time, Global Issues are a kind of elephant in the English classroom, much too rarely explored with students and colleagues. In our view, Global Issues should be at the heart of a turn to a more progressive Critical CLIL that looks at building critical intercultural understanding and a far more critical and engaged citizenship curriculum. In Europe, this might be integrated into the work of the Comenius Programme of the European Commission and its promotion of learning for active citizenship or the Erasmus initiatives in higher education.

This conference will look at ways and means of exploring these issues and topics at all levels of learning and teacher training and development in all walks of the EFL/ESL world. Further information will appear here in the New Year. This conference is organised jointly by four SIGs: Global Issues, Teacher Trainers and Teacher Educators, Young Learners and Teenagers, and Pronunciation in collaboration with local English Language teacher associations. It will be held at the Volkshochschule Bielefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.

A date for your diaries!

Please contact YLT SIG (yltsig@iatefl.org), our events coordinators, if you are planning an event and need some support