Dear colleagues, It is time to welcome you to the third issue of our newsletter for this year! Once again we hope you will find our articles both interesting and helpful. We hope to see you at the ELTA Conference and Milena Tanasijević gives you a preview by introducing our plenary speakers. Teaching children with special abilities is challenging enough but teaching ‘talented/gifted’ children requires special skills from us teachers and Janja Čolić , in this issue’s Feature Article , presents us three models that have proved to be the most suitable on different levels and in different fields of working with gifted and talented pupils. She also suggests some practical ideas on how to use them with these children in your classroom. Our new column in Business English is welcoming Phil Wade who shares small activities we can use in our BE class. In our regular column Borrowed From , Zoltán Rézműves’s article on 21st century skills is certainly food for thought not only for what these skills mean to modern teachers but also for the strong criticism they have attracted. This is a busy time for ELT events, so in the ELT Flash section , there are four articles this time : Maja Jerković and Bojana Nikić Vujić reflect on the IATEFL Slovenia conference. Branka Dečković and Suzana Tomić offer us an insight into the First Open Space Event for English Teachers in Serbia, held in Kragujevac last March. Also, Dragana Andrić reports on the HUPE conference, the biggest annual event in Croatia and Katarina Ristanović talks about the two seminars organized by ELTA last December for the colleagues of the Morava District . Katarina Ristanović ’s lesson plan on ‘Causative have’ is also hosted in the Lesson Plan section. In the Young Learners’ column , Zhivka Ilieva shows a variety of activities for young learners in her lesson plan based on the story of “ The Incredible Shrinking Hippo” by Stephanie Baudet. In the Students’ Corner , Magdalena Rajković asks us What kind of travellers we are! Finally, as always, the Upcoming events are here for you to decide which one you would like to attend. We would like to thank our readers as well as our writers for supporting us. Thank you for contributing your work. Your support is invaluable! We hope you will enjoy this issue, too, and we encourage you to write for the ELTA Newsletter and share your ideas and experience with other colleagues. Write to us at newsletter.elta@gmail.com ! All the best, ELTA Editorial Team
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MEET OUR PLENARY SPEAKERS (part I) st Inspired by our conference theme, teaching in the 21 century, the ELTA
publications editorial board decided to interview our plenary speakers with the following st question: what will the main challenge(s) in the field of ELT for teachers in the 21 century
be. Here, we present their ideas in alphabetical order. We will prepare the second part of the interviews for our next issue. We would also like to invite you to share your thoughts with us. What do you think the biggest challenges of teaching in the years to come are? Share your views with us and our members!
Rakesh Bhanot Rakesh Bhanot has a BA in Philosophy & Literature (U. of Warwick) and a PGCE and MA in TEFL (U. of London). He has been an English teacher and teacher educator since 1972 and has worked in over 40 countries. He is a regular contributor to national and international ELT conferences as a keynote speaker and/or workshop leader. He has worked with a number of UK Higher Education institutions, as well as The British Council, Pilgrims Language Courses, Sharing One Language (SOL), The BBC et al. He has published widely and is the Founder Editor of Language Issues, the journal of NATECLA, UK.
The perennial challenge for teachers is how to create the conditions in which their students are really interested in learning – something that Krashen refers to as ‘compelling’ reasons. In the 21st century, whatever the ramifications of the new technologies, teachers still need to find ways to motivate their students in interesting and imaginative ways. One of the challenges, however, might be that (some of) the learners are more ‘techsavvy’ than the teachers. This has obvious implications for teacher training, and highlights the need for current teachers to develop their ICT skills and knowledge in order to deal with this potential differential
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in
the
‘power
relationships’
in
the
classroom. Elsewhere,
, I have argued that teachers of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpWl3wraEBI English do ‘more than just teach English’, and this will continue to be a challenge for all colleagues, viz. questioning what (else) we are doing when we teach English?
Hugh Dellar He is a teacher and teacher trainer at University of Westminster, in central London. He is also – along with Andrew Walkley – the coauthor of two fivelevel General English series, OUTCOMES and INNOVATIONS, both of which are published by National Geographic Learning. He’s been teaching since 1993, when he did his CTEFLA at Westminster College. He then spent several years working in Jakarta,
Indonesia,
before
doing
his
DTEFLA
at
Hammersmith and West London College and his MA TESOL at the Institute of Education. As a young writer, he was lucky enough to be mentored by Michael Lewis and Jimmie Hill, the men behind The Lexical Approach, a book which has had a profound impact on his career and his life in general! In addition to all of this, he’s the proud father of two wonderful children, a lifelong supporter of Arsenal Football Club and a borderline obsessive collector of old 60s vinyl records. He’s lucky enough to get to travel all over the world for work, but is also lucky to call Harringay in north London home. Well, firstly, I have to say, it's a huge question! On one very basic level, the challenges for teachers remain the same as they always have, I’d say: motivating students, listening to them and responding as both a human being and a language teacher, connecting the language input to them, giving good clear explanations and examples, ensuring recycling and revision of input, etc. In essence, the real core fundamentals of what it is that we do. At the same time, though, the contemporary landscape is obviously also new – and endlessly emerging. There’s real pressure on teachers to engage with technology –
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or at least to be seen to be engaging with technology, and we’re all bombarded with endless sites, apps, tools and so on that we’re somehow supposed to keep abreast of (whilst also planning classes, marking homework, reading the literature of the field that deals with language and learning, and so on!). There’s an increasing move towards online teaching and online teacher development, and this is impacting on wage expectations across the sector, which, let’s face it, has never exactly been geared towards collective action and worker protection. On top of all that, there’s the increased marketisation of ideologies and methodologies and there have been some very dubious – and oftdisproven – approaches that have gained mainstream traction as a result. My biggest fear is that there are so many pressures put on teachers – and so many shiny distractions flashed in front of us – that it’s easy for us to lose sight of the real meat of what it is we do: interact with others in the hope of helping them better learn English. I’d like to see our main emphasis being placed on language awareness and on contemplation of the methodological implications of this raised awareness. Without else, much else ends up simply being window dressing.
Dr Deborah Healey Dr. Deborah Healey has been teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language since 1976 and using computer technology in teaching since 1984. She has published and presented extensively in the area of computerassisted language learning. She is a coauthor and primary editor of TESOL Technology Standards: Description, Implementation, and Integration and of TESOL Technology Standards: Framework Document; and she has chapters on learner autonomy and software/Internet resources for language teaching in CALL Environments. She was the head of the linguist/scriptwriting team for Trace Effects, a new computer game for English language learners. She has been an Academic Specialist since 1986, giving workshops most recently in Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, Qatar, Bahrain, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Morocco, Thailand, Palestine, and Tunisia. She teaches online and facetoface
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classes at the University of Oregon's American English Institute/Department of Linguistics. Her Ph.D. is in Computers in Education.
The possibilities for use of mobile devices to connect to information and people anytime, anywhere will make ELT possible anytime, anywhere. This is a large benefit to the field, and it will be a challenge to teachers to be able to use this potential well. It's already easy to feel overwhelmed by information and possibilities. The larger challenge that I see, though, is the issue of privacy. Access anytime, anywhere works both ways: access by teachers and learners to information, and access by information and commodity sellers to personal data of teachers and learners. It's very easy to click "Okay" and let our mobile devices have access to our mail, photos, location, and more. This makes us visible to those who wish us well and to those who do not. Digital literacy is essential to be able to use the wonderful tools available wisely. Teachers will be challenged to keep up in this everchanging landscape. Nonetheless, I feel that the effort will be well worth our time.
Dr Biljana RadićBojanić Biljana RadićBojanić is Assistant Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the Department of English, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad (Serbia), where she received her MA degree in 2005 and where she defended her PhD thesis in 2010 (Application of Conceptual Metaphor in EFL Vocabulary Acquisition). Her areas of interest include semantics and pragmatics, discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, academic writing and academic skills, applied linguistics and language teaching. She has participated in many conferences with poster and paper presentations and has published articles in Serbian and foreign journals. She is the author of anyone wanna chat?! Discourse of Electronic Chatrooms in English and Serbian and Metaphorical Vocabulary Comprehension Strategies and the coauthor of the monograph Serbian Public Discourse: A Cognitive Critical Study. She has also edited four collections of papers. She currently teaches courses in Varieties of English, Applied Linguistics, Intercultural Communication and Academic Writing.
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I believe that ESL/EFL teachers will face challenges very similar to those of teachers of other subjects. The burden of administrative work and constant increase in paperwork is one of them. A popular comic goes, "We have so many meetings on how to teach better, we don't have time to teach at all," and I think this is a sentiment shared by all educational workers. Balancing the administrative and the educational sides of teaching is not easy, especially in the age when the teaching profession is not highly valued, when teachers are perceived as “the ones with long summer vacations”, and when salaries definitely do not reflect the effort invested. Another challenge is keeping uptodate with innovations and constantly developing professionally. Although teachers are inherently fond of learning new things and they immensely enjoy professional development workshops and seminars, there is always a question of finding time and money to invest in furthering their skills and competences, which is directly connected with the previously mentioned challenge. I can only hope that the love for the teaching profession will help all the teachers overcome these challenges and allow them to enjoy a truly rewarding profession which is the foundation of the future of mankind.
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What to do if gifted children are bored at English? Janja Čolić, MA, Primary School Janko Kersnik Brdo, Slovenia Key words: special abilities, content adaptation model, epistemological model
How to teach children who have special abilities that are well above those of the average children? How to make sure they do not “get lost” in our classroom? I am talking about ways of teaching youngsters we call “gifted and/ or talented” because they need our help, our stimulation, they need acknowledgement from the people around them … if we want them to develop their potential to their maximum. If not, they are lost in the average. According to the research that we did at Primary School Medvode and according to my experiences with teaching the gifted, many gifted children are bored during the regular lessons. For that reason, it is important to keep them occupied. According to Joyce VanTassel Baska (1988), three models that have proved to be the most suitable on different levels and on different fields of working with gifted and talented pupils are content adaptation model, procedure/ product model and epistemological model and below are some of my practical ideas how to use them when having bored gifted children in your classroom: A. Content adaptation model 1) Reading in a reading nook. A reading nook is a table with lots of books that has its place in our classroom’s corner. Children go there and simply read. Sometimes they work on a book (reading, writing a summary, describing main characters …) following my instructions. 2) Using a computer in a computer corner with the internet connection. Children use the computer to get pieces of information, they do online grammar / vocabulary and other exercises, read articles or write essays / answer the questions ... When I have time (during the breaks, at sports / cultural … days, on excursions) I talk to my pupils. I get to know them. I talk about myself, they talk about themselves. We talk about their interests, about sports they like, about their free time … It is always easier to choose content (which is one of the two most important things at the content adaptation model) for additional worksheets and exercises, reading comprehensions if I know the children. The second important thing is that children learn at their own pace. In that way, they progress on their individual base which also enables differentiation and personification of our lessons. The teacher is the one who helps, suggests and/ or directs.
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B. Procedure / product model 3) Working on a project. Usually this work is not done in only one or two lessons but lasts for a month or even more. In this case they choose their own topic and at the end they have to present a product to their classmates (either an oral presentation, a “powerpoint” presentation, a poster or a paper). Every time they have finished with school work, they can work on their own project. They know what to do. Sometimes they only work for 5 minutes, sometimes for 15 minutes and there are lessons when they do not have time to work on their project at all. They use computers and books. Many books are already in the classrooms, sometimes they bring their own or go to the school’s library. Usually, children work individually but if possible, at least once in a year, they work in a group. After reading books for English Reading Badge they choose the one they like best and prepare a play. They draw the scene, they learn the text of their role by heart, they practice acting and they act the play out in front of the peers/ parents/ teachers. Some of the books (especially for young learners) have the play already written at the end of the book. (I only do this with children in classes 4, 5, and 6 where the books are not so demanding and the play does not take so much time.) 4) Preparing exercises for their peers. If there is not a lot of time, gifted children can easily prepare questions for a text so that other children can do a reading comprehension in the same lesson. They can quickly put up T / F / NG statements for other children to do. 5) Crossword puzzles. I remember a child who loved crossword puzzles and prepared at least two a month containing vocabulary we have learned (sometimes only in written form and sometimes she drew). 6) Writing reports and articles. Gifted children also write English reports and articles for our school website or the local newspaper. 7) Learning in “learning centres”. Our English lessons are sometimes “source oriented”. That means that gifted children learn in “learning centres”. A “learning” center is a place (in our case a table), where different sources can be found. A center like that is: ➢ a method for organizing the material, ➢ a motivator (stimulative and attractive), ➢ a learning method (children learn to work in small groups or to be independent) (Joyce VanTassel Baska, 1988).
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“Meeting famous people” was the last lesson I have done using a “learning center”. All the children worked in groups, but the gifted took over the leadership. There were three “learning centres” and in every each of them children could get: o
pictures of famous people,
o
voice records of famous people (you can put them on mp3 players, computer or tablets / ipads),
o
texts about their life stories (family and work, leisure time …),
o
pictures of some products that they have made / filmed …
In groups, pupils had to study the material. Their goal was to understand what they had read. They were looking for new words in dictionaries and copying them in their notebooks. After they had understood the texts, they had to decide what is important and what is not for the mind map which helped them at their oral presentations about famous people. The most important thing at procedure/ product model is to gain knowledge in depth. The gifted children develop their abilities for research and they work on their own. Products of their learning can be concrete or abstract, simple or complicated. Some examples are: o
a research paper,
o
a report,
o
an essay,
o
a poster,
o
an oral presentation,
o
a “powerpoint” presentation,
o
a picture,
o
prepared food,
o
an experiment,
o
a collection of questions/exercises,
o
an interview,
o
an article,
o
a play,
o
an engine model,
o
a construction equipment …
If possible, the product should be presented to the audience: to other children in the classroom or at school, to teachers, to parents …
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C. Epistemological model 8) Discussions. We organize dialogues of two pupils, sometimes group discussions about a theme that has been previously taught (so that they know the English vocabulary). Sometimes they write short essays where they have to write down their opinion/ pros and cons /pluses and minuses … on different topics (eg. Having a pet is a big responsibility). We usually do that when all the others are still learning and doing exercises of something the gifted have already learnt. In this way, the gifted children practice speaking, argue for their ideas and thoughts, thinks for themselves, share views with others, create their own perspective, and provide active exchanges of opinion. The essential element of the epistemological model is in discussion in depth. The teacher raises questions for discussion and stimulates the gifted to contribute with their ideas and critical thinking. The discussion can be done orally or written. The gifted are anxious to learn, they listen carefully and remember things easily. They often complain there is too much content repetition and revision. They are bored at school. That is why they daydream and stay in their dream world until the end of the lesson. Let’s stop that! At least, let’s try to! ***** LITERATURE: Čolić, Janja (2004). Načrtovanje in razvijanje učnega načrta za nadarjene učence po konceptu Joyce VanTassel Baska. Magistrska naloga. Ljubljana. VanTasselBaska, J., Feldhusen, J., Seeley, K., Wheatley, G., Silverman, L. in Foster, W. (1988). Comprehensive Curriculum for Gifted Learners. Massachusetts: Ally and Bacon, Inc. mag. Janja Čolić I have been a teacher for 11 years. I teach English to children aged 6–15 at Primary School Janko Kersnik Brdo. I am interested in teaching young learners and children with special needs: both children with learning difficulties as well as the gifted and the talented children. I am a published author of grammar exercise books for secondary school students and I am an active board member of IATEFL Slovenia, being responsible for primary school section.
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Morning routines Phil Wade, Freelance English teacher, France Keywords: Business English, activity, warmers, morning routines
The habits and lifestyles of CEOs and entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg are common topics in the Business Press. We all seem to be interested in what makes them tick and what their secret to success is. A common area of focus is their morning routine. From teaching managers and executives in groups and 121s, it is surprising how important most of them see this prework period of the day. Even students learning about Business often value this time. Below are small activities you can use in your next BE class as warmers or just short stand alones. They are great ways to practise times, durations and actions with low levels and ordering, linkers and more demanding 'if' structures with higher levels. 1) Ask students to present their morning routine on a time line using the board or paper with exact times and durations. 2) Put students into small groups and ask them to ask each other questions about what they do, why and why it takes so long. This could be done as a whole class ‘find someone who’ activity. 3) Ask students to explain how their routine and individual activities are beneficial. 4) Give students challenges and situations like: ● Cut 5 minutes from your routine. ● You are moving further away from your job so cut as much time as you can from your morning routine. ● You have kids and have to get up early to take your partner to work. ● You start working from home. ● Your boss starts a prework breakfast initiative. ● Your colleagues invite you t o go running before work. ● You start working late and so have less morning time. 5) Ask them what they would do if they got another parttime job or if their boss started flexible hours. 6) Ask them how their routine will change when they retire.
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7) Ask them to make a prework schedule for you, their staff or their team. 8) Look up famous business people online, and compare and contrast their routines. 9) Move onto daily routines and discuss what a CEO should do in the morning, day and evening. 10) Plan a wellness program for a company and schedule the best times for health activities and meetings. These are some of the many interesting articles on this subject. The second one deals with evening routines. You could give them for class reading, homework reading, cut them up and have groups discuss one each and then come together or try to add more to the examples. http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-morning-habits-highly-successful-people-that-m ake-them-extraordinary.html http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/6-habits-highly-successful-people-before-bedtime.h tml
***** Phil Wade teaches English at university and in companies. He is interested in developing tailored and blended courses that meet the specific needs of students and maintain motivation. Phil is the author of the ten ebook “A 10/minute Intro to Business English” Teaching series and is now working on a new Business English activity book.
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21st century skills: hovercraft to school and robots for teachers? First published on consonantvoiced.blogspot.hu Zoltán Rézműves, ELT author and teacher trainer, Hungary Key words: 21st century skills, the role of teachers, changes in education
First impressions When I first heard the latest buzzword in ELT: ’21st century skills’, what immediately sprang to mind were those flawed visions I grew up with (in the 1970s to the 1990s) of the impending new millennium: space holidays, permanent bases on the moon and possibly on other planets, cities under the sea, hovercraft or spaceships transporting us to work and school, robots replacing teachers as well as those of computers in every home... (oh, hang on, that’s actually happened!) and home schooling by computers... (which also seems to be happening to some extent – with adaptive learning, online learning platforms, LMSs and whatnot, more about all of which probably in a later post). Then I looked into what the term meant and I found out it was something quite different. (Being an ardent scifi fan, I was a bit disappointed it had nothing to do with spaceships.) Back in the 20th century The reason we didn’t talk about ’20th century skills’ when I began my learning then teaching career was twofold: 1. we were too near the end of the century to name anything after it, and more importantly 2. the difference between the speed of change in the world we lived in. Our teachers’ generation and our teachers’ teachers’ generation passed on their accumulated knowledge and life experience to a new generation, safe in the knowledge that most of their skills are still relevant and useful for the young. Of course, there were changes and developments, shifts in priority, but in broad terms, the skills they could teach us, drawing on their own personal experiences, were the skills we needed to learn.
Published with the courtesy of Zoltán Rézműves 13
As far as ELT was concerned, the teacher was the primary, and in many countries, the sole source of knowledge and of learning materials in English. Often, the teacher was one of the few people, if not the only person, learners could communicate with at all day to day, using the foreign language they were learning. Books, magazines, newspapers in English were difficult to come by – and they were often expensive. (At least to us in the Eastern Bloc – we’re talking about the 70s and 80s when we’re talking about my student years.) Teachers were therefore the access points to English as well as the primary role models of nonnative language users. 21st century developments Not so in the past decade or so. With the spread of the internet, access to materials in English is unlimited – written, audio as well as visual materials fill the web and spill over into the real world. Knowledge and learning experiences can now be shared among learners around the globe 24 hours a day, thanks to social networks. A lot of this flood of English is free of charge, too. ... and a lot of it is rubbish. What has changed quite significantly therefore is that learners no longer really need a provider of English, but they need a guide. They need someone to show them how to locate relevant information, filter what is irrelevant or unreliable and to use critical skills to judge the value of whatever is left to use. The role of teachers is changing, and publishers all seem to be queuing up to ride on the ’21st century skills’ bandwagon. A lot of this activity brings benefits to the learning experience: there is more variety in content and media, more integration of language and other disciplines than ever before. Judging from some of the most recent frontlist publications, there is also a renewed enthusiasm for original (or neatly updated) teaching concepts after a couple of decades of ’it it works, don’t fix it’ formulaic curricula – especially in schoolbooks publishing. Find out more about 21st century skills Steve TayloreKnowles provides a rationale for why ’21st century skills’ (or ’life skills’ in their ) on the Macmillan preferred corporate parlance) are vital ( Why should we teach Life Skills? Life Skills website, while Robert Balaguer Prestes gives an informative overview of how learners fit into this whole paradigm ( 21st century students and skills ) on the Pearson 21st century learning website, where there are also a number of related articles by Nick Dawson
Published with the courtesy of Zoltán Rézműves 14
which I’ve found quite useful. OUP meanwhile runs training workshops, some of which I recently gave myself in Serbia and Indonesia. What educators and policymakers need to bear in mind about 21st century skills is that it is originally a business initiative, a sort of corporate thinktank project ( The Partnership for 21st Century Skills ) to groom the next generation of workers especially skilled at being adaptable. It was probably quickly realised by the stakeholders that if the scheme is to work, introducing these flexibility skills must obviously start much earlier on – when school education begins. They drew up a helpful diagram to illustrate how this all fits together ( image taken from www.21stcenturyskills.org ).
But what exactly is new about teaching our students the value of Critical thinking, Communication, Collaboration or Creativity (the famous 4Cs of ’21st century skills’)? Well, as far as I can tell, nothing really. It is the application of these skills to how language is used as the medium of interaction rather than as the subject of analytical study, to how classroom skills become transferable to life skills, to how ICT skills become integrated with language skills, that makes 21st century skills meaningful to education.
Published with the courtesy of Zoltán Rézműves 15
In my opinion, the idea is certainly worth exploring further – especially how it could be applied to benefit language learners. But the concept of ’21st century skills’ is not without its sceptics. CUP organised a debate in 2013 ( 21st century skills a 21st century problem? ) where some of the speakers questioned whether there was anything novel about these skills at all before exploring its implications for assessment especially. One of the most vocal opponents is Diane Ravitch who outlined her criticism in her article on the subject subtitled An Old Familiar Song ( 21st century skills an old familiar song ). Ravitch went on to dedicate her blog ( Diane Ravitch's blog ) to the subject, and even proposed the promotion of ’19th century skills’. Like it or not, though, 21st century skills are here to stay. And if you’re a teacher, you’ll no doubt find a meaningful role of it all in your classroom – as you always do with each passing trend in the profession. ***** Zoltán Rézműves graduated from ELTE University of Budapest. He began his teaching career in a state secondary school in Budapest in 1991, and has been involved in ELT ever since. For six years, he also worked as a translator of Englishlanguage fiction and nonfiction for Hungarian publishers and as copy editor for a literary periodical. In 1999, he joined Oxford University Press (OUP) and worked on a wide range of coursebooks, support and reference materials, both print and digital, as editor and project manager. He has been involved in teacher training since 2001, and has given talks at conferences, seminars and courses in over 30 countries around the world. In 2007, he was appointed Managing Editor for Central Europe and Russia. He left OUP and set up his own publishing services company, Consonant Kiadó, in 2012, and he is currently working as an ELT author, teacher trainer, editor and consultant. *Borrowed with the courtesy of the author Zoltán Rézműves, prepared for ELTA Newsletter by Branka Dečković.
Published with the courtesy of Zoltán Rézműves 16
nd 22 IATEFL SLOVENIA CONFERENCE “Adopt, adapt, improve”, TermeTopolšica
Science, Socializing and Spa Maja Jerković, Medical School Zrenjanin, ELTA Serbia, Serbia Bojana Nikić Vujić, The School of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy Belgrade/ Primary School Ivo Andrić, Serbia The conference was enlightening in several ways. It was professionally organized but also very family like. We felt as we were attending a family reunion, which is great in terms of motivation – people are more likely to share when they feel relaxed. In terms of educational quality it was inspiring, innovative and highly motivational. Maja: “It is my pleasure to report that I was ELTA Serbia representative at the 22nd IATEFL Slovenia conference “Adopt, adapt, improve” which was held in Terme Topolsica from the 5 – 8 March, 2015. I submitted two speaker proposals, one about how to successfully gamify your classroom and the other coauthored with Mark Andrews, about the Tshirt project we implemented in Serbia and finished in Slovenia. The overall impressions after these workshops are completely positive. I am thrilled to be given this opportunity, so special thanks to IATEFL Slovenia for being such marvelous hosts and ELTA Serbia for sending me as their representative. I enjoyed learning new activities to use with YL, speaking tasks that some of the speakers presented but all sessions brought something new or a new perspective to start with. I have learned a lot. Doing things the other way round, as presented by Rakesh Bhanot, is better than following traditional guidelines.TED Ed platform was also new for me; it was presented by Margarita Kosior and Dimitris Tzouris from Greece. I adore TED talks, but I had no idea we could create a fun lesson using TED Ed platform and in only a few minutes. The most important workshops I remember are about leadership as an important teaching skill and what it takes to be smart in this modern teaching context. Moreover, I learnt, from Bojana Nikić Vujić, how CLIL can be used in the classroom to promote collaboration between teachers of different subjects and how it can also enhance language learning. Moreover, VINE app is a new tool we could use to make short videos, introduced by Mike Harrison. I also learnt a lot about neighboring and other countries by listening to the participants talking about the best part of being a member of that community. The highlight of our cooperation was the RELO project all representatives were involved in. I think it is a great idea to connect through teachers’ associations and the idea of reconnection of the region can be of great influence to all stakeholders*. (*Ministries, US Embassy, publishers, agencies) We can gain an insight into how other associations solve issues and deal with obstacles and if something works in one country it may work in Serbia as well. We can collaborate in editorial work, organizing conferences, events, meetings, online conferences, webinars,
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nd 22 IATEFL SLOVENIA CONFERENCE “Adopt, adapt, improve”, TermeTopolšica
projects and other events. We could use ideas from other associations, ideas like how to make conferences more interesting, publications more popular and increase membership. I loved the idea of sharing ideas with other representatives. We all connected through FB accounts and exchanged other contacts. I hope to visit IATEFL Slovenia next year as it is more than just a conference; it is also spa, socializing and fun.” Bojana: “The conference that I keep returning to every year. A lot of familiar faces, relaxing atmosphere and inspiring workshops made me feel wonderful. There were a lot of interesting plenary talks. Christine Coombe reminded us about the importance of leadership in education and the steps that are needed to be undertaken to advance in your career. Music in education, in this case rap music, presented by Erika Osvath was overwhelmingly inspirational. Chaz Puglieze presented some pair and group work activities. Bhanot Rakesh and his presentation ‘Do it the other way’ was very thought provoking regarding the teaching approach and activities we can do in the classroom. When it comes to workshops, there were so many of them that it was difficult which ones to attend. We attended a variety of workshops: young learners, CLIL, using videos in the classroom, gamification, school projects, just to name some. I had the honour to give a workshop on CLIL, which was very well received. All in all, we learnt a lot and exchanged ideas and contact details with our colleagues. Our hosts took care that we enjoy our stay in Topolsica: morning swim, a tour around Topolsica and a visit to a local farm, beauty treatments, are just some of the things that made us relaxed and pampered. The most enjoyable were social evenings, International evening and Ultimate pub quiz, where we had the opportunity to talk to our colleagues in more relaxing atmosphere and work in teams to win the prize, and above all to have two lovely evenings. For all these reasons, I can just say: ‘See you next year!’” For the end, there are a couple of fun videos made by using photos taken at the conference and during our walk around the town! We hope you will enjoy them, feel free to share them as well. http://www.magisto.com/video/MQNEY1QLAiAvWUxnCzE http://www.magisto.com/video/K1pDPQZUCz01AhthCzE http://www.magisto.com/video/KkYaKVoMHDAxAR1gCzE
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nd 22 IATEFL SLOVENIA CONFERENCE “Adopt, adapt, improve”, TermeTopolšica
Our album is available on this link! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155452450035647&type=1&l=969bea4b23 A special thanks to IATEFL Slovenia, RELO project strengthening cooperation with teachers’ associations in the region and our association ELTA Serbia ***** Bojana and Maja share a lot in common; both are ELT professionals, teacher trainers with extensive experience, conference presenters and editors of ELTA Publications (ELTA Journal, MELT and ELTA Newsletter).
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The First Open Space Event for English Teachers in Serbia Branka Dečković, English teacher at Medical school, Kragujevac, Serbia and Suzana Tomić, English teacher at The Second Grammar School, Kragujevac, Serbia Key words : Open Space, teacher development, assessment
What is Open Space? Open Space is an approach to meetings and conferences in which there is no prescribed agenda, that is, the issues that are most important to participants will get discussed. 1
Here are some basic principles on which Open Space works.
The Four Principles and The Law of Two Feet
The Four Principles are:
1) Whoever comes is [sic] the right people. 2) Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. 3) Whenever it starts is the right time. 4) When it is over it is over.
1
Harrison Owen, Open Space Technology: A User's Guide
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Focus and Intent Although Open Space Technology is powerful and effective, never use it for the sake of the process alone, only for the potential results. OST is designed to do a job, to work a real business issue, no matter how you define "business" or "issue." Preparation So you want to try Open Space. The fact is, it is very simple and easy to get started. Nevertheless some careful preparation is necessary. Not the sort of preparation you may be used to, with months of committee meetings devoted to agenda development and participant selection. But preparation, nonetheless. This is how we did it. Having decided on the theme for Open Space, we first found a place where the event would take place. We decided on dates and time. Then we set down to write an invitation. Since it was the first Open Space event, and not so many teachers are familiar with what it really is, we had to include a sentence or two explaining what OS actually is. The rest was the theme of the OS, time and place of the event. The agenda was not only unnecessary, it was impossible, because the teachers are the ones who prepare the agenda upon arrival. As for the materials – you only need some A4 paper, postit notes, markers and blutack. Oh, some coffee, milk, sugar, plastic cups and spoons, as well. All the “technology” you need is a kettle. How cool is that! The Group Who should come, and how do you get them there? The answer is: whoever cares, and the fact of their caring will be sufficient to insure their attendance. The process of invitation becomes extraordinarily simple.
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The fact is that the best way to get something done well is to give it to somebody who cares enough to do it. Even in those situations where a number of folks are assigned a task, the usual experience is that the actual work gets done by a precious few: those who care to do it. So why not avoid all the frustration, guilt, and anger? Assign work only to those who care to do it. *** When we decided to organize an Open space, the challenge was not only to try to make it appealing for teachers, but also meaningful and relevant to the challenges and issues that English teachers in Serbia deal with. So, we decided that the theme would be “Assessment – who is it for?” The aim is that through a dynamic and collaborative platform participants will be able to voice their puzzles and work together on what matters to them in regards to curricular demands and assessment criteria in English Language Teaching in Serbia. The considerations we came up with were: ✓ Do we teach to test? ✓ How do we assess our students? Why do we assess them? To give them grades? To improve our teaching instructions? Do all the teachers have the same criteria and standards? ✓ How much do we use formative and how much do we use summative assessment? ✓ Individualize or standardize? ✓ How to overcome the problem of “passing the buck down the line”, that is, putting responsibility to someone else? (eg. students that had high marks in elementary school, but then when they come to secondary school, it proves that these marks are not real, and then the teachers in secondary school blame the teachers in primary school; the teachers from primary school blame the teachers from preschool, etc)
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✓ How can we make the criteria that would be the same, so that when students “change” teachers, they would not have to adapt to the new teacher’s criteria? *** Here is a report from one of our participants from OS in Kragujevac. Her name is Suzana Tomić , she teaches English in The Second Grammar School in Kragujevac.
The participants in Open Space, held in Kragujevac on 23rd March, began the session by stating the difficulties they are encountering in assessing students. Each question was written down and attached to the board. Willy, the facilitator, then classified similar questions into separate categories. This time, 3 main aspects of this problematic area were isolated: ● assessment of students participation, ● assessment of speaking, and ● cooperation between primary and secondary schools. Afterwards, the facilitator instructed the participants to form the groups in whichever way they wanted. They were allowed to choose the topic and decide whom they were going to work with. Each group was assigned the task to think of solutions to one particular problematic area. The group members were also allowed to freely change groups and take a coffee break at any time. Finally, each group reported back on the conclusions of their discussion. What I experienced for the first time was the format of the workshop. It was not all about theory. We started from reallife problems in our classrooms, and
then
through discussion and
sharing
experiences, we came up with some practical solutions. My group was dealing with the problem of assessing students' participation. Some of the questions were:
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● How to assess large classes? ● Do we have to assess each student every class? ● How to motivate Ss to participate? ● How much is enough for a pass? Conclusions: Ts should create a unique template/table for grading Ss' participation (modules, units, skills) for the whole school; Ts should agree on a unique grading scale (points, grades, percentage for a pass) within their school; Ss should be clearly informed about the rules for the assessment, which will give them freedom to organise and take responsibility for their learning process (Ss set the number of points or percentage they want to achieve for their final mark); Ts should regularly inform Ss about their progress and point out the areas they should work on, which is directly related to Ss' motivation (Ss have the feeling that their T cares for them). I must admit that this is, for me, a big challenge to face.
***** Suzana Tomić graduated from the Faculty of Philogogy, Belgrade University, Department in Kragujevac, and started teaching English to students aged 11 to 15 at Karadjordje Primary School, Rača, in 2001. Since 2002 she has been teaching teenagers aged 15 to 19 at Second Grammar School in Kragujevac.
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Branka Dečković has been teaching English for 11 years. She works in the medical school in Kragujevac. She has experience in teaching all age groups, but most of all she likes teaching teenagers. Her interests are authentic materials and assessment. ***** The authors would like to thank Willy Cardoso, who was willing to help them in their first steps towards Open Space.
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23rd Annual HUPE Conference Šibenik, 2426 April 2015 Dragana Andrić, OŠ ‘Heroj Radmila Šišković’, Smederevska
Palanka, Serbia
Key words : conference, HUPE, Šibenik, ELT, professional development
They say you should never mix business with pleasure but, oh God, how wrong they are! They have, obviously, not been to HUPE Conference in Šibenik. When I say business, I mean professional development. A HUPE conference is considered to be the biggest annual ELT event in Croatia. This one offered the participants a choice of almost sixty workshops and talks and there were six plenary talks given by Deborah Healey, Paul Dummett, Gwendydd Caudwell, Philiip Warwick, Gary Anderson and Evelina Miščin over the three days of the event, 2426 April 2015. The sessions offered an insight into the latest findings, trends and methods from the world of ELT. This is why it was so difficult to choose which one to attend – you just couldn’t be at more than one place at a time, though I bet most of us had wished we had the superpower to do so!
And when I say pleasure, I mean the astonishing venue – Solaris Beach Resort, located opposite the spectacular Šibenik Archipelago, in the shade of pine trees and outlined by a 4km long coast with magnificent stone, pebble and sand beaches. The event took place in three different hotels, in modern conference rooms appropriately named after the surrounding islands. Getting from one session to the next one occasionally required taking a stroll by the beach and enjoying the amazing view, breathing in the fresh sea air and melting away in the sun, so precious after the long and drab winter. To be honest, if we didn’t have to walk by the sea, some of us might have had to skip a talk or two in order to enjoy the scenery we only get to see once a year! But the best thing about being at this conference was having the great pleasure of meeting fellow teachers from Croatia and other countries from the region, having a chance to share experiences, complain about the same problems that bother all of us and find out that there is a solution, sometimes even coming from a colleague half your age. As the official representative of ELTA, I had a chance to spend time with the members of The Conference
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Organising Committee. It was a great experience to go behind the scene and witness the dedication and enthusiasm that the HUPE team put into making all this happen. If you are a David Guetta fan then you surely know that if you work hard you have to play hard, and that’s exactly what you could do at the ‘Back to Tabletop’ event on Friday evening, which promoted playing board games, or ‘The Ultimate Pub Quiz’ on Saturday evening, when about twenty teams of five put their knowledge, skills and speed to the test. Those who had any energy left had a chance to dance the night off, but not me, I had other plans… I really needed a good night’s sleep, because on Sunday morning, for the first time in my life, I was to give a workshop! A couple of months ago I found out that ELTA was looking for a representative to give a rd presentation at the 23 Annual HUPE Conference, and I said to myself ’It’s now or never!’ At first I was a bit reluctant, but my dear colleagues from ELTA spurred me on and I submitted my speaker’s proposal. For quite a while I have been fascinated with using drama in ELT, I’ve attended seminars on the topic, I’ve done numerous activities with my students and I was really eager to share my wonderful experience and my passion with fellow teachers. ‘Liven up your lessons with drama’ was the name of the workshop. About twenty colleagues were present and, as it seemed to me, they were really interested in the topic, especially since the time of the presentation coincided with the checkout time, not to mention the other sessions being held at the same time. Presenting at a conference turned out to be a marvellous, rewarding experience. It was a chance to share knowledge and passion for the topic with other teachers, to exchange positive energy, to inspire and be inspired. To all of you out there who are gathering courage to step up and attend a conference as a presenter, I say – go ahead with it! I’m sure that we all have a lot to say and a lot to learn from each other. And to illustrate this, I will finish off with a citation from the opening talk, given by the former HUPE president, Marinko Uremović: ‘The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other. Without collaboration our growth is limited to our own perspectives. – Robert John Meehan’ ***** Dragana Andrić has been teaching English for more than 15 years. She has worked with students aged 7 to 15. She is a member of ELTA and SEETA teachers’ associations. She completed Special Education and Differentiated Instruction in the Context of TEFL Teaching course with the AEI – American English Institute, University of Oregon in 2013. She is highly interested in Learning Technologies, using drama techniques in ELT and Special Educational Needs.
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ELTA Seminars for English language teachers of Morava District Katarina Ristanović, Grammar school ‘’ Takovski ustanak’’ , Gornji Milanovac, Serbia Key words: seminars, ELTA, TBU, Learning Technologies
Being an ELTA regional coordinator is one of the best ways to help the colleagues in your region connect, share the latest ELT news, ideas that work well, and promote the benefits of being an ELTA member. This December, teachers from Čačak and nearby towns had this opportunity twice. The first was the seminar Towards Better Understanding 7 that was organized on the 22nd November 2014 in the Primary school Milica Pavlović in Čačak. The initiative came from highly motivated English teachers of this school which has already hosted a lot of ELT events. The seminar was attended by 28 teachers from Čačak, Ivanjica and Gornji , Teaching Milanovac who took part in four workshops: Using Mental Images in ELT Pronunciation , Mobile Learning and Teacher Development . The presenters, Katarina Ristanović and Željko Andrijanić, opened the seminar with the presentation of English Language Teachers Association, invited the participants to apply for the upcoming ELTA conference next May, to share good lesson plans and their student works in ELTA publications (Newsletter and ELTA Journal) and take advantages of many benefits of ELTA membership. The participants were, as usual, mostly interested in practical activities and readymade materials they could use in their classrooms. The novelty at this session was the fact that participants were presented with the link to the website where they can find and download all the materials used at this session which was no surprise to the participants who seemed to have lost the habit of asking for printed handouts. Learning Technologies for the Classroom 2 is a professional development program organized in the cooperation with the British Council. The idea of this seminar is to promote the use of modern technology in English language teaching. The event was organized at the premises of The Regional Centre for Professional Development in Čačak in the presence of 11 teachers. The computer classroom where the seminar took place was well equipped and there was an excellent Internet connection, which contributed to the quality of the event. The participants were actively engaged in trying out all the activities, especially the ones that focus on the use of the Power Point for pair and group work and those for the whole class. The workshop on Cyber Well Being was inspiring for the teachers of teenagers who claimed to have witnessed the cases of cyberbullying in their schools. The last workshop was an opportunity for the participants to share the list of their favourite websites. The participants emphasized the ease of use and suitability as the most important criteria when they select websites for teaching purposes. In the end, participants were asked to fill in the feedback forms. Their comments showed that they were satisfied with the content and the organization of the training.
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As the ELTA coordinator, I enjoy meeting the colleagues from the region and sharing positive energy. The inspiring seminars like these are the best way to help our ELT community grow.
Toward Better Understanding 7 , Workshop on Pronunciation
Learning Technologies for the Classroom 2 , Word and Power Point pair activities *****
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Katarina Ristanović graduated from the Faculty of Philology, Belgrade, in 2000 and has been working in Grammar school ‘’ Takovski ustanak’’ , Gornji Milanovac ever since. As SITT trainer she has been involved in ‘’ Towards Better Understanding’’ project as a teacher trainer for the past 7 years. In 2010 she became a member of ELTA Board and is the current ELTA International Coordinator and ELTA Vice President. Her interests include teacher development and CLIL. *I certify that I have the right to publish the photos
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Lesson Plan Causative have Katarina Ristanović, Takovski ustanak Grammar school, Gornji Milanovac, Serbia Key words : causative have, happiness, money, unusual inventions
Level: Intermediate + Time: 45 minutes By the end of the lesson the students: will be able to recognize the ‘causative have’ construction in written context will be able to transform the sentences using the construction will have used the ‘causative have/get’ construction to talk about unusual inventions will have discussed the things that make them happy Lead in : (5 min) WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY Teacher reads out the quote from the slide or the blackboard: ‘’People say money isn’t key to happiness, but I always figured if you have money, you can have a key made .’’
Ask the students how they understand the quote and whether they agree with it or not. We encourage the students to support their point of view. Activity # 1 WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY AND PAIR WORK (10 min) Show the students the underlined part of the sentence and ask them if the author of the quote had in mind making the key herself or asking someone else to do it for her. Explain that the construction can be used when we pay or ask someone to do something for us. Show on the slide/write on the board ‘’ I am having my key made at the moment.’’ and ask the students to restate the sentence starting with ’’someone’’ (is making the key for me at the moment). In pairs the students will then restate the sentence ‘’I am having my key .’’ using the following words: made
1. while I was sitting in the coffee shop 2. before I moved in 3. already 4. should
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5. tomorrow Activity # 2 WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY (5 min) Show the PPT slides or newspaper/magazine cutouts and elicit the sentences students would use to describe the pictures. Prompt them to use the ‘ causative have’ construction asking questions (e.g. Teacher: Is she varnishing the nails herself? Student: No, she is having them varnished.) Activity # 3 GROUP WORK (20 min) Show the slide/pictures of unusual inventions and ask the students what they could have done if they could purchase these unusual gadgets. In groups students need to design (draw or describe) the unusual invention. The presentations of the inventions follow. Encourage the students to use the ‘ causative have’ construction when describing the invention. Encourage the other group members to ask additional questions about the invention. In the end the students could vote for the best one. Wrapup: WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY (10 min) Ask the students what their key to happiness is and if they are happier when they do something themselves or when they can have things done. You can finish off by asking them to write a list of their ingredients for happiness for homework. ***** Katarina Ristanović graduated from the Faculty of Philology, Belgrade, in 2000 and has
, Gornji Milanovac ever since. As been working in Grammar school ‘’ Takovski ustanak’’ SITT trainer and a teacher trainer she has been involved in the ‘’ Towards Better Understanding’’ project for the past 7 years. In 2010 she became a member of the ELTA Board and is the current ELTA International Coordinator and ELTA Vice President. Her interests include teacher development and CLIL.
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Stories with Young Learners Zhivka Ilieva, Dobrich College, Shumen University, Bulgaria Key words: stories, young learners, EFL
Stories are part of children’s life, they realize home – classroom, enjoyment – learning connections and raise positive attitude to the foreign language and to learning languages in general. They provide meaningful context, opportunities for crosscurricular relations and the change of activities. All of them are extremely important in the primary classroom. In De la Pena Puebla’s (2012: 53) opinion “literature is a powerful tool to improve language learning and broaden the cultural knowledge of students through interdisciplinary fields”. Authentic picturebooks and stories bring the author’s and the illustrator’s culture in the young learners’ foreign language classroom and provide opportunities for discussing sociocultural issues. This is also confirmed by Bobkina (2012: 33) who claims that “through analyzing and composing a diverse range of literary texts, students develop better understanding of cultural, social and technical aspects of the target language.” For example, through the story “ The Incredible Shrinking Hippo” by Stephanie Baudet , IF type 1, past simple, present (1995) the students can practice the imperative with let’s simple and present continuous and the use of synonyms. The issues of having a pet and the troubles connected to it (getting approval by the parents to have / keep it, feeding it, walking it, cleaning), friendship, healthy habits (washing the hands before meal), attitude at school and at the dentist’s are discussed. As De la Pena Puebla (2012: 49) states “Reading provides students with a range of discussion topics that promote creativity, critical thinking and problem solving. Communication and collaboration with other partners in class increases tolerance and reaffirms conviction through reasoning.” This is in conformity with Horyza’s (2012: 113) opinion that “fairy tales represent the holistic approach towards language learning with all its conventional ascendancy and abundant source of language data in a foreign language” and that “fairy tales exploited and adjusted to be used for language teaching still maintain their holistic effect power”. The variety of the activities the story The Incredible Shrinking Hippo provides is illustrated by the following lesson plan:
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LESSON PLAN Aims: Developing oral communicative skills and building linguistic awareness about synonymy, the imperative (let’s), conditionals; raising interest in reading in English Objectives: ● Vocabulary: animals ● Grammar: synonyms, IF type 1, past simple, present simple, ● Skills: listening and understanding, taking part in discussions and dialogues Time: 2 classes Materials: the story “ The Incredible Shrinking Hippo” by Stephanie Baudet, handouts where the students fill in the conversation between the characters and create the last scene. Possible crosscurricular relations: Arts, Literature, Man and Nature th Age: 4 grade (1011)
Procedure LESSON 1 I Warm up The story is entitled The Incredible Shrinking Hippo. What could it be about? II Storytelling 1 The teacher reads or tells the story accentuating the synonyms of small, giving the students opportunities to guess the next synonym, revising other African animals in the context of the story. III Discussion Do you know any other African animals? (introducing new words in English) What are the typical animals in Bulgaria? (wild animals, farm animals, pets) What magic animal would you like for a pet? IV Storytelling 2 Write down the words that Simon uses to make Hippo shrink and pay attention to the various situations in which Simon has to use them: at school (talking about animals in Africa), at the dentist’s, at breakfast.
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V Make a dialogue following the model : “What are you doing here?” “Looking for some …” “There’s no …what?… … where? …, BUT I could ….” “Oh, … .”
VI Close up After a few students playing the dialogues, the teacher summarizes the results of their work during the lesson: e.g. We read a new story, made a revision of certain animals and learned new words, found new synonyms of small. Now we know that hippos are not good as pets, that neither crocodiles or tigers are and discussed good pets. We role played short dialogues and next time we’ll continue working with this story. LESSON 2 I Warm up Start with discussion about animals: wild animals, African animals, pets. What makes hippo return its normal size and what makes it shrink? Talking about the synonyms of small will make a link to the while listening task. II Storytelling 3 The teachers reads or tells the story and while listening to it, the students will have to “Find out all the words synonyms to shout in English”. Post listening tasks: What does stood mean here?
“He stood Hippo behind the curtain on the classroom window sill.” III Make similar sentences: If someone sees me, I’ll disappear at once. ІV Fill in the handouts. Use your imagination. Check up and discussion of the last episode – the students have to create the situation and the conversation between the characters. As a follow up discuss the conversations from the handouts and roleplay some of them. V Close up Summarize the structures practised, talk about synonyms and the fact that some words have more than one meanings and we can often guess the new meanings. Pay attention to the student’s suggestion for the last episode of the handouts.
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The story “ The Incredible Shrinking Hippo” by Stephanie Baudet is a rich resource of activities suitable for young learners based on it, developing students’ vocabulary, general knowledge about wild animals, jungle animals, farm animals and pets, their communicative skills, their healthy lifestyle awareness. The children discussed what would happen with Hippo, how often they would visit him in the zoo, that they can take care of him, bringing him food or providing money for the food as a responsibility of the class. As Horyza (2012: 113) states “teaching through fairy tales generates positive emotional associations and creates a very natural environment…” Stories are useful in all aspects of the child’s development. There are plenty of stories on all topics, suitable for all purposes of classroom work. The benefits of working with them and the joy the children meet them with very often inspire teachers to create their own stories. Here is a rhyme for very young learners which turns into a story for young learners practising irregular plural of the noun and counting. MICE Two little mice Found a piece of ice But there was a third mouse In the big house. And the third little mouse Took the piece of ice. The three little mice danced around the ice and the ice disappeared. The three little mice Were looking for the ice But they found … nothing. Then there came the fourth mouse From another house And said: Don’t you know, little mice,
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This is just ice? When it’s warm, It melts away It cannot stay Now, you see There’s only water. The four little mice Called a fifth mouse From the other house. And the five little mice had a great party Then they played a game with dice With very young learners we can use only the first part of the story to practise counting, to raise awareness of the irregular plural of mouse and to have a discussion in the children’s native language about ice and water, realizing crosscurricular relations. st nd With young learners (1 or 2 grade – 79 years old) we add:
● Illustrations that can go with the story to aid counting and discussions ● a discussion about the house – introducing or reinforcing the rooms and furniture items ● a discussion about the party: decoration, invitations, food, dress ● a dance – as part of the party realizing crosscurricular relations to physical education ● a game. The dice can be of various types: either with pictures or text as a prompt for a task, or with numbers and 6 baskets with tasks – the students take a ticket with a task from the basket with the corresponding number. Children love stories, repeat them with pleasure and in most cases learn them by heart. All the activities introduced in the context of a story are readily performed. In conclusion I can say that work with stories contributes to the students’ holistic development, to the development of their creativity – they continue the story, some of them
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are ready to make a new chapter as a continuation. Role playing the conversations between the characters develops their communicative and social skills. References Baudet, S. 1995 The Incredible Shrinking Hippo. In Eccleshare J. Fiveminute stories, London: Scholastic Ltd, pp2022. Bobkina, J. 2012 Thinking through Literature: Reading and Writing Workshops on Fairy Tales. In A. R. Torres, L. S. Villacanas de Castro, B. S. Pardo (eds). I International
Conference Teaching Literature in English for Young Learners . Reproexpress, S.L.,
Valencia, pp. 3341.
De la Pena Puebla, E. 2012 Literature and Education: Proposal of an English Literature Program for Young Learners as an Integrated and Interdisciplinary Tool for TESL. In A. R. Torres, L. S. Villacanas de Castro, B. S. Pardo (eds). I International Conference Teaching . Reproexpress, S.L., Valencia, pp. 4855. Literature in English for Young Learners
Horyza, A. 2012 Linguistic means of fairy tale and the EFL development of a child. In A. R. Torres, L. S. Villacanas de Castro, B. S. Pardo (eds). I International Conference Teaching . Reproexpress, S.L., Valencia, pp. 113119. Literature in English for Young Learners
***** Zhivka Ilieva is an assistant professor at Dobrich College, Shumen University, Bulgaria. She teaches English, Methodology, Children’s literature in English and is also a teacher trainer. She holds a PhD in Methodology of English Language Teaching. As part of her research activities she teaches at primary school and at kindergarten. She runs workshops for primary school teachers and takes part in conferences dedicated to language teaching and teacher training in Bulgaria and abroad. Scientific interests: language acquisition, teaching English to young learners, teacher training, communicative skills development, teaching English through stories and children’s books, ESP (IT and Farming). Member of: BETA and IATEFL, USB (Union of Scientists of Bulgaria), BSBS (Bulgarian Society for British Studies).
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What kind of traveller are you? th Magdalena Rajković, 4 year student,
Medical school “Sestre Ninković”, Kragujevac, Serbia I think I don't know anyone who doesn't like to travel. Spain, Italy, Hungary, Montenegro, Paris, London, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia, Greece... Wherever! Are you ready?
A holiday is a perfect way to relax your mind and your body, to learn about new
culture, eat tasty food, have good time with your friends, family or boy/girlfriend, meet new people, speak different languages. So, what are you waiting for? Most people's idea of perfect holiday is chilling out at a good beach resort or perhaps going on a tour and doing some sightseeing. And there are people who don’t want typical travel with travelagency. They want one old bus, a few friends and adventure can begin! It's fun when you just go, from place to place, sleep in some pretty amazing places and visit a lot of countries.
If we talk about accommodation, you will find that the choice of it is very diverse. You
can stay in international style, fourstar or fivestar hotels every night, but there are many hotels in the countryside which offer rooms with one or two beds, electricity, hot water and modern toilets. Do you need more? You can stay in 1,000,000,000 star hotel, which is my favorite!
But, if you can't afford this kind of travelling, you can travel the world ''for free'' if you
want to be a part of ''Couch surfing'' project. It's about connecting travelers with people around the world who want to let them stay on their sofa, for free. I think ''C.S'' is very interesting, it's new chance for travelers without money, but I'm not sure what I would do in that case. I cannot go in someone's house if I don't know that person, it's crazy! But, you know what people say: if you think nothing bad will happen, then it will not.
When I did a short quiz in the course book, I found out about my traveler profile in the
key. It says: you enjoy going on holiday, but you are not an adventurous traveler. You prefer to stick with things that you know. Well, I don't know. I love travelling and love to visit different places, meeting new cultures and new people. But, on the other hand, I will never dare to hitchhike it's not safe. Sometime I think I shouldn't think too much about it, ''Oh, I cannot do
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this, it's not safe'' or ''I'm not sure'' etc., but I really think I wouldn't do that because I would always be scared.
When you think better, there are a lot of places you can visit but you don't have so
much time, do you? You are busy mom who must make a lunch, iron, wash dishes, go to work... Or dad whose worktime is from morning to late night. Or student who has a lot of books which she/he has to read? But you should find time for this. Or you don't have money? I know world in which we live. But try to find time for this experience; it’s time to be perfectly happy!!!
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E LTA
Newsletter May – June 2015
UPCOMING EVENTS ● ● ● ●
Conferences Competitions Students’ camps Teachers’ camps
CONFERENCES * Call for papers still open for some of the conferences, check it out
✓ 13th ELTA Conference – A Taste of 21st Place: Singidunum University Belgrade Date: May 1516, 2015
13th ELTA Conference For more, follow the link:
✓ 4th International Conference Teaching English to Young Learners. Assessment and learning Date: June 56 June, 2015 Place: Faculty of Education, Jagodina, Serbia
For more, follow the link : Teaching English to young learners. Assessment and learning
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Newsletter May – June 2015
E LTA
✓ English Language Teaching Forum Date: June 56, 2015 Place: Ekonomicka Univerzita v Bratislave For more, follow the link: English Language Teaching Forum th ✓ 24 BETA IATEFL Conference
Date: June 57 2015 Place: Sofia, Bulgaria
For more, follow the link : 2 4th BETA IATEFL Conference
✓ Future of Education Date: June 1112, 2015 Place: Florence, Italy
For more, follow the link: The Future of Education
✓ 3rd TETA Conference Date: June 1213, 2015 Place: Tuzla, Bosnia and herzegovina * Call for speakers still open For more, follow the link: 3rd TETA Conference 42
E LTA
Newsletter May – June 2015
✓ 1st International SKA Conference Date: September 2526,2015 Place: Bratislava, Slovakia
For more, follow the link : 1 st International SKA Conference
✓ Looking Forward, Looking Back Date:October 911, 2015 Place: Budapest, Hungary
For more, follow the link: Looking Forward, Looking Back
COMPETITIONS For students
✓ Essay Writing Contest Deadline:May 17, 2015 For more, follow the link: E ssay Writing Contest
STUDENTS’ CAMPS
✓ SOL – Programmes for students
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E LTA
Newsletter May – June 2015
For more, follow the link: SOL Programmes for students
✓ International Village Project Time: MayJune; September 2015. Place: Lubovnanske Kupele in the Tatra mountains in the north of Slovakia
For more, follow the link: International Village
TEACHERS’ CAMPS ✓ SOL – Programs for teachers For more, follow the link: P rogrammes for teachers SO(u)L Camp Refresh you Mind, Body and your Soul in Slovakia 2015 Date: August 2nd – 9th 2015 Venue: Bilingválne Gymnázium Čadca. SO(u)L Camp Refresh you Mind, Body and your Soul in Serbia 2015 Date: 13th – 20th August 2015 Venue: EcoCenter “Radulovački”, Sremski Karlovci, Serbia
WEBINARS
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E LTA
Newsletter May – June 2015
✓ Macmillan webinars Macmillan webinars
✓ OUP webinars OUP webinars
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