9:00–9:30 | REGISTRATION
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9:30–10:30
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 Leona PCU room 001
| Welcome and PlenaryLeona Svobodová: Can challenges of today turn out to be new beginnings? Apart from the usual range of qualities we possess, such as: being knowledgeable about our subject, being organised and reliable, kind, fun and empathetic, teachers are now being asked to expand their repertoire. In the last 2 or 3 years we have been expected to be turn into IT specialists overnight, as well as specialists on integrating students with special needs and different L1s or even to function as psychologists. Can these challenges benefit us in any way? Leona has been working in education for over 25 years, mostly in Hungary and the Czech Republic. Thanks to her long-term involvement in the CELTA and DELTA courses, she has worked with learners and trainee-teachers from many different countries and backgrounds, which is something she feels extremely lucky about. As well as working with future teachers at PCU, she is currently working at a secondary school enjoying the challenges of teaching adolescents. |
10:45–11:35
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 Anna AKCENT IH room 102
 Jaime AKCENT IH room 001
 Dana PCU room 004
 Zdeněk PCU room 103
| Workshops: Anna Kopecká: Critical Thinking in an English Classroom Is there any space for doubt in our lessons? Is it better to teach the skills and present the language to the students “on a tray”? Or shall we rather make them think about what they see and discover the vast unknown by themselves? What is more beneficial and what helps them learn and remember things better? Anna is a DELTA qualified English teacher and has been teaching for more than 25 years at AKCENT IH Prague. She has also worked in teacher development and teacher training for quite some time.
Jaime Lilley: May I suggest a bit of Action Research?
A look at how action research can transform classroom problems into opportunities for student-driven professional development. In this session, Jaime will present some examples of her own action research and you'll think about how this approach can be applied in your own context. Jaime has been working as a teacher for the past 18 years, and as a Cambridge teacher trainer for the past 16 years. She is currently the head of Teacher Training at Akcent International House, and teaches students through the British Council as well as independently, in addition to her classes at Prague City University. She enjoys literature, the arts, trashy TV and spending time with her husband and son.
Dana Hánková:Timelines for language presentation and practice Timelines help teachers and learners visualise important language concepts and support and check understanding. The seminar will review the key principles of effective timelines and compare varied approaches to timelines. Practical examples will demonstrate ways of using timelines to present language and how timelines could be used by learners in practice activities. Dana has been an English teacher for 37 years, teaching young learners and mainly adults in varied contexts and helping them succeed in language exams. Dana has also been a teacher trainer for 22 years, working on Cambridge CELTA and DELTA courses. She has also been extensively involved in the programme of AKCENT College, now Prague City Vysoká škola, supporting Czech teachers in gaining their professional qualification.
Zdeněk Starý: Jigsaw puzzle as communication. Can the linguistic means established by structural linguistics be used to describe understanding of linguistic communication? The paper answers NO and points towards explanation why it is so. The explanatory potential of linguistics is less potent than usually assumed. The presentation is illustrated. Zdeněk Starý is a general linguist and mathematician by education. His research and publishing is conducted in general linguistics. Significant grants: twice Fulbright scholar in the US, once Rockefeller Foundation grant holder (Ballagio, Italy), Principal researcher of Vědecký záměr (9 years, chair of about 100 member research team, Czechia). Three books (two in Karolinum, Charles University Prague, one in Mouton de Gruyter). |
11:45–12:35
|  Gareth room 001
 Martin PCU room 004
 Joe AKCENT IH room 102
 Květa PCU room 103
| Workshops: Gareth Davies: Once upon a time. The role of stories in the language classroom.
So much has been written about reading for pleasure as a way of developing our language skills, but whenever we do listening in class, there are always high, pressure comprehension check questions. Isn’t it time we had some listening for pleasure? In this session, we will look at, why storytelling is an effective teaching tool, how to become a better storyteller and ways to use storytelling in the classroom, so that students of all ages can relax and learn to enjoy listening in English. Gareth Davies, also known as Gareth the Storyteller, is a storyteller, teacher, teacher trainer, examiner and writer based in Pontypridd, South Wales. He has been involved in English language teaching since 1995 and has taught or trained in over 40 countries. Gareth is interested in creativity in the classroom and how storytelling techniques can help develop students written, spoken and reading skills as well as their listening skills. Away from teaching, Gareth is an author of fiction; his novel Humans, Being was published in 2019 and he is currently working on two others.
Martin Kräussl: Analysing advertisements and visual materials in English classes The goal of this workshop is to promote working with advertisements and visual material in general in the context of higher-level English classes. We will cover guidelines and specific techniques of visual grammar, and the classification of (visual) signs. We will also briefly discuss the subject of visual metaphor. The kinds of activities and concepts presented in the workshop will allow you to expand your portfolio of activities which cultivate not only language skills but also critical thinking. The workshop is tailored for teachers who work with students of B2 level or higher. Martin has 18 years of experience teaching English in high schools, language schools and private classes. Martin presently teaches English, British and American literature, and critical discourse analysis at PORG Libeň as well as advertising discourse at Prague City University. He also collaborates with the Faculty of Arts at Charles University to support the undergraduate education of future teachers through teaching practice.
Joseph Wilsdon (online): Exam Task Talk Time!
In this workshop, Joe will share ideas for exporting tasks
from Cambridge English exams into general English classes. He will show
that these tasks provide quick, low preparation but meaningful
opportunities for learners to speak English and generate ideas in class.
Participants will leave with some creative ideas to maximise learner
speaking and cut preparation time for their general English classes. Joe
first taught in 2002, so this year is his twentieth anniversary in
education. He has worked with learners of every age and ability in
Japan, Eritrea, Spain and Russia. He is currently working as Assistant
director of studies for young learners at Akcent IH Prague. In May of
this year, he spoke at the IATEFL conference in Belfast. His
professional interests include teaching exam classes, teaching with
limited resources and the dogme approach.
Květa Suchánková: Řečová cvičení a dramatizace ve výuce jazyků Řečová cvičení a dramatizace ve výuce jazyků Workshop bude zaměřen jako "nápadovník" pro učitele, kteří chtějí zařazovat do výuky jazyků prvky dramatizace a snaží se používat netradiční didaktické přístupy a strategie pro mluvní cvičení.
Seminář bude zaměřen prakticky. Poskytne náměty a zkušenosti jak v této oblasti udělat výuku poutavější. Květa Suchánková je učitelkou a lektorkou již 30 let. Pracovala na všech stupních státních škol, v pozici učitele nebo ředitele.Vzdělávání dospělých se paralelně k tomu věnuje posledních dvacet let. Zaměřuje se hlavně na podporu učitelů a jejich profesních kompetencí, v rámci čehož se zabývá i řečovou výchovou budoucích lektorů a učitelů.
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12:35–13:35
| LUNCH |
13:35–14:25
|  Jiří CUP room 004
 Markéta PCU AKCENT IH room 001
 Raul AKCENT IH room 102
 Ela PCU room 103 | Workshops: Jiří Horák: Life Skills Toolbox
In this seminar, we will focus on Cambridge Life Competencies – specifically on collaboration, social responsibilities and emotional development. I will share hands-on activities and ideas that I have gathered and implemented in my own classes along with useful resources that you can experiment with in your lessons. Jiří Horák works as a freelance teacher trainer for Cambridge University Press & Assessment based in the Czech Republic and he also makes videos for the YouTube channel “Learn English with Cambridge”. He is an IB certified English teacher with a vast experience in teaching kids, teens and adults. Currently, he is a teacher at Gymnázium Evolution in Prague.
Markéta Zusková: Skills-based activities for teens In
this practical workshop we will look at some basic characteristics of
teen students and you’ll have a chance to try a couple of skills-based
activities which I believe are motivating and fun for this particular
age group. Markéta is a
teacher, a teacher trainer and a Cambridge ESOL examiner. She works for
AKCENT IH Prague and she is involved in the teacher training programme
(IHCYLT, IHCPT). Her experience also includes training future teachers
at Akcent College. She graduated from Charles University (Teaching
English Language and Literature) and passed DELTA in 2005.
Raul Pope Farguell (online): Why don't students get better at listening the more you play the recording? In this session, we'll look at different ways to develop students listening skills and not just how to "practise listening". There will be a simple procedure to follow when doing a listening lesson, how you can explain the listening process to your students, and make the link between pronunciation and listening.
Raul is a CELTA trainer at Akcent and he has been teaching since
2008. In that time he has worked in Madrid, Florence, Tokyo, Moscow,
and Beijing. He has done his own research on how to help students be
more accurate in their writing and given conference talks on using exam
materials in general English courses, teaching Advanced and Proficiency,
and using mediation in the EFL classroom.
Ela Krejčová:
I suggest he (should) join our workshop - Linguistic Variation in the
Context of Second Language Learning (B2-C1 level) I suggest he join our workshop, I suggest he should join our workshop or I suggest he joins our workshop? Which option is the correct one? How do students at more advanced levels of English reflect on the current ongoing changes in the selected
grammatical areas of English? I will attempt to address these questions working with the corpus data and questionnaires handed to university students of English (B2-C1 level). Ela holds a Master’s degree in Czech and English Philology and Ph.D. in English linguistics from the Faculty of Arts, Palacký University in Olomouc. Currently, she is teaching English at the Faculty of
Mathematics and Physics, Charles University and morphology at Prague City University. If she is not analyzing languages, she goes hiking in the mountains or cycling. |
14:35–15:05
| room 001
| ERASMUS+ presentaions: Learning with ERASMUS Věra Šlechtová, Jana Chvátalová, Anna Kopecká, Markéta Zusková, Francesco Paturzo, Romana Milerová
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15:10–16:00
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 Gareth room 001
| Plenary: Gareth Davies: Beyond English - Teaching life skills in the English language classroom.
The pace of change in the modern world is startling. What was cool yesterday is old today, what was brand new technology last year is defunct the next. The world of work is changing too. Our students need to be prepared for a future where employers want more than academic skills and good university results. In this session, we will look at the life skills that we can build in our students, through the teaching of English, that will enable them to cope and prosper in an ever-changing world. Gareth Davies, also known as Gareth the Storyteller, is a
storyteller, teacher, teacher trainer, examiner and writer based in
Pontypridd, South Wales. He has been involved in English language
teaching since 1995 and has taught or trained in over 40 countries.
Gareth is interested in creativity in the classroom and how storytelling
techniques can help develop students written, spoken and reading skills
as well as their listening skills. Away from teaching, Gareth is an
author of fiction; his novel Humans, Being was published in 2019 and he
is currently working on two others.
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