Welcome to the second e-bulletin of 2009, and from all of us at IATEFL Poland - (Executive, Honorary, and Extended Committees) - we wish you all a Happy Christmas – full of joy and relaxation, plus festive fun, along with a prosperous New Year! The word ‘prosperous’ is particularly poignant given the state of the world’s economy in 2009, so let’s hope that 2010 brings us better fortunes financially.
In this edition of the e-bulletin, we provide a round-up of the latest news, and a sample of Geoff Tranter’s ‘humorous’ workshop at this year’s Poznań Conference. A fuller article reflecting his workshop will be available soon in the paper version of our Newsletter in January.
Some major developments have been taking place recently, and one change arising out of this busy period has been the appointment of a new Webmaster for our website. Mariusz ‘Lazarus’ Bartosik has just ‘taken over the reins’ from his predecessor, Jan Bogusławski, who has served IATEFL Poland very well for the past few years. Whilst we warmly welcome Mariusz to the IATEFL fold, we also wish Jan every success in his future career and life. Mariusz has a wide range of technical skills and interests, including: graphic design, multi-media applications, e-learning, 3D, music, and popular literature learning programmes.
He has travelled abroad with his project design work, and been successful in competitions, both in Marseilles, as well as San Jose, California. His interest in education is important, of course, and Mariusz’s Post-Diploma Studies at Warsaw University were based around e-learning programmes. His English is at an Advanced+ level, so we feel that Mariusz will be an invaluable addition to the ‘IATEFL team’.
Mariusz is not the only person keen on foreign competitions, it seems, as Monika Łodej, an IATEFL member from the Kielce Region, has just proved. Based at the English Department of Wszechnia Świętokrzyska, Katedra Filologii Angielskiej, in Kielce, Monika, representing IATEFL Poland, was awarded second place in the poster competition at the 28th Annual TESOL Colloquium, in Paris, in early November. Her presentation was entitled: ‘Teaching Reading to EFL dyslexic students’.
Some of you may recall Monika’s Poznań Conference workshop: ‘Dyslexia and the need for overlearning’. Indeed, Monika wants to introduce and organise a poster session at future IATEFL Conferences, in order to attract young researchers in education whose research outcome is hard to fit into a workshop format. She also thinks that a poster presentation is a good first step ‘on the road’ to full-blown presentations, for inexperienced teachers. We wish her well in that venture.
Monika’s next foray abroad will see her heading for the UK, in April, 2010, when she will present a workshop on ‘Dyslexia: obesity not measles’, at the IATEFL World Conference in Harrogate.
In another exciting development, talks have been on-going with the British Council regarding a new-style partnership between IATEFL Poland and the BC in Poland. Closer links have been the aim behind the talks, and a Memorandum of Understanding is due to be signed by both parties, as I write this. What does this mean for IATEFLERs? Well, there will be a pooling of resources, with both organisations contributing to each other’s newsletters. The BC have an in-depth newsletter aimed at teachers, so that would be an obvious outlet for inspiration and articles from our members. Their e-newsletter for learners, meanwhile, is full of topical and cultural articles which would give you useful materials for your lessons. We will give the BC a section in our publications, so look out for future inputs from them in our newsletters (paper and electronic versions).
We will work more closely together with regard to events. One such future event is likely to be an on-line link-up with the IATEFL World Harrogate Conference, in April 2010, when IATEFLERs can not only watch sessions from Harrogate, but also send in questions to major speakers, and join in topical forums and debates. This plan is already ‘in the pipeline’, with a probable venue in Warsaw for a communal gathering of interested teachers, whilst BC centres around the country will also provide teachers with on-line access to the Harrogate Conference. The ‘voice of Poland’ will clearly be heard ‘loud and clear’ not only at Harrogate, but also around the world, for the on-line Conference links are truly global. If this venture proves to be a success, then what next? Our own annual Conferences will be the next step in the process of engaging more and more teachers in the on-going events. Those who cannot attend a Conference will still be able to listen in and contribute to the sessions, and talk to the major speakers such as Paul Seligson, Jeremy Harmer, Mario Rinvolucri, Ken Wilson, etc. Excited? We are. We hope you will be, too.
Further details about Harrogate will be announced in the New Year. Let 2010 be the beginning of a very fruitful partnership between IATEFL and the BC!
Early December ushered in an eventful day for Kraków region and the BESIG group, as the two groups jointly organised a workshop day. Two speakers presented a session each:- Sylwester Lodej, President of IATEFL Poland, delivered a presentation on pronunciation, entitled: ‘What makes spoken English unbearable – a handful of thoughts and observations’, whilst Peter Whiley (yours truly) – conducted a presentation on how to conduct presentations! Peter’s session was entitled: ‘Presentations and Presentation skills’. A very enjoyable, useful time was had by all, according to the feedback. Many thanks go to the Bell School for hosting the event, as well as the two Co-ordinators – Maria Cyrankowska and Dorota Kulas.
At a recent Executive Committee meeting, attended by some Honorary Committee members, it was mutually agreed to change the name of the Honorary Committee, to one that better reflects its role within IATEFL. So, it will now be referred to as the Advisory Council, as it largely serves an advisory role for the Executive Committee, calling upon the vast experience of its members.
At Poznań, Geoff presented ‘Humour II’, in which he provided his audience with a massive amount of useful, humorous items for usage in the classroom, and discussed how, as teachers, we could use the materials. Here is a selective sample of what he presented, so we can end this bulletin on a festive note. The best of Geoff’s materials is yet to come! – wait for the Newslettter in January (the paper version).