International Teachers of English Conference  Abstracts

Plenary Session

The Role of the Teachers’ Association in English Teacher Professional Development

The ELT community in Central Asia is at such a stage of development that there is need not only for everyday activities but for continuing teacher development. Teachers are attracted by the prospect of learning about the latest developments in methodology and collecting a bagful of recipes for the classroom. However, there is little opportunity for teachers in remote villages to raise their professional level without going for a full-time course at a professional development institution located in the oblast center.

A distance-learning course could be a comprehensible decision in meeting the needs of such a category of teachers. It would provide them with easily accessible material, and the control of correctness of mastering the material. It may be achieved by self-correcting interactive tests and course works performance. The supervisors will have an opportunity to monitor success of performance of experimental teacher group. And it can best be done via a shared attitude that is investigative and participatory. The best way of raising teachers' awareness of their experience is to make a record of it for retrospective reflection.

Successful Collaboration between Non-native Speakers and Native Speakers of English

Panel participants will talk about the work that they are doing in Turkmenistan focusing on teacher trainings and student activities. The goal of the presentation is to inform teachers of the existence of Peace Corps in the area and the opportunities they have to work or speak with a native speaker as well as the possibilities of working for an organization like Peace Corps. Moreover, the goal is to encourage participants to work with Peace Corps Volunteers in the activities they do and serve as a counterpart at their school community.

English Language Fellows

This panel aims to introduce the English Language Fellows (ELFs) serving in the Central Asian and surrounding regions. ELFs serve as English language teachers and teacher-trainers in countries throughout the world. For this panel, the ELFs will talk about the work they have done in the past year, including innovative courses taught, programs implemented, and teacher-training seminars held. ELFs will also talk about ideas for future collaborative projects and teacher-training opportunities.

Professional Development Across Borders David Fay – Tashkent, Uzbekistan

In this plenary we will consider the idea of crossing borders, literally and figuratively, in order to improve ourselves as professionals. What can we learn from teaching practices in other countries? What are some of our main differences? Are they cultural, personal, or professional? What are our similarities? Are there some common goals that we should pursue? Video clips of teaching practices from around the world will be used to explore answers to these important questions. They are all from the Office of English Language Programs new training video, “Shaping the Way We Teach English.”

The Village Teaching Project: Spreading Knowledge through Networked Presentations

Networked presentations are a method of passing newly-learned information through recreating anything from the original presentation, whether it is a series of practical exercises or an entire seminar. It is extremely cost-effective, empowers all participants, and reaches populations that may otherwise be overlooked (in our example, rural teachers).

Sky-diving: A Metaphor for Teacher Development Dianne Millar – Tbilisi, Georgia

In this talk we will explore the topic of teacher development. How is teacher training different from teacher development? What are the necessary factors needed to bring about real development? What motivates teachers to change? What kinds of support do teachers need? What role can peers, administrators and teachers’ associations play in helping teachers to develop? What can we do after the CATEC conference to continue our professional development? And what on earth does sky-diving have to do with any of this?