As spring is coming and bringing with it beautiful changes, it’s a time to reflect on changes we can bring to our personal and professional lives. English language teachers are always seeking different opportunities for professional development and in this post I will share with you my professional development goal for this spring.
Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself. I’m Ayat Al-Tawel, an English language teacher who has been teaching for about 17 years of which more than 4 years have been with the British Council. Giving training sessions and attending and presenting at conferences has enhanced my professional development a lot, but I still have some unfulfilled dreams that I look forward to attaining one day.
Attending conferences has not just been an opportunity to learn and network, but also to discuss content, reflect and share ideas with other educators. Although I have previously presented at local and international conferences, presenting at IATEFL has always been one of my dreams. IATEFL’s 52nd annual International conference and exhibition is a four-day event with over 500 sessions that takes places in the UK every year. This year it will run from Tuesday 10th to Friday 13th April in Brighton centre in Brighton, UK.
My main interests are using technology and web 2.0 tools in teaching and enhancing creativity in the classroom. So, I am looking forward to attending the pre-conference Learning technologies special interest group (LTSIG) event. The aim of this event is to provide account of the possibilities of altered and augmented reality in opening doors for collaboration among learners from different countries, bridging cultures and fostering understanding. Insights into applications and tools teachers can use to help with the language learning process will be shared through different sessions on Monday 9th April.
In such a huge international event, one cannot miss the exceptional opportunity to meet well-renowned ELT gurus, authors, writers and bloggers such as David Crystal, Scott Thornbury and Adrian Underhill just to name a few. Nicky Hockly, Nik Peachey, Pete Sharma and Russell Stannard are also some of the ELT technology experts who have inspired me and so many educators around the world to bring technology into our classroom where we could offer better learning opportunities for our students and transform our own teaching practices.
If you’re excited about attending the conference but can’t go in person, you can still follow the live coverage of many sessions and access recorded highlights of the conference and a range of resources from selected sessions via the British Council’s Teaching English website.
You can also follow news and live coverage on social media and share your ideas with teachers from all over the world by using #iatefl2018.
Stay tuned for more news from IATEFL in our May newsletter!