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The TESOL and IATEFL conferences

28.Mar.08

This week Eric has all the information you need on the upcoming TESOL and IATEFL conferences.

Well it’s just about time for the conference double-whammy of TESOL (New York, USA, April 2 – 5) and IATEFL (Exeter, UK, April 7 – 11). Unfortunately I won’t be going to TESOL but I will be spending 5 days at the IATEFL conference which I’m looking forward to – it’ll be great to see lots of friends and colleagues again and to get the chance to find out who’s doing what in the field of ELT.

Fortunately, for those of you not able to attend IATEFL in person, a good proportion of the conference will be available online in a number of ways. Of course that will include content, talks and opportunities for interaction for business English related matters. Here’s what is already available and what will be on offer during and after the conference itself.

An overview of what last year’s IATEFL online component had to offer is now available. This is a good indication of what this year will be like and will help you decide what parts of the online conference you might want to take part in.

The conference blog , updated by the online organisers. This contains a welcome from IATEFL president Marion Williams and general updates.

The online component for the conference itself has just gone live. Why not log in now and have a look around? Once the conference has begun the site will include:

Live streams of the plenary talks and some other events
Video recordings of a number of the sessions including Ian McMaster’s talk So who can’t you understand and why? on Wednesday, April 9
Audio recordings of many of the sessions including the talks given as part of the business English programme on Wednesday, April 9, and other BE-related talks throughout the five days
PowerPoint presentations and handouts of many of the talks
Online forums which allow you to discuss the talks you’ve listened to or watched online, or anything at all really. There is a dedicated business English forum which will be moderated by volunteers so the discussions should flow freely
Live chat sessions.

So all in all there will be a superb choice of content to listen to, watch and download, and opportunities to discuss them with other teachers from around the world. I know I won’t have time to attend all the sessions I’d like to so it’ll be great to be able to listen to the recordings once I’m back at my desk. I’m sure I’ll also get involved in some of the conversations on the site, so I might well meet you there. If you do manage to come along to the conference why not drop by and say hello – I’ll be giving a talk on Tuesday at 13.00. You might even want to stay for the talk :-)

All the best

Eric