09.30h: CHECK IN
10.00h: WELCOME TO PARTICIPANTS
10.30h: OPENING PLENARY
SARAH PHILLIPS (Instituto de Idiomas, University of Santiago de Compostela).
Thinking -that other Skill
Room: AULA DE CULTURA. EDIFICIO LICEO.
Because language and thought are clearly intertwined, this is often not so in language classes. Our focus is on the language itself or its communicative functions, we forget that language can also be a tool for thinking: a skill which is so often taken for granted. How often do we help our children to think? To look for alternatives to the obvious? To develop logical thought processes? To develop all their multiple intelligences? To reflect on the way they think? For that matter, how often do we do these things in connection with our own teaching? In this plenary we will briefly consider the place of thinking in the language learning classroom and use one of the Bono’s thinking tools to help us.
12.30h: A.P.I.GA. GENERAL MEETING (members only)
| KEY TO TALKS: |
| NAME OF SPEAKER
Title of talk. Room: Abstract |
Emotional intelligence and Teaching. Room: 1
Emotional intelligence has become a buzz word. This workshop will answer some basic questions: What is it? Why do teachers and students need it? And how does it develop?
TV or not TV (Using Television Programmes as a Relevant Source of Authentic Materials). Room: 2
A menudo los profesores tienen dudas sobre la utilización de la televisión en la clase de inglés. Pero hoy la televisión nos acompaña, para bien o para mal, a todas horas. Nadie puede sustraerse a su presencia. Esta ponencia enseña de manera práctica a utilizar breves espacios televisivos como material auténtico para la clase, con especial incidencia en la compresión y la explotación del vocabulario.
English in our World... Room: 3
Bring the real world into your classroom through project work. This session presents practical ideas for project work based around cross curricular themes, stories and festivals, taking advantage of existing material in our classrooms.
Round Table: Practical Approaches Towards a Career in Foreign Language Teaching. Room: 4
Moderator: Ana Demitroff.
The aim of our presentation is to introduce students who are about to finish their degree in ‘Filoloxía Inglesa’ to different options other than teaching in the Galician educational system. We will explore ways to recycle the knowledge acquired in a formal academic setting in order to become more flexible towards the job market.
We will present three different experiences in both the U.S.A. and Galicia, and then we will open up discussion.
Walking Down the Streets –I. Room: 5
Do you know your town? Would you like to discover it? Come, play, sing and learn with us. In the end, you’ll enjoy your town.
Cutting and Sticking –Using the Materials your Children Make. Room: 6
Craft activities are fun and motivating, and are a way of bringing real language and cross curricular themes into the language classroom. They are doubly effective if after the children have made something they go on to use it in some way. Children feel a sense of ownership when they use materials they have made themselves, and it takes the burden of preparation off the busy teacher. In this workshop we will look at some simple materials that the children can make and then use in their language classes. (Bring some scissors if you can!)
Las Nuevas Tecnologías en la Formación. Room: 7
Durante la presentación se realizará una clase virtual donde se mostrará el uso de la videoconferencia, el chat, etc. como medios de comunicación entre alumnos y profesores y entre los propios alumnos. Así mismo mostraremos cómo crear grupos de trabajo, foros de discusión, etc. y cómo utilizarlos para la evaluación de un trabajo colaborativo.
ANA ROBLES
Classroom Management: More tools than Language. Room: 1
For many teachers classroom management is one of the more challenging tasks they handle. And it is important because, without it, the best lesson plan will go awry. In this workshop, we will analyse the two basic skills a teacher needs to develop; awareness and rapport; and some of the tools, both verbal and non-verbal, that can help us to increase our awareness and to create rapport with our students.
Navigating English in Secondary (First Cycle). Room: 2
After working the reform for the past years, many of us are standing back and looking again at the journey we are taking. No longer a journey into the unknown, we are mapping more carefully the areas we can cover and refining elements of planning and execution to make that journey into English most beneficial for all of our students. This session will look again at the map we follow and the best way to equip our expedition, given the experiences we have had to date.
Student Journals for a Diverse Economy.Room: 3
Four different types of journal and logs will be explored to assess their advantages and effectiveness in different learning contexts. Aside form explaining how journal and log usage can be greatly beneficial in the development of students’ reading, writing, grammar and speaking, the session will demonstrate how these pedagogical tools can be implemented to make a class more authentic by bridging the gap between the language classroom and the target language community. Moreover, this presentation will demonstrate how journals and logs can be an instrument in building student motivation, as well as developing learner autonomy.
It’s Showtime! Motivating Students Through Drama Activities and Theatre. Room: 4
This session works on the theme of motivation using drama techniques and theatre. Drama is used to involve and create interest for ESO students in their own learning, to develop communication skills and bring English to life. Teachers will work on dialogues and activities that they can adapt to their classes.
Walking Down the Streets –II. Room: 5
Do you know your town? Would you like to discover it? Come, play, sing and learn with us. In the end, you’ll enjoy your town.
Multiple Intelligences in Your Classroom. Room: 6
It’s surprising, but true –not everybody thinks in the same way you do! It’s good to know that you don’t have to be a genius at logical puzzles to be considered intelligent nowadays, but the concept of multiple intelligences poses a challenge for teachers. How can we try to appeal to all the different kinds of intelligences present in our classrooms? Perhaps a first step is being aware of the different ways in which each individual receives and processes new information. In this workshop we will have some fun while introducing the seven basic intelligences. And then we’ll go on to think about how each teacher’s predominant intelligence affects the way they teach –and their children learn. No answers promised, just some interesting questions!
High Tech / Tech High: IT is coming to a School Near You. Room: 7
‘A Computer in every classroom...’
Like second language instruction itself, there are more questions than answers to the complex ways IT is being implemented around the world in EFL settings. In this session I present ways of making sense of the variety and forms of IT uses in education. Examples of IT sites on the WWW will provide the basis for a demonstration of how language teachers around the world are using IT. We will discuss their effectiveness, their ‘transportability’ into the Spanish context, and their pedagogical implications. The assumption is that the use of IT in EFL needs to be adequately demonstrated, thought about, and discussed by those who would be its facilitators, not just administrators and technicians, if it is going to be of lasting value for second language learners. This session, then, aims at that critical and evaluative debate on the future of EFL by exploring –seeing and thinking about- how it is being used as we speak.
Aula de Cultura. Edificio Liceo.
... and a surprise
What to Look for in a Song. Room: 1
In this presentation, we will look at ways of exploiting songs in the classroom. A wealth of practical ideas will be presented and illustrated with examples of authentic pop-songs. We will see how songs can be used in skills development, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation work and in topic-focused activities.
When Energy Levels are Low. Room: 2
What can we do when energy levels are low? This session aims to provide teachers with a number of highly practical, enjoyable, ‘heads-out-of-books’ activities which help recharge the batteries and make learning fun. Ideas for grammar, texts, pronunciation, vocabulary, listening and much, much more.
Life of Brais: A Pictorical Story of a Galician Boy Who Once Met English. Room: 3
This paper is a pictorical narration of the life of a Galician boy. Emphasis is placed on his contact with English as a foreign language, an it tells the public all the steps this student has to face from when he first meets English until he reaches a certain kind of result. It is a critical and comical reflection on the Spanish educational system (as far as TEFL is concerned), English teachers, textbooks, materials, and the students themselves. The author’s intention is to analyse the whole process through the eyes of the person who ‘suffers’ it.
How to Survive Out There: It Pays to Advertise!Room: 4
This is a practical workshop in two parts. The first one will offer a wide selection of slides featuring attractive, humorous and controversial printed ads taken from magazines, newspapers and tube stations. In the second part there will be a presentation of slides displaying ‘messages’ from everyday life (notices, warnings, signs, signboards, ...) taken from streets, shops, railway stations and ... loos. The workshop will also aim to look at some suggestions for their use in the classroom to make the learning process more effective and enjoyable. A choice of photocopiable material will be provided for the participants to use.
Learning English by Learning in English. How to Bring the English Language Alive in the Classroom. Room: 5
The best way to learn a language is to start using it. We look at simple, practical ways to bring English alive by making it the language of the classroom. Using crafts and multidisciplinary activities, stories and songs, the session examines ways of channelling the natural energy and linguistic capacity of young students so that English becomes the medium of expression in the class rather than just another subject. Further discussions look at ways of ensuring that the fun element does not obscure the learning process.
Let’s Talk. Room: 6
This workshop explores the ‘skill’ of speaking in big, heterogeneous classes. Why speak? When? How can we encourage students to actually communicate with one another in English? Here are practical ideas and activities to take back to the classroom.
Using Computers with Young Children –I. Room: 7
"A Change of Perspective: Computers and ELT."
The talk will serve as a sort of introduction to the use of multimedia computers at school in general and in ELT in particular. It will demonstrate how computers inevitably change a teacher’s approach to teaching when used as didactic tools and why they are greatly useful in education. In the second part of the talk, teachers will have a chance to discuss in small groups advantages and disadvantages of using computers, commenting on a list of characteristics provided for the presentation.
ENCARNACIÓN CORTÉS MATE & JESÚS GARCÍA LABORDA
Someone Forgot to Say This... A Whole Picture of my First School –I. Room: 8
Many teachers going for the first time to a new school suffer from school-shock. The situation is due to the psychological distance between academic knowledge and the reality at school. The main aim of this talk is to prepare teachers to fill in the gap between their academic life and their new situation. This mini-course addresses issues such as stress, class management, programming, the use of materials, textbooks and so on, from a practical perspective.
Why are we Always Starting from the Beginning? Room: 1
Many secondary teachers voice frustration –and sometimes desperation- at the lack of progress of their students. What’s going wrong? In this workshop participants will reflect on the many diverse elements which affect what happens in the classroom and their effect on the teacher, learners and the learning process. We will work together to create ‘a map’ of the different elements, explore how they relate to each other and highlight the practical implications or our conclusions.
What do Students Say in Groupwork.Room: 2
In this presentation, we will look at what happens when we ask students with a shared mother tongue to do groupwork in English. We will see that there is often a pattern about where the students resort to their mother tongue. Understanding this pattern may help us in trying to reduce how much they resort to the L1. We will also see some variation in the meaningfulness of the English they produce, so that we can’t simply say ‘English good, mother tongue bad’.
New Mexico –USA, the Land of Enchantment.Room: 3
I would like to give a general idea of the geography, cultural diversity and educational systems in the state of New Mexico, as well as the historical background and the many places of interest that exist in that part of the USA.
Lexis in the Classroom: Memory, Storage, and Retrieval. Room: 4
Lexical items and the concept of ‘chunking’ have had a radical effect on many teachers: their theory of what a language is and how it is learnt. This session will focus on the patterns and relationships that exist in vocabulary and the practical outcomes they can have on teaching approaches and student learning. We will also consider the critical aspect of how it can be practically stored and retrieved by the learner.
Playing with my Five Senses. Room: 5
This is a workshop about developing sensorial skills. The main aim is to develop children’s abilities, connecting them with the real world. We will be using meaningful and participative activities, based on children’s own interests. The body plays an important role because, apart from being an interpersonal relationship element, it is also a way of expressing and representing the world. This workshop offers practical ideas through activities related to sensorial education, musical expression, body and gesture expression and drama games, that teachers will be able to include whenever they plan units or projects.
Learner Autonomy –I. Room: 6
"A Journey of a Thousand Miles... Embarking on Autonomy."
In this workshop we will look at the principles of learner autonomy and explore their implications on teachers and students. We will reflect on our own and our students’ attitudes and discover how to implement those small changes that make all the difference in the classroom.
Using Computers with Young Children –II. Room: 7
"Is Language Mono-media or Multimedia? CD-ROMs and ELT at Primary Level."
The talk will show, using a datashow, different types of children’s CD-ROMs and provide some examples of how they can be used in ELT classes. The talk will especially demonstrate how and what interaction is possible when CD-ROMs are shown to a whole class through a datashow, without necessarily having children work at computers on their own. In the second part of the talk, teachers will be able to explore some CD-ROMs in pairs or groups of three.
Someone Forgot to Say This... A Whole Picture of my First School –II. Room: 8
Many teachers going for the first time to a new school suffer from school-shock. The situation is due to the psychological distance between academic knowledge and the reality at school. The main aim of this talk is to prepare teachers to fill in the gap between their academic life and their new situation. This mini-course addresses issues such as stress, class management, programming, the use of materials, textbooks and so on, from a practical perspective.
Collecting Words. Room: 1
What is the problem with vocabulary? Many people enjoy collecting things -why not words in a foreign language? Starting off with an exercise illustrating the joy you can get from words, this session explores some highly-practical activities which teachers could employ to encourage students of all ages to delight in and take care of the new words and expressions they learn.
To Write or not to Write. Room: 2
Whether or not to introduce the written word in the pre-school class is an on-going debate. In this discussion session we will address the main arguments for and against and look for ways to adapt materials according to individual teaching principles.
Learner Autonomy –II. Room: 3
"Teach a Man to Fish... Autonomy in Action."
In this workshop we will explore a range of practical ideas for helping our learners to become more self-reliant and confident by experimenting with different learning strategies. We will look at ways of integrating these into our classroom teaching and evaluating their success.
Strategies for Effective Communication: Body Language and Other Non-verbal Factors - I. Room: 4
In order to communicate effectively in any language, a combination of several skill are involved. Good pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary are all important factors, but many students who acquire these skills can still fail to get their message across effectively in conversation. What so many language teaching courses lack is a instruction in both verbal and non-verbal communication skills.
In this workshop, we see how an awareness of body language -eye contact, facial expressions, posture, and gesture- as well as other factors, such as attitude and assertiveness, play an enormous role in effective communicating. We will do some activities to help us become aware of body language and we will do others that help to improve both verbal and non-verbal communication skills.
St. George and the Dragon. Room: 5
This talk was presented as an Action Research project for San Marino University. The project was well received by teachers from different European countries. "St. George and the Dragon" is a fantastic story full of enjoyable characters that children love to perform. All the learning areas are integrated in a global way throughout the story. This piece of work constitutes a practical example of how to organise aims, learning skills, tasks and evaluation. It can be applied to different projects that English teachers want to carry out with children of this age.
Make the Most of Graded Readers. Room: 6
The aim of the project shown in the workshop is to motivate mixed-ability secondary students through an attractive approach which encourages them to enjoy literature by using video, graded readers, dramatisation and games. The methodology used consists of a balance of co-operative learning and individualisation (traditional group work, co-operative work and individual tasks).
The activities proposed in this workshop can be adapted to any type of graded readers.
Using Computers with Young Children –III. Room: 7
"Internet: School is More than a Place."
The talk will illustrate how internet can be a useful tool at school, especially in ELT classes. We will look at how it can be used by teachers for their professional development, to find didactic materials (pictures, songs, poems, information about other cultures, …) and to maintain an always ‘up-to-date library’. It can also be used to help students connect with other students (e-mail, live and relay chats). Different internet sites and examples of the various uses will be explored (25/30 min.). Teachers will then work in pairs on computers connected to internet to carry out easy tasks.
Someone Forgot to Say This... A Whole Picture of my First School –III. Room: 8
Many teachers going for the first time to a new school suffer from school-shock. The situation is due to the psychological distance between academic knowledge and the reality at school. The main aim of this talk is to prepare teachers to fill in the gap between their academic life and their new situation. This mini-course addresses issues such as stress, class management, programming, the use of materials, textbooks and so, from a practical perspective.
Don’t Spare the Rod! Using Rods to Stimulate Oral Production in Secondary. Room: 1
Something as basic as the Cuissinaire Rod can serve as a springboard for many activities: from Total Physical Response to pronunciation work to building a narrative. There will even be the presentation of a whole lesson based on the use of rods.
An Overview of Primary Education in England Today. Room: 2
So many of us in the Primary sector here want to know how things work in other countries. This session will provide a bird’s eye view of the English system. Participants are very much welcome to ask about specific points they are interested in.
The Primary Task of the Teacher... Planning for Autonomy. Room: 3
This workshop will focus on how teachers can become researchers in their own classrooms, and suggest practical strategies for implementing changes in their teaching and evaluating its impact.
Strategies for Effective Communication: Body Language and Other Non-verbal Factors - II. Room: 4
In order to communicate effectively in any language a combination of several skill are involved. Good Pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary are all important factors, but many students who acquire these skills can still fail to get their message across effectively in conversation. What so many language teaching courses lack is an instruction in both verbal and non-verbal communication skills.
In this workshop we see how an awareness of body language –eye contact, facial expressions, posture, and gesture, as well as other factors, such as attitude and assertiveness, play an enormous role in effective communicating. We will do some activities to help us become aware of body language and we will do others that help to improve both verbal and non-verbal communication skills.
Conveying Meaning and Checking Students’ Understanding. Room: 5
Language is more memorable when its meaning is conveyed via techniques which engage the students in cognitive effort. This very practical session will focus on a range of these techniques. We will also consider how these techniques form the basis of a valuable testing tool, allowing teachers to teach what the students do not know rather than what they already know.
Getting Teenagers Talking. Room: 6
This talk will examine ways of promoting speaking skills with teenage learners. What are the particular challenges associated with getting teenagers talking and how can we meet them? What should the relative weighting of skills be? Are some types of speaking activity more successful than others?
Learning and Motivation via the Internet.Room: 7
Internet opens up a world of exciting opportunities for working in English. It not only develops language and communication skills, but also helps learners acquire important multi-media skills and encourages learning about other cultures in a motivating, interactive way.
This session will focus on practical ways of exploiting these opportunities with younger learners.
Using Children’s Literature in the EFL Primary Classroom. Room: 8
A look at different activities techniques for exploiting children’s literature in the EFL primary classroom, ranging from short activities based on nursery rhymes through to class -or teaching unit-length sequences working with fairy tales or stories. The workshop will focus on the possibilities of using the imaginative input of children’s literature as a springboard for pupils’ own participation and creativity (both verbal and non-verbal).
Grammar in Context: the Whole Picture. Room: 1
Traditionally, questions of grammar are dealt with at the level of the sentence, an inevitable consequence of a close-up view of language. In this workshop, I will show how decontextualised sentences are of limited usefulness in resolving many grammar problems, and I also hope to show a range of ways in which texts and contexts can be given a more prominent role in language instruction.
An Introduction to the Recently Introduced Literacy Strategy. Room: 2
One of the most talked about reforms in Primary system is related to literacy. How do we ensure that the next generation can read and write? This session focuses on the English context, but there are parallels to be made with the Galician classroom.
When you Walk with a Friend... Project Work for Developing Autonomy. Room: 3
We will explore how project work, both small and large scale, can act as a vehicle for the development of learner autonomy, and consider what makes a project successful.
Film and Literature: Theory and Practice of Adaptation –I. Room: 4
The studies of film and literature have become an essential part of the interdisciplinary approach to the teaching of culture and literature. In these sessions I will propose a theoretical background to adaptation of literary works of art into film, and then some practical analysis of several film versions.
Sinking the Titanic: Popular Culture and the Language Classroom. Room: 5
As teachers, it is our obligation to encourage the real language needs of our students. To do this effectively, we must try to meet students on their own terrain. This workshop will look at a number of activities based on the use of film, TV, songs, and so on in the language class.
Come and Sing! One, Two, Three, ... Room: 6
This is a workshop about songs, games and art and craft activities related to songs that you can do with infants or primary children. Songs encourage children to participate in a natural way: listening, enjoying global understanding of meaning, miming and saying key words. Songs also develop confidence and positive attitudes towards learning English.
Time Out on Internet. Room: 7
We are constantly looking for new ways to motivate and interest our students and now we have Internet at our disposal. The problem Internet presents is the disproportionate amount of time we need to dedicate to looking through endless addresses. This session gives teachers useful addresses related to hobbies and leisure activities, as well as ideas and activities we can do with the material we find.
11.00am - 11.45am: Book exhibition
Have you completed the game?
Hand it in at the Information Desk now.
Winners will be announced before Saturday’s performance.
Choosing Your Role in Society. Room: 1
The main objectives of ‘Choosing your role in society’ are to help students question their own sex stereotypes, to encourage them to examine their own attitudes and to look more closely at some of the various options open to them. We offer a number of activities in which students can learn from each other that sexual differences are not just biological, but also psychological, emotional and individual.
Using Good Books to Promote Literacy –an Opportunity to Look at Books and Explore their Use. Room: 2
This session is about promoting literacy through the use of real books. Moreover, participants will get to know some of the story books English-speaking children enjoy most.
Michael Downie, Ignacio M. Palacios, Marina Trebolle and Elisa Vázquez
Moderator: Carlos Davis
A panel of four well-known and well-respected colleagues present their own particular view on perspectives for the future. After a short discussion between panel members, the session will be opened to the floor.
Film and Literature: Theory and Practice of Adaptation –II. Room: 4
The studies of film and literature have become an essential part of the interdisciplinary approach to the teaching of culture and literature. In these sessions I will propose a theoretical background to adaptation of literary works of art into film, and then some practical analysis of several film versions.
Traditions, Celebrations, Cullinal Contents, ... Are They Important to us on Teaching a Language? Room: 5
A practical approach on how culture and celebrations (traditions, dancing or food) can be a fun way to learn about a foreign language, using tried and tested activities: the first one teaching Spanish to American monolingual and bilingual kids, through cookery and games workshops and, the second celebrating English and American culture in English lessons. We will also reflect on how many times we have focused too much on grammar or listening. Celebrations are just a means of learning all that and this can be even connected with other subjects in the curriculum.
Student Autonomy for Primary. Room: 6
So much about learner autonomy is focused on Secondary that we might overlook the need for our primary students to stand on their own two feet. How can we apply the principles of learner autonomy to the Primary classroom, helping young learners become more self-directed and better prepared for the later challenge of ESO?
Making Magazines: Desktop Publishing in the FL Classroom. Room: 7
In this session I demonstrate how newspapers and magazines can be developed into a sophisticated production activity using New Information Technologies (IT). I describe the topics and processes I have used, taking a group of students from the analysis of news (theory) to collectively producing their own magazines (practice). Internet (for research and graphics collection), scanners, word-processing, digital manipulation software, and various Desktop publishing programmes (Microsoft Publisher, Word, and PageMaker) can facilitate an excellent introduction to technical English, vocabulary and conversation development. I shall talk about positive and negative experiences, difficulties encountered, evaluation techniques, providing concrete examples from students’ work.
Teaching Listening: Meditation, Phonetics and Awareness Training. Room: 8
Communicating with English is obviously more than putting a series of grammar rules and structures into practice. But what more can we do to teach students how to speak? We can teach them how to identify and isolate sound and nuance; we can ‘teach’ them how to be listeners. This combination of workshop/talk will examine a traditional teaching tool like phonetic symbols and not so traditional approaches to language learning like meditation and awareness training as ways to utilize relaxation and body awareness to get in touch with ‘the Listener’ in us all.
ENGLISH THEATRE COMPANY
Adam’s Atomic Socks
Aula de Cultura. Edificio Liceo.
Adam’s grandmother gives him another pair of socks for his birthday. "Socks again! How boring!" he thinks ... until he discovers that when he wears his new socks strange things start to happen.
Adam’s Atomic Socks is a series of carefully devised scenes that are full of rhythm, humour, music and interesting characters. etc’s unique style of performance presents selected language items in a very visual way using active audience participation to make this play easily comprehensible and enjoyable for the students.
4.30pm
CLOSING PLENARY:
SCOTT THORNBURY
Good Lessons: The Whole Picture.
Room: Aula de Cultura. Edificio Liceo.
What makes a good lesson? Is there a magic formula or a secret recipe? Why not ask the students? I did - and they gave me some metaphors for lessons that have less to do with methods and more to do with things that learners enjoy -films, meals, games and music. This evidence suggests that, when planning their lessons, teachers need to worry less about ‘Presentation, Practice and Production’ and instead aim for plot, theme, rhythm, flow and the sense of an ending.
6.30pm
THEATRE:
ENGLISH THEATRE COMPANY
Dream On
Aula de Cultura. Edificio Liceo.
"Nothing exciting ever happens to me!" is the daily lament of Nick Mackintosh, Sarah Willis and Peter Blenkinsop –three friends with totally different lives. Either bored, frustrated of misunderstood, all three have one thing in common: they escape from their imagination. They can dream, but is this enough?
Dream On is a comic play where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. In Dream On, etc introduces the audience to characters and situations which they can easily relate to, in a play which is full of songs, sketches and constant audience involvement.