On Friday 29th October 2021, International House World Organisation held the 13th IH Teachers Online Conference.
If you missed any sessions, you can catch up below! All presentations are available on YouTube – click the session title to watch. Thank you to all our presenters!
7 steps to creative thinking in the classroom - John Hughes
Most teachers agree that creativity in the language classroom is a positive thing. However, many of us don’t always agree on what creativity means or how we might achieve it. In this webinar I’d like to explore our definitions of creativity and the reasons behind them. In particular, I’ll challenge the belief that effective creativity is only about thinking ‘outside the box’ when in fact effective creative thinking often occurs ‘inside the box’. By providing learners with frameworks and templates to work within, your students can use language more creatively, resulting in relevant, authentic and motivating communication. The webinar will include seven steps towards making your teaching more creative with plenty of practical ideas which you can use with your students tomorrow.
John Hughes is an award-winning ELT author, trainer, and presenter. His course book series include ‘Life’ (National Geographic Learning) and ‘Business Result’ (Oxford University Press). He’s co-author of ‘Critical Thinking in ELT’ and the series editor of the ‘ETpedia’ Teacher Resource series (Pavilion ELT). He is a well-known conference presenter and also a part-time lecturer and tutor with Oxford University running courses on materials writing, critical thinking and online course design. His website is www.johnhugheselt.com.
Sustainability in the Language Classroom
Using Projects to Promote Environmental Awareness - Lyndsey Thompson, IH Sofia
Environmental topics in textbooks are rarely inspiring for our YLs; presentations on the plight of bees, the need for renewable resources and the consequences of climate change don’t seem to hit home. So how can we get our YLs engaged in topics which are focused on issues on the other side of the world? Or issues whose consequences seem irrelevantly distant to someone of only 10 years old?
Projects! We will explore how the use of projects in the classroom can be used to create a personal, meaningful connection to the topic of the environment. Promoting collaboration and a hands-on approach, projects will not only inspire your YLs, but it will also give them (and you!) ideas on how they can incorporate this important issue into their everyday lives.
Global guardians- igniting a passion for sustainable living in the next generation - Lydia Whiles and Marianthi Tassi, IH Merate | Como | Lecco
This session will take you through four exciting activities for children which focus on sustainability and the natural world. Taken from IH Team Lingue Merate | Como | Lecco's summer camp, 'Global Guardians', you'll see how the activities can be adapted for the 6-7 and 8-11 age groups.
Bubbling and buzzing at Lacunza IH San Sebastian - Michele Bogaard, Lacunza - IH San Sebastian
Teaching children that we are the masters of our fate!
A child’s voice and actions are just as important to the planet as that of a mighty world leader or any corporate giant. By learning today how we can bring the UN sustainability goals into the classroom, we as teachers can inform children how they can shape their own future. We can nurture affection for our natural surroundings and each other. It is as simple as a child planting a seed in a bee-friendly pollination garden. One small act shapes the fate of us all.
Michele will share ways to take sustainability ideas into our buildings, into the classroom and into their own communities.
Teaching Online
Lack of connection: how to get teens on side online - Sofia Leone, IH Palermo Language Centre
For many teachers the pre-lockdown face-to-face teenage classroom was already daunting and challenging enough without having to contend with new technology, fading motivation over a screen and overall low mood. This practical session aims to show you that the online teenage classroom doesn’t have to be like that: these tried and tested tips will get you well on your way to a more dynamic, varied and inclusive online set up. Improved (human) connection guaranteed.
Adapting Coursebook Material for a More Engaging Online Environment - Bojan Lazarevski, IH Moscow BKC
Approaching the coursebook the traditional way in an online setting has proven to be time-consuming and not as engaging as it would feel in the offline classroom. Luckily, the Internet offers many ways in which we can adapt the material to make it more appealing for the students and save valuable lesson time for the communicative activities we love.
My session will present a number of these methods for adapting coursebook material for online teaching.
Rapport and Motivation in Online Classes - David Crawford, IH Queretaro
In online classes, it can be difficult to make a personal connection with your students, especially if you have never met them before in person. Rapport and motivation, always key elements of the ESL class, have become even more critical to successful teaching. When we consider that these factors can have an impact on client satisfaction levels, in the long term, this could determine whether students will continue their classes with your school.
This session will serve teachers by showing them ways to increase and maintain their rapport in online classes and motivate students.
Practical Ideas from the experts
Teaching in the Twenties - easy as ABC? - Lucie Cotterill, IH British School Reggio Calabria, IH World and IH OTTI
"Easy" would rarely be an adjective of choice to describe teaching, and especially over the last 18 months. Teachers have had to rapidly develop a new range of skills in order to continue to deliver engaging and effective lessons and many of these skills will continue to be used in the years that come. In this talk, I'll be focussing on an ABC of my learning in three key areas, and sharing a range of practical ideas for you to use in your own teaching.
Top Tips for Teaching 121 Online - Emma Cresswell, IH OTTI
We’ve seen over the last 18 months how distances can be reduced, or even overcome, by online video conference platforms such as Zoom. Add to this the seemingly never-ending growth of online teaching platforms and websites, there has never been a better time to teach 121 classes online. But how can you make yourself and your classes stand out in an ever-increasing and competitive market?
In this 20 minute talk we will be looking at what makes a great 121 teacher, as well as demoing 3 very practical activities that you can take straight into your next 121 class.
Cross-linguistic mediation - Ethan Mansur, IH Madrid
Cross-linguistic mediation is a very common way for our students to use their English out in the real world, but it is a set of skills that we rarely, if ever, practice in class. In this talk, we’ll start by defining cross-linguistic mediation, take a look at some engaging, authentic activities which can help students improve their cross-linguistic mediation skills, and then finish by discussing a couple challenges to running this type of activity in class.
To CLIL or not to CLIL? (…and what’s the big deal about CLIL, anyway?) Amanda McLoughlin
BCLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) has been around for a while now, but what exactly do CLIL teachers do that makes them different from language teachers or subject teachers? What makes a good CLIL teacher? And can you ‘do’ CLIL in a language classroom too? In this session aimed at CLIL-pros and CLIL-newbies alike, we’ll be taking a closer look at what’s behind CLIL and thinking about what makes CLIL teachers special and if there is anything that language teachers can learn from their CLIL counterparts.
Amanda Mcloughlin is an experienced teacher and teacher trainer. Since 2001 she has been an EFL teacher and teacher trainer specialising in both online and face to face methodology courses including CLIL for the Basque Government, the Government of Navarra, Castilla y Leon, Communidad de Murcia and La Rioja in Spain. She has been a tutor for British Council for in house CiSELT and TYLEC courses and a local tutor for DELTA. Since 2016 she has collaborated as a trainer with Oxford University Press specialising in CLIL and EFL courses for primary and secondary teachers across Spain. She has made many conference presentations at national and international ELT and CLIL conferences.
We have lots of different professional development online courses, find out more here >> IH OTTI Courses