"Innovation, Motivation, Education”
30-31 March 2013
TESOL Greece Convention is one of Greece’s leading events for teaching professionals who work in all sectors of English Language Teaching (ELT).
Delegates at the 34th Annual TESOL Greece Convention were challenged with thought-provoking topics and more and left with a selection of inspiring teaching ideas as well as new ways of thinking about their own classroom practice.
The venue, again this year, was the hospitable premises of the Hellenic American Union in central Athens.
Features of the Convention
The Convention featured:
• Plenary sessions
• Professional Presentations
• Commercial Presentations
• A Book and Resource Exhibition
• The AGM and the SIGs’ Meetings
• A Panel discussion, where five presenters –Thomai Alexiou, Christine Coombe, George Drivas, Juliane House and Marina Mattheoudaki answered questions from the audience.
• The Closing Party
The Plenary Sessions
The tone of the first day was set by Dr Marina Mattheoudaki and Dr Thomai Alexiou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, who presented the Experimental Primary School of Evosmos, Thessaloniki.
The school, under the guidance and supervision of the English Department of Aristotle University, has implemented an innovative English language programme which responds to the social, economic and educational needs of our times.
Some of the changes are:
• The introduction of English language teaching from the 1st grade
• The increase in the number of teaching hours
• The adoption of CLIL
• Team-teaching sessions
• Cross-curricular methods of teaching
After almost four years of the implementation of the programme the results are so encouraging that the supervising team is investigating the possibility of introducing it to a larger number of state primary schools.
The second plenary of the day was delivered by Mr George Drivas, Director of Studies at the Department of Foreign Languages at Doukas Schools.
George likes to think of language learning as a journey. All learners do not take the same route or travel at the same speed. When considering the learner’s needs, it is necessary to recognize how learners feel about themselves and about language learning which is likely to be different at different points in the language learning process.
George made numerous suggestions as to how language teachers can help guide their students’ language learning journey by incorporating various approaches and methods.
In addition, language teachers must encourage their students to take more responsibility for their own learning, that is, to become more autonomous. The development of autonomy in and of itself may be a source of self-esteem and accomplishment for many learners.
The third plenary of the Convention was delivered by Dr Christine Coombe, Dubai Men’s College, who discussed Teacher Effectiveness. Christine believes that teachers, among others, must be approachable, knowledgeable, helpful, present material well, make their subject interesting, cultivate thinking skills and motivate students to learn
The closing plenary of the Convention was delivered by Prof. Juliane House, Hamburg University, who discussed the role of English as a lingua franca.
Europe is one of the world’s largest English-speaking regions, yet how much do we know about the impact English is having on Europe’s linguistic diversity and identity?
Juliane said that the role of English as a worldwide lingua franca is irreversible. It is therefore more fruitful to accept this role than either bemoan it or follow the European Union’s hypocritical language policy. Juliane made a distinction between ‘language for communication’ and ‘language for identification’.
English as a lingua franca (ELF) is a language for communication, and as such the ‘property’ of all European speakers whose native languages will continue to serve as languages for identification, i.e., means for speakers to identify with their linguistic community’s cultural heritage.
The workshops, talks and presentations
With over 50 presentations to choose from, in 10 different time slots on Saturday and Sunday, the decision of which to attend was not an easy one.
Probably the best thing to do when you attend a conference of this size is to decide in advance where your particular interests lie, by asking yourself the following questions:
Who and what do I teach now?, What might I be interested in teaching in the future?, and What aspect of ELT would I like to learn more about, but don’t usually have the time or opportunity to do so?
With this in mind, I attended the presentations of Panagiota Frytzala and Michael Robbs. They both talked about teaching idioms but approached their topic from a different angle.
Panagiota was more theoretical in her approach. She drew information from neuroscience which explores the mysteries of the brain and its functions in order to find ways to improve teaching practices.
Neuroscience uses models as a tool to simplify and organize thoughts and information. Panagiota suggests the use of the Multiple Pathways Model.
In the teaching of idioms specifically she advocates that it helps students build connections to existing knowledge and thus store and retain in the long term memory the metaphorical meanings.
Michael was more practical. He claimed that by knowing the origins of idioms, students can more easily figure out the metaphorical meanings.
Class discussions focusing on the origins of words and phrases help students understand how language transforms over time and, thereby, enable them to hypothesize the meaning of unfamiliar words or phrases.
Conclusion
In sum, the 34th Annual TESOL Greece Convention was successful, thanks to the collective efforts of several groups and individuals: a dedicated and energetic organizing committee, sponsors, publishers and exhibitors who supported the Convention, the plenary speakers and presenters who shared their knowledge and expertise, and of course, the members of TESOL Greece, who sustain the organization with their presence and active participation.
Anastasia Spyropoulou
(anastasia@eltnews.gr)
