The pre-season Seminar/workshop which was held on Saturday 21st June 2008 at the premises of LAL Malta was a great success and attracted almost 100 members. The morning proved to be useful and stimulating with an interesting mixture of traditional and new approaches to teaching EFL.
First Session
Creative Techniques for Teenagers by JeanTheuma Often teenage students come to class with a head full of grammar rules and no idea of how and when to apply them. Give them the motivation and opportunity to actually use the English that they already know by using creative project work. This session looks at ideas for projects and the class management you will need to create a co-operative, fun, lively learning environment.
Using Newspapers As a Resource by Alan Marsh We get daily newspapers from the UK and abroad - and they're a wonderful resource as authentic material to use in the class. In this practical ninety-minute workshop, Alan will demonstrate lots of engaging interactive activities based on newspapers.
Listening – The forgotten or brushed-aside skill by Sandra Attard-Montalto * Listening…. Teaching or Testing? Focus on Product or Focus on Process? If you’ve ever had students whose listening is weak, and you’re not sure how to deal with it, then Sandra will be giving a few tips on how to TEACH the skill rather than just test it. Contrary to most teachers’ hopes, it won’t be learnt on its own. So how can a teacher input?
Second Session
Teaching Vocabularyby Angie Conti * Teaching vocabulary - learners of all levels struggle to learn new words. Why is it so difficult for them? Why is vocabulary which is covered in class so often quickly forgotten? What can we do to help? In this session Angie will be looking at some ideas how we can help learners acquire, memorize and recall vocabulary.
Noticing and Consciousness-Raising: Catering for the Alternative Syllabus by Alan Marsh * Cousebook units and syllabus progression are largely based on data from second language acquisition research regarding the order in which learners acquire grammatical items. However, experienced teachers know that what gets taught doesn’t always get learnt, and that learners don’t move in lockstep. In this session Alan demonstrates some practical and stimulating techniques and activities which help learners to notice, and have awareness raised about, language they may not have acquired and which may otherwise simply pass them by.
Teaching and Enjoying the Words and Music of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell by Joe Busuttil * Earlier this year, IATEFL Literature, Media and Cultural Studies Special Interest Group organized a conference in Budapest, Hungary, with the theme Teaching and Enjoying the Words and Music of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. The harnessing of music as a teaching tool in the EFL classroom was instrumental to the conference, and many useful ideas and techniques were banded about. Joe Busuttil was all ears in the audience, and in this workshop, shares some practical playback for incorporating songs into a lesson. Pre-, while- and post listening activities such as gap fill exercises, Chinese Whispers, picture dictation, and others are used to exploit songs in terms of listening, speaking, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.