Gabby Maguire

1. GramArt: presentation and practice of grammar through visual stimuli

So often teachers and students experience grammar presentation and practice as dry, board (bored?) -focussed, form-driven exercise completion. This session aims to contextualise grammar visually and show how pictures can be a springboard for meaningful, memorable grammar acquisition. This workshop is intended for general English teachers who wish to refresh and develop their approaches to teaching grammar.

2. Taking the grrr out of Grammar

All too often both students and teachers, especially recently qualified teachers, are afraid of grammar, or at best have a negative attitude towards it. This seminar aims to deconstruct the rules-and-regulations image that grammar traditionally has, by redirecting the primary focus on language acquisition towards meaning and use. I hope to show through a variety of activities that grammar embedded in a meaningful context not only helps the student to understand the target structure, but also motivates him/her to focus on the form, as a means to using the language. Likewise, I will endeavor to demonstrate that by enabling the novice teacher to concentrate on what message the language conveys, relieves the stress of having to focus on unfamiliar grammar terminology.

3. Get it in writing

Teachers often tend to avoid "doing" writing in class – preferring to get the students to do written work at home. In this session I will show how "doing" writing in class can be meaningful, useful, communicative and fun. You should leave this session with lots of ideas to put into practice in your classes on Monday!

Johanna Stirling

Plenaries

1. Developing Writing Skills

How can we motivate learners to write in English? Why is writing difficult? How can we help make writing in English fun, natural and achievable? How can we help learners to write words (spelling), sentences and short texts? And finally how can we correct their writing? To answer these questions we’ll look at activities from (English in Mind) as well as some of the presenters’ own.

2. Where did I put my keys?

Remembering new language is one of the many challenges a student has to face. Although much class energy is spent teaching new language, making sure students keep it in their memories is something which is often neglected. We will explore the reasons why learners forget, then discuss the ways in which teachers can help students with different learning styles store and remember new language.

Workshops

1. Words, Words, Words

There are so many words in English! There’s so little time to teach them. So how can we maximise the learning of the vocabulary we do teach? In this interactive workshop we will explore ways to fast-track what we've taught into the long-term memory. We will explore a range of engaging classroom activities and techniques that can be used with any class.

2. Exam techniques – for teachers!

Whichever exam your students are preparing for, there’s a danger that the classes leading up to it can be a drag. Just how can you make a multiple-choice motivating, word formation fascinating, and a long turn lively? In this workshop we will look at some simple techniques for making exam practice engaging as well as useful beyond the exam.

3. Are your Classes Wonder-full?

Children are naturally full of wonder. They are curious about the world and their place within it. This thirst for new knowledge and understanding can make them great learners, but they can also be easily distracted. So how can we keep learners truly engaged in our lessons? Come and see a range of practical activities to make your classes more wonderful and wonderful.