• Excellence in course innovation
Helbling Languages with ‘Hooray! Let’s play!’ a brand new innovative course for teaching English to 3 to 5-year-olds. The course has a unique multisensory approach that develops young children’s core thinking and motor neuron skills.The coursebook has been written by Herbert Puchta and Günter Gerngross.
• Innovation in teacher resources
The Award went to Kieran Donaghy’s site which promotes the innovative and creative use of film in language learning. All of the lesson plans revolve around the use of video and film to teach English.
The site promotes cineliteracy, the ability to analyse moving images, and considers cineliteracy as a 21st century skill which students need to learn.In addition, the lessons promote critical thinking in the language classroom, and encourage learners to reflect on values while learning a language.
Film English has become a very popular resource bank and is visited by over 50,000 teachers every month.
It has received various awards, including the Best Individual Blog and Runner-up in The Best Use of Video in the 2011 Edublog Awards; the 2011 TEFL.net Site of the Year; and British Council Teaching English Featured Blog of the Month.
Kieran is a teacher, trainer and author and teaches at UAB Idiomes Barcelona, part of the Univiersitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
• Digital Innovation
Speech in Action/Firsty Group with Cool Speech, an English Language Teaching app for listening and pronunciation.
Cool Speech provides intensive listening practice and teaches fluent pronunciation, using recordings of spontaneous speech.It is suitable for upper-intermediate and advanced students of English, who need to understand and speak clearly and fluently in everyday situations.
• Local Innovation
English in Action, a professional development programme, which helps teachers in Bangladesh teach English more effectively. Teachers are provided with a low-cost mobile phone, pre-loaded with resources.
