Birmingham IATEFL Live Schedule Wednesday 13th April 2016

Birmingham IATEFL

Wednesday 13th April

0915-1025 OPENING PLENARY BY DAVID CRYSTAL
CHECK YOUR LOCAL TIME

Who would of thought it? The English language 1966-2066

Complaints about a supposed decline in standards of English continue to be made, with increasing frequency, in the British press. Although these are nothing new - as the long history of use of would of for would have illustrates - they do draw attention to the way we seem to be going through a period of unusually rapid language change. This paper illustrates the main changes in pronunciation, orthography, grammar, and vocabulary, discusses the chief factors involved - social mobility, globalization, and the Internet - and compares the changes that have taken place in the past fty years with those that are likely to take place in the next fty.

10:30    live studio starts

10:50    interview with Nicky Hockly

11:15    interview with Pete Sharma

11:30    interview with Adam Kightley

11:45    interview with Zeyneb Urkun 

12:00    interview with Silvana Richardson

12:15    interview with Jim Scrivener

12:30    interview with Gavin Dudeney

12:45    interview with George Pickering

13:00-14:00    break

14:00    interview with Hugh Dellar

14:00    interview with David Crystal

14:15    interview with Tessa Woodward

14:45    interview with Hornby scholars: Allwyn D'costa and Erkin Mukhammedor

15:00    interview with Hornby scholars: Mohammed Bashir and Abdallah Yousif

15:15    interview with Gail Ellis

15:30    interview with Hornby scholars Parwiz Hossain and Shoaib Jawad

15:45    interview with Alison Barrett

16:00    interview with Alan Maley

16:15    interview with Tim Phillips

17:20 - 18:25 BRITISH COUNCIL SIGNATURE EVENT
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Shakespeare lives: love, hate, death and desire in English language classroom

Speakers: Lisa Peter (The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust), Dr Christina Lim (lecturer, researcher and teacher educator), Shaheen Khan (actor), Lisa Peter (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust), Tonderai Munyevu (actor). Chaired by John Knagg, British Council.
Join the British Council to celebrate Shakespeare's work on teh 400th anniversary of his death. We will ecplore how Shakespeare has relevance to our society, students and classrooms today and how Shakespearecan speak to people from all around the world about universal human experiences like love, hate, death and desire.
The event will be practical, thought-provoking and fully interactive with the opportunity join in the discussion before, during and after, either in person and online. The audience will help to shape the event and on the day and participants will take away ideas to use in the classroom on how to address issues which feature in much of Shakespeare's work yet remain relevant today.

- See more at: Birmingham IATEFLBirmingham IATEFL

IATEFL Birmingham Online

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Join-IATEFL-Birmingham-live-online-from-Tuesday-12-April-.html?soid=1102090353602&aid=Ldd-1p_uZbY

Live coverage from IATEFL Birmingham Online begins on Tuesday 12 April, from 12.00 pm, UK time. Don't miss a thing! 

IATEFL President, Marjorie Rosenberg, gives you a warm welcome to the IATEFL Birmingham Conference.

Why not join one of the highlights of the English language teaching calendar? 

I am joining and you?

Localization: Taking eLearning Above And Beyond!

Localization: Taking eLearning Above And Beyond!:

Want to know if Localization can revolutionize eLearning? Check why Localization is the next big eLearning revolution and take eLearning above and beyond.

Education is coming out of the walled classrooms and crossing all physical barriers to empower hard to reach learners in the form of eLearning. But for the exponents of eLearning, it is important to understand that in order for this model to succeed, we cannot have a “one-size-fits-all” concept. The internet has melted the geographic barrier, but has it melted the language barrier too? English is still the most preferred medium of instruction for eLearning course developers, but in order to improve its efficacy, an eLearning course must be localized to suit the needs of the remote learner. While translating to native languages is one aspect, the power of localization can also be broadened to include the concept of on-demand learning. This article attempts to explore how localization can be the next big revolution in eLearning.

In its traditional definition, localization means to adapt a particular product to suit the linguistic and cultural sensibilities of a particular audience. When it comes to creating eLearning courses, developers are still using English to reach to a global audience. This is evident in the result of a Google search of “Top eLearning courses” (the results point to all English learning courses). But English is only the third spoken language in the world. Localizing a course to Mandarin, Spanish, or Hindi will give any eLearning course a mind-boggling number of audiences. 

http://elearningindustry.com/localization-taking-elearning-beyond 

Future Ready Leaders Trailer

Personalized Professional Learning for Future Ready Leaders 

Blended Teaching vs Flipped Teaching

Blended Learning vs Flipped Learning

By Halina Ostańkowicz- Bazan

According to Horn and Staker, blended learning is:

“Any time a student learns, at least in part, at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and, at least in part, through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace. The modalities along each student’s learning path within a course or subject are connected to provide an integrated learning experience.”

The most significant piece of the definition is the “element of student control” highlighting the flowing instructional models to enable improved student-centered learning, giving students greater than before control over the time, place, path, and/or the step of their learning tracks.

Blended learning offers a balanced approach, focused on redesigning instructional models first, then applying technology, not as the driver, but as the supporter, for high-quality learning experiences that allow a teacher to personalize and make the most of the learning.

The technology helps to supply instructors with data, expand student choices for educational resources and learning materials, and deliver opportunities for students to practice and to exhibit the high-character performance.

Broadly speaking, I am for blended learning, which means taking advantage of both traditional f2f techniques and possibilities presented by new technologies.

Flipped Classrooms generally provides pre-recorded material (video or audio) followed by classroom activities. Learners watch the video before or after the class, this happens outside F2F meetings. Thank’s to that classroom time can be used for interaction, such as Q@A sessions, discussions, exercises other learning activities.

This is the perfect way to “invert” doings in the class with activities outside the teaching space.

Flipping is not just about video and technology.

Moreover, technology does not replace good teaching. It enhances good teaching.

Flipping helps us to get the best use of class time. It is a methodology that permits the instructor to involve students intensely in the collaborative community and produce a shared problem-solving workshop.

My students very frequently have to find some info, largely online, and in class, they present materials on a specific subject. We use it as a foundation for deeper analysis and actions.

Sometimes, instead of giving lectures, I call for scholars to watch chosen PPT, videos or podcasts at home, so when we gather in the course of work, we are able to concentrate on the debate, as well as interpretation of the problem.

In my point of view, there are some significant ways to involve students during a lecture such as short demonstrations, surveyed by group debate as well as PPT lecture, followed by expounding, discussing and particularizing the material.

I am convinced that dialogue is necessary for my Polish History and Culture lectures. I take advantage of novel methods to build up active learning skills and to encourage students toward further learning, or else to mature students' thinking skills. For most of my learners, the techniques I use are fresh. They come to study in Poland from all the Globe and the majority of them are not used to blended learning as well as flipped classes.

They have to be talked into active learning and taking the responsibility of their own knowledge. My role as a teacher is to be a learning coach, mentor and a source of support as well as inspiration.

Flipping provides students opportunities such as; interactive questioning, mind exploration, answer “why this is important for me to recognize this?” and student-created content.

During my language classes, I also use flipped methods because I believe in learning by researching as well as having fun while studying.

Wolff, Lutz-Christian, and Jenny Chan. "Defining Flipped Classrooms. “Flipped Classrooms for Legal Education. Springer Singapore, 2016. 9-13.

http://www.inacol.org/news/what-is-blended-learning/

http://www.christenseninstitute.org/blended-learning/

Technology in Education

http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/index.html

Technology is everywhere in education: Public schools in the United States now provide at least one computer for every five students. They spend more than $3 billion per year on digital content. Led by the federal government, the country is in the midst of a massive effort to make affordable high-speed Internet and free online teaching resources available to even the most rural and remote schools. And in 2015-16, for the first time, more state standardized tests for the elementary and middle grades will be administered via technology than by paper and pencil.

Easter Traditions 2015

 Easter is coming with all Polish customs and traditions.