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By Craig Thaine - see Books

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Teacher Training Essentials: Workshops for Professional Development (Cambridge Copy Collection)

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Ready-to-go activities for teacher trainers running pre- and in-service training courses. For busy teacher trainers who practise what they preach: trainees will benefit from learning about methodology in training sessions which are in themselves models of good teaching practice.

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By Jo Gakonga

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Want some inspiration? Ideas for TP feedback and more here.

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6.30pm – 8pm on Friday 23 rd November and 9.30am – 6pm on Saturday 24 th November 2018

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International House London is often regarded as the home of teacher training in ELT. Our founder pushed boundaries and developed the first teacher training qualification in 1962, which went on to become the CELTA we know today.

The Future of Training conference will represent both our 65 year heritage and our tradition of innovation. We would like to invite you to be part of that and to develop the future of training with us.

Share your knowledge and ideas, boost your career credentials and be welcomed into a fantastic teacher training community.

Location: London
The event will take place at 16 Stukeley Street, Covent Garden, International House London.

When:
The conference will run from 6.30pm - 8pm on Friday 23rd November and 9.30am - 6pm on Saturday 24th November 2018, with a drinks reception to follow.

Book a seat at The Future of Training Conference
Who is this Conference for?
- School Directors

- Academic Directors

- Sales and Marketing Directors

- Teacher Trainers

- Teachers in Training
Conference Overview Friday 23rd November
Time: 6:30pm - 8pm with drinks reception to follow

18.30 Conference Opening and Welcome

18:45 Real teachers, real needs

Our panel of teachers in various stages of their careers will share their thoughts and experiences of training and development.

19:30 Looking backward, thinking forward

In response to the panel, and in relation to your own experience and context, you will work with fellow delegates to identify common threads and shape a series of questions which will be explored throughout the remainder of the conference

20:00 Drinks reception
Saturday 24th November
Time: 9:30am - 6pm with drinks reception to follow

09.30 Welcome and Refreshments

10:00 Conference Opening and Welcome

Opening Plenary with Simon Ward

11.15 Coffee Break

11:45 Talks and buzz groups

12:45 Lunch

13:45 Workshops

14:45 Coffee Break

15:00 Talks and buzz groups

16:00 Break

16:15 Open Space Technology

17.00 Closing Q&A Panel with Adrian Underhill, Fiona Dunlop, Jason Anderson and Marie Willoughby

17:45 Closing Talk

18:00 Drinks reception
Keynotes, Workshops and Q&A Panels
Our selection of speakers will incorporate teachers, teacher trainers, academic directors, school directors and key stakeholders in the teacher training industry. Together we will explore the future direction of the industry of teacher training from an academic and commercial perspective and seek answers to the questions: what do teachers and teacher trainers need now, what will they need in the future, and are our current courses delivering that? How can we ensure we are continually innovating and developing our existing courses to meet the changing needs of the teacher training market?
For group bookings and invoices for your tickets, please get in touch with us at conference@ihlondon.com.

Be a speaker at The Future of Training Conference

Have your say on The Future of Training. You can join Fiona Dunlop, Adrian Underhill and Simon Ward as an official speaker at the IH London Teacher Training Conference, 23 to 24 November 2018.

We are inviting speaker proposals for 45 minute talks or workshops. To be considered, please complete the speaker proposal form, which you can find here. As a speaker, you will get free entry to the conference to enjoy all the other talks and workshops too.

The application requires: Name, E-mail address, Session abstract (80 words), and Session summary (200 words).

Closing dates for submissions is Friday 31st August.
If you have any questions, please email conference@ihlondon.com

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International House Language School London

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The Future of Training Conference | International House London

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International House London is often regarded as the home of teacher training in ELT. Our founder pushed boundaries and developed the first teacher training qualification in 1962, which went on to become the CELTA we know today. The Future of Training conference will represent both our 65 year heritage and our tradition of innovation.

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September 8th - 9th 2018, Kyiv, Ukraine

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4th Cambridge English Teaching Awards Symposium is Hosted by International Language Centre and will take place in Kyiv, Ukraine on September 8th - 9th 2018

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Many thanks to Adi Rajan (@adi_rajan) for suggesting the topic and writing this month's #CELTAchat summary:

The topic of this month's #CELTAchat was learning styles to learning preferences and the participants were:

Fiona Price (@fionaljp), Giovanni Licata (@GioLic1976) Darren Bell (@bellinguist), What is ELT? (@whatiselt), Sandy Millin (@sandymillin), Adi Rajan (@adi_rajan), Matthew Noble (@tesolmatthew), Jo Gillespie (@jogkiwi)

The chat topic - how to make learning preferences useful, meaningful and evidence-based - was in response to the change in criterion 1b from learning styles to preferences which was in effect from May 2018. Participants discussed c hanges they were making to address this new focus on learning preferences.

What are learning preferences?

Fiona suggested defining 'learning preferences' because we can't substitute one term for another.

Giovanni said that he found Kathleen Graves' chapter on needs analysis and learning preferences in Designing Language Courses (2000) useful because it takes a socio-cultural approach. He added that he thinks " learning styles were too static to grasp the nature of learning. It was a kind of mechanistic approach to the learner. Preferences, on the other hand, are based on classroom observation rather than percentages. And the idea is that they CAN be challenged."

Sandy pointed out that preferences covered a host of areas including group/pair/alone, writing/speaking, reading/listening, translator/dictionary, standing/sitting/moving around and all of these aspects would be required for variety in lessons which Fiona suggested was important for moving out of one's comfort zone where learning preferences are seen as something you've become accustomed to and therefore would benefit from being challenged.

Adi thought that the notion of preferences came across as quite abstract to novice teachers and that the reason learning styles were so seductive was that they were concrete and reductive. He went to add that if we were to put our understanding of preferences in a framework, it would be popular, albeit reductive again.

Analysing needs and exploring preferences

Giovanni discussed the importance of embedding needs analysis into the course and that learning preferences are a part of needs analysis. However, he went on to add that it was important that trainees needed to channel information gathered from surveying students' learning preferences into lesson plans. This could be done after trainees have worked on the FOTL assignment when they could be asked to address learning preferences in the language analysis sections of their lesson plans and plan appropriate tools for clarifying meaning. Darren also agreed that this would help them adapt material based on learners' preferences. He mentioned a course he'd worked on where trainees got time at the end of TP to get feedback from TP students on the aspects of the lesson they liked. Sandy found getting trainees to analyse needs and apply these in plans challenging with larger groups.

Sandy wanted to know if FOTL assignments were based on the whole group or individual learners. Darren has experienced both but prefers that students write about the whole group. Giovanni's FOTL assignment is also based on the whole group and he felt that basing the FOTL assignment on the whole group would be an easy solution for making informed decisions in lesson planning in terms of preferences. Adi's assignment includes both the whole group and individual learners because although this involves more work, he believes it's useful for trainees to zoom out and then zoom in.

Giovanni suggested that the t erm "learning styles" favours Googling it and settling for the first results (which incidentally brings up VARK related links). Jo explained that it's important to be aware of and include activities that draw on VARK as good practice but not label learners.

@whatiselt and Giovanni felt that their learners were going beyond VARK while investigating the learner. However, Adi found trainees administering questionnaires that looked at broader preferences for the FOTL assignment but that they also used VARK questionnaires despite having explored the futility of these surveys.

Darren asked what people thought about the "learner's preference for translation as a way of checking their own understanding of language in a monolingual context?" Giovanni thought this was a good idea and that if students had a preference for L1 as a way of checking understanding, it could be incorporated along with CCQs in lesson plans. @whatiselt felt that translation was underrated but cautioned against its use in monolingual contexts where trainees may rely too much on it since the CELTA ought to be preparing them for multilingual contexts as well. Adi felt that using multilingual approaches were relevant in his South Asian context but that trainees would require some input on it, something that's not practical with a packed input schedule.

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Hi CELTA and Trinity CertTESOL teacher trainers! #CELTAchat is on the first Monday of the month from 7-8pm GMT/ 8-9pm CET on Twitter and then goes into asynchronous mode for 24 hours for those trainers that can't make the live chat.

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#ELTchat summary March 2018: Professional Development for Teacher Trainers

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#ELTchat summary March 2018: Professional Development for Teacher Trainers

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How to sign up for Twitter and create a new Twitter account

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Not sure how to sign up for Twitter? Follow our instructions and recommended tips to get started on Twitter today.

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How do I join a group? | Facebook Help Center | Facebook

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First go to a group if you want to join.

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ELT Lesson Observations and Feedback Handbook

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ELT Lesson Observations and Feedback Handbook

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By Jeanette Barsdell

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elt lesson observation and feedback handbook

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Amazon.co.uk: ELT lesson observation and feedback handbook

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Amazon.co.uk: ELT lesson observation and feedback handbook

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By Scott Thornbury and Peter Watkins

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More experienced tutors sharing ideas/ materials

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More experienced tutors sharing ideas/ materials

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Ask for/ volunteer help

Collaborate with each other/ with centre

Standardise together to support marking assignments

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ELT Training & Facebook groups - see Websites

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More experienced tutors sharing ideas/ materials - see From Peers

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Reflect on your feedback by recording yourself 

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Reflect on your feedback by recording yourself 

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– see ideas on ELT Training: Trainer resources website by Jo Gakonga

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ELT Lesson Observation & Feedback Handbook – see From Books

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ELT Lesson Observation & Feedback Handbook – see From Books

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Creating a culture of cycles of observation during TP feedback – trainers observe each other delivering feedback with a variety of trainees

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Creating a culture of cycles of observation during TP feedback – trainers observe each other delivering feedback with a variety of trainees

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Fronter - TP assessment standardisation videos

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Fronter - TP assessment standardisation videos

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Training from TinT to ACT to MCT - see guidelines from Cambridge

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Training from TinT to ACT to MCT - see guidelines from Cambridge

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Requirement for centres to offer a minimum of three courses to newly-accredited teacher trainers

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Requirement for centres to offer a minimum of three courses to newly-accredited teacher trainers

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CELTA Trainer in Training Guidelines V4.0