2015-Sep-25 Friday at the first SKA ELT Conference / Bratislava,SK

Again, so lucky to be part of all this!
But, all in order.

After the successful coooperation at ELTForum.sk 2013 and the organization of ELTForum.sk 2014 (more on the organization here), the Slovak Chamber of English Teachers (SKA/SCET) have decided, as an IATEFL member, to organize its own, smaller but cosier, conference in September.

The most work done since the decision earlier this year was done by Lucia Otrísalová (on the left, Comenius University, Faculty of Philosophy, English and American Studies) and Lynda Steyne (on the right). Lucia was crucial to the organisation in gaining the support of her faculty, and especially the beautiful premises connected with the Moyzes Hall, the original broadcasting place of the Slovak Radio and now a concert hall (see my pictures from there just the week before). She has also got the student volunteers to help with the conference itself and done a lot of actual work on putting it all together. Lynda, she has been here for just everything else!

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

After Lynda I should mention Ilonka Sostronek, who is in charge of the Chamber memberships and along with Lynda and Lucia, helped me a lot with the invoicing for the conference (yes, me and invoicing!). Here she is, in her usual attitude:

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

The conference itself started on a Friday evening with a lovely performance by the English learning pupils from Tilgnerka. , Lynda's former school as an English teacher.

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Here they are in front of the already prepared first slide of Péter Medgyes' plenary

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

And here is Péter himself, one of the funniest and brightest English professors not only in Hungary, preparing for his plenary:

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

And here are his plenary slides, although they won't tell you much without his lovely insights like this one:

“The bad news is that we are linguistically handicapped – there is no way we can emulate native speakers in terms of their English-language competence. The good news is that we can (a) provide a better learner model for imitation; (b) teach language learning strategies more effectively; (c) supply learners with more information about the English language; (d) anticipate and prevent language difficulties more successfully; (e) be more empathetic to the needs and problems of learners; (f) make better use of the learners’ mother tongue. The aim of this plenary is to discuss these controversial claims, with the final message that natives and non-natives are potentially equally effective teachers.”

After the warm reception of the plenary, it was time for three rounds of workshops:
First, Angelos Bollas has shown us a picture of himself, showing An image is worth… All language skills and systems

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Here are the sketchnotes from his workshop, beautifully done by Mike Harrison

Second were George M. Chinnery & Gergo Santha with What’s in it for me? A complete guide to RELO for teachers

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Third, my countryman Martin Jelínek has told us Whatever you say, say it right

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Fourth, Eddy Moran has told us all about Mashups: Combining Web 2.0 technologies to produce interactive language learning actvities

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Barb Sakamoto, the second plenary speaker has warmed u the Moyzes Hall in her workshop Creative teaching for 21st century learners

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

In the second round of workshops, there was Elena Kováčiková with Different Learners in your Language Class 

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Candy Fresacher with Finding your students’ strengths: The job interview

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Jasmina Milicevic with Dare to be different 

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Frank Prescott has told us all about Using fieldwork for language learning

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Anica Dokić with Let's Celebrate

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Mike Harisson (the author of the earlier sketch notes)  explained What has Swiss cheese got to do with language teaching?

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Šárka Dohnalová gave us practical overview of Multisensory drama for teaching literature and history

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

And finally, David Fisher (of Bear Theatre) has shown us We can all use theatre as a tool for teaching in his evening plenary in the beautiful Moyzes Hall.

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

The reception was all that he hoped for:

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

Some people (Autumn!) were even shooting at him,

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

..while others (like Barbie Bujtás here) died at his defence.

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

And thankfully, many people stayed to talk over a glass of wine and some pagáče

From 2015-09-25 SKA ELT Conference Day 1

To be continued.