English session
Jim Scriever
- Jim Scrivener initially became an English teacher as a temporary measure until he could decide what sensible career to choose. He is currently a freelance writer and also teaches English and trains at Hastings College of Arts and Technology.
- His first post was with Voluntary Service Overseas in a rural school in Kenya and since then he has worked as a Lecturer with the British Council in the USSR, as Director of Education at International House Hungary and as Director of Studies of Teacher Training at International House, Hastings (the town he seems to keep coming back to). He has run numerous short courses around the world and is a regular conference speaker.
- Jim was leader of the team that designed the EURO language exams, now widely used in Central and Eastern Europe and becoming established in other places. His books include "Teaching Grammar" (Oxford) and "Learning Teaching" He writes a monthly "teaching tips" column for the Guardian weekly. He has recently got an MA in Creative Writing but hasn't yet worked out what he can do with it. Pushing
Theme: Elephants Upstairs: The Motivation Paradox
The paradox is that many teachers feel responsible for motivating students in their lessons whereas it may actually impossible for one person ever to motivate another. Current views on what motivation is will be discussed and a few ideas and solutions to typical motivation problems will be suggested. The talk introduces and looks in detail at McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y
If any of the following overheard teacher comments sound familiar to you - you might find the session interesting:
a.. How can I motivate them?
b.. How can I jazz up this dull exercise
c.. I can't find anything that they like! What can I do?
d.. They're a really hard class to please. Do you know any good activities they might like?
e.. I give them lots of fun activities. What on earth do they want?
f.. I just feel like I have to sing and dance and tell jokes and do everything and I'm exhausted and they still seem unsatisfied.
Felicity O'Dell
- Felicity O'Dell has degrees from Aberdeen (Russian Studies), Birmingham (PHD), MA TESOL.
- At present she is a part-time tutor at Institute of Education University of London (online courses).
- She works as a freelance writer and examiner, author / co-author of over 35 EFL books mainly for CUP (e.g. English Vocabulary in Use Elementary, Upper-Intermediate and Advanced, Test Your Vocabulary in Use, Phrasal Verbs in Use, Collocations in Use, Panorama).
- Felicity is on the ELTJ review panel and she is also editor of section called Testing Matters in Modern English Teacher.
- Main professional interests - vocabulary, advanced learners, testing, self-access.
Theme: The Changing English language
The talk will focus on changes in vocabulary and in text types, paying particular attention to the influence of the internet on language. Not only is the language itself changing but our knowledge of it is changing and expanding.
David Evans
- David Evans is a writer, broadcaster and trainer who specialises in English language teaching.
- He is the author of seventeen ELT books, including Longman's successful Powerhouse and Powerbase courses, and he has given lectures and workshops in over thirty countries around the world from Argentina to Uzbekistan.
- David took a degree in English at Cambridge University, and then worked as an English language teacher in London and Paris.
- In 1991 he joined the BBC World Service as a radio producer, where he was trained in radio journalism, drama production and editing. Over the next ten years, he made hundreds of educational programmes on subjects from business to pop music to poetry.
- During the mid to late 1990s he spent a lot of time in the countries of the former Soviet Union, where he set up and ran joint broadcasting ventures in several countries.
- David still broadcasts regularly for the BBC, but he now concentrates mainly on writing educational and business books, as well as doing some teacher training.
Theme: Teaching Teenagers
Teenagers are a breed apart. Not children anymore but not quite adults. Every day you're never quite sure which one you are going to see. This means they are a big challenge for teachers, one that sometimes seems to be one challenge too many. In reality though it is a great opportunity because with teenagers the potential exists for major change in a students attitude towards language, learning and even life. Are we making the most of that opportunity?. This session will be looking at how teachers can take this opportunity and bring pleasure into their teenage classroom.