IATEFL videos – last part

Not all the presentations in this year’s IATEFL were filmed and made available in the Glasgow Online website, which is a pity (mine wasn’t, for instance). The ones which were, however, are all worth watching, and this is why instead of picking and choosing, I’m just going to share the link for the menu with all the presentations available, and you then watch the ones which look the most interesting. Ideally, you now watch them all!

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2012/sessions/videos

Enjoy! (and be there in Liverpool in 2013!)

IATEFL videos – part 1

On the night of March 22nd, relieved after my presentation, I attended the Pecha Kucha event for the second time, and had just as much fun as I’d had a year earlier.

The event, once again sponsored by Pearson in 2012, is made up of 8 short talks. The presenters must deliver these talks using exactly 20 slides, each of which is shown for no longer than 20 seconds. Topics vary wildly, and there are always good surprises. In my opinion, the most incredible talk this year was Jeoff Tranter’s, in which he hilariously presented a new area of linguistics: Alcoholinguistics.

Jeoff’s presentation begins at 2m36s.

Pecha Kucha 2012, part 2

Enjoy!

Life post-IATEFL

I got back from Europe – after yet another amazing IATEFL conference – last Wednesday, and tomorrow, Monday, a new teaching life begins… some 13 years down the road!

It was really invigorating to hear so many new ideas, to see so many incredible people sharing the amazing things only teachers who care a great deal about what they do could have come up with. It was also humbling, and I realized – not without some pain – that I have been a bit repetitive in my classes and teacher training sessions lately, and that somehow there hasn’t been much novelty in my way of looking at and practicing ELT for longer than I’d like to admit, and decided that this ends now. Or, better yet, something else – curiosity? – begins now… all over again.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll go back to studying this area I love so much in detail, and will do my very best to keep in touch with these amazing professionals from the world over who so selflessly make their ideas available to everyone via their blogs, Twitter, Facebook and the like. More than that, I will try to actually BE one of these people, and will start by sharing as much as I have time for here on the blog with fellow teachers who can spare a few minutes every week. Above all, I’ll try to be better for my students and trainee teachers every day, and do my very best to make as much difference in their lives as these 4 days (!) shared with teachers from all around made for me.

Here’s to the next 13 years… and more!

IATEFL 2012

And now it’s off to the IATEFL conference in Glasgow, for my second conference ever.

There’ll be updates on Twitter (teacherhigor) during the workshops and daily posts with pictures and the most interesting things learned during the conference days (from Tuesday 20 to Friday 23).

Stay tuned!

IATEFL proposal

I have decided I don’t only want to attend the next IATEFL conference in Glasgow, I want to present a paper there.

Having thought carefully about what topic is the most prominent in my work at the moment, I decided it had to be something related to CPE preparation. Within that, my Book-a-month project is by and large my favorite. Hence, this is my IATEFL 2012 proposal. I hope they’ll like it!

Title

Proficiency a (few) books away

Abstract

Having been an exams preparation teacher in Sao Paulo for 6 years, introducing literature into my CPE courses has so far been the most effective (and fun) element in the whole syllabus. In this talk, I’ll discuss how to explore books in the CPE classroom,which books (not just classics) and the difference it has made in candidates’ performance in all papers.

Does it sound like something you’d be interested in attending?