ESOL Voices: Yorkshire and Humber Spring Conference

NATECLA's Yorkshire and Humberside branch is excited to announce details of their Spring Conference. Entitled 'ESOL Voices', the event will allow you take part in two practical workshops, listen to a stimulating keynote speaker, browse the resources exhibition and meet like minded practitioners over a tasty buffet lunch. 

The event will take place as follows:

• DATE: Saturday 14 May, 10:00 to 16:00
• WHERE: Leeds Beckett University, Rose Bowl (City Campus), Portland Crescent, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS1 3HB.
• COST: £15 (members), £25 (non-members)

>> Book online from only £15

Programme 

The conference's stimulating programme will be as follows:

10:00 - 10.30: Registration & exhibition
10.30 – 11.45: Workshop session 1 (see choices below)
11.45 - 13.00:  lunch, exhibition and Y&H AGM
13.00 – 14.15: Workshop session 2 (see choices below)
14:15-14:45: Keynote: 'What do Corpora  offer the ESOL  classroom?' by Ivor Timmis, Leeds Beckett University and  Diana  Tremayne, Calderdale College and NATECLA
14.45 – 15:00: Raffle and conference close

Workshop titles:

You can choose to attend one workshop in session 1 and one workshop in session 2.

 Session 1 - 10:30 - 11:45

• Using Phonics to teach ESOL, Alison Rose 
• The applications of positive psychology to ESOL, Aleks Palanac 
• Embedding employability skills into ESOL classes, Ania Banks 

Session 2 - 13:00 to 14:15

• Getting To Know You Dictation Activities, Michael Fennel 
• Nouns, not Verbs, Katie Baron 
• Developing independent learning through coaching, Naeema Hann and Elizabeth Newton

Workshop details

Session 1

Using Phonics to teach ESOL, Alison Rose 

I have been teaching pre- entry level ESOL adults for the last 6 years for East Berkshire FE College. These are mainly women and they all have a very low level of education and literacy in their own language. So I've written a programme to teach them to read using phonics. I've based it on the DFE Letters & Sounds programme written in 2007 for primary schools in the UK. It is rigorous and well structured and takes learners from the absolute basics of letter sounds and formation to reading complete texts. It is wonderful to watch the progress of these learners and having a step by step method really enables them to learn to read, for some of them, for the first time ever. I've been using and refining the worksheets with all the pre-entry classes and consider them valuable and worth sharing. My workshop would involve demonstrating how I use these sheets in class and discussing the difference between this type of teaching and traditional language teaching.

The applications of positive psychology to ESOL, Aleks Palanac 

As concepts such as "mindfulness" and "positive emotionality" have gained currency in many spheres of today's society, it has become pertinent to ask how such tenets of "positive psychology" might be applied in the ESOL classroom. This workshop will examine three theories: Learned Optimism (Seligman, 1991), Directed Motivational Currents (Dornyei, Ibrahim and Muir, 2015) and Mindful Learning (Langer, 1997). It will then discuss the implications of these theories for classroom practice, suggesting concrete strategies and activities to be used in class, employing the principles of positive psychology to inspire students and enhance learning.

Embedding employability skills into ESOL classes, Ania Banks 

The workshop is a result of my professional interest in teaching employability skills  as well as the classroom-based project that I conducted last year. It is full of practical tips on how to explicitly teach/embed hard (CVs, Interviews, etc.) and soft (teamwork, communication, etc.) employability skills in general English ESOL classes. All of the ideas have been tried out by my colleagues and evaluated by the students. The workshop itself will be fun, interactive and hopefully very informative.

Session 2

Getting To Know You Dictation Activities, Dr Michael Fennel

Dr. Michael Fennell is a Consultant in Pedagogy and Language Development for International Study Programmes. Teachers faced with a stream of new classes often neglect to share knowledge about themselves while grilling their students with language generating questions. Much learning potential may therefore be lost.  This workshop provides participants with hands on experience of 'Getting to Know You' activities which through practical, communicative, dictation provide practice in grammar and subject specific vocabulary while developing listening and speaking skills.

Nouns, not Verbs, Katie Baron

The big challenge in writing formal English is not Verb Tenses, but Noun Phrases, with their dependent adjectives and prepositions. This workshop will demonstrate the truth of this statement and furnish teachers with new equipment to tackle a complicated and under-taught topic.You can find out more about Katie Baron's work via her website, English for Everyone 2015 or contact her via her Twitter Handle, @KatieStAlbans.

Developing Independent Learning Through Coaching, Naeema Hann and Elizabeth Newton

We would all like our students to carry on learning beyond the classroom and use opportunities around them to improve their language. This workshop shares tools and findings from a project to develop a coaching programme for adult literacy and language learners to help them develop strategies and confidence to become effective learners. The workshop will be a hands on session with discussion around clips from coaching sessions. There will also be an opportunity to try out coaching strategies developed for this Erasmus+ project.

>> Book online from only £15