04/2009 - Cardiff, UK



The IATEFL annual conference is taking place in Cardiff from 31st March to 4th April.
As part of this, the LTSig is organising a pre-conference event and a SIG day programme.



LTSIG Pre-conference Event

31st March 2009

This event is now full and we are unable to accept further registrations.

Learning through digital games

It is well-accepted that games are valuable in the language learning process. They are used by teachers in all levels of education and learners of all ages enjoy them. Digital games add to the variety of traditional games and can enrich a teacher's repertoire so that s/he may be able to respond to different students' needs.

The PCE will open with an introductory session exploring the value and benefits that games can bring to learning and finding out the participants interests and knowledge about games and their uses in education. It will then proceed to showcase the variety of digital games available and the additional benefits that they can contribute. The PCE will look at CD-based computer games, online games and games in virtual worlds. Participants will have plenty of time to experience the various games in hands-on exploratory sessions and discuss when and how the games used in the PCE can be incorporated into their teaching and what aims they can serve.

Invited speakers so far include:

Finally, the participants will be introduced to ways they might adapt/create games directly related to their specific context and go away with suitable links to explore once they return to their own contexts.



LTSIG Day Programme

1st April 2009

Venue: Room 100

The programme for the SIG day is:-

12:05 - 12:45
Susan Sheehan - Teachers - how technology can ensure their voice is heard.
Teacher input and involvement is vital for English language teaching projects. This presentation discusses how online collaboration can allow teachers to participate in projects and influence the decision-making process. A range of tools will be discussed with the advantages and disadvantages of each highlighted. Suggestions and recommendations will be offered on how to implement collaborative working across an institution.

 

13:45 - 14:25
Kirsty McGeoch - Digital storytelling in second language learning and teaching
Digital stories are engaging two to three-minute movies which weave together images, music and the voice of the narrator to tell meaningful stories from a person's life. This talk will describe the process of developing digital stories with groups of advanced English language learners. Examples of students' work will be shown and the responses to the project discussed.

Kirtsy's page on Cardiff On-line

 

14:40 - 15:10
Graham Stanley - Connect! Communicate! Collaborate! Social networking for learners and teachers
Social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Second Life, etc) and online publishing (blogs, wikis, podcasts) sites make connecting, communicating and collaborating with learners and colleagues easier than ever. In this session, we will be looking at practical ideas for teachers allowing the integration of these tools safely with learners of all ages.

 

15:10 - 15:20
Learning Technologies Special Interest Group Open Forum
You are most welcome to attend our Open Forum where the committee will give some feedback on what we have been doing during the year, seek comments and ideas from yourselves and ask for ideas for future events and activities.

 

15:55 - 16:20
Caroline Meek - Supporting virtual networks in the East Asia region
As part of a regional project called 'Access English', the British Council has been working with MoEs in five countries to develop effective online mechanisms in order to support teachers both in and out of the classroom. I will present the story so far -  the processes, the issues and learning points, and the progress.

Caroline's page on Cardiff On-line

 

16:35 - 17:15 - IATEFL LT SIG TRAVEL GRANT WINNER
Burcu Akyol - ELT meets the blogosphere
This presentation explores the limitless potential of blogs in the language classroom in a highly visual way and gives some practical ideas on setting up a blog for use with your own classes in the light of a successful experience creating and maintaining a blog throughout an academic year with 93 5th-grade students in a private school in Turkey.

Burcu's page on Cardiff On-line

 

17:30 - 17:55
Reima Al-Jarf - Improving freshman students' oral English with MP3 lessons
Saudi EFL freshman students who listened to spoken English lessons and their scripts on their BlackBerry, cell phones or MP3 players, in addition to in-class traditional instruction that depended on the textbook, made higher gains in listening comprehension ability, oral fluency, pronunciation correctness and vocabulary knowledge than students who received in-class traditional instruction only.

Reima's page on Cardiff On-line

 

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