Category: conference review

business, conference review, guest post6 Comments

Guest post: BESIG Summer Symposium 2012 report

James Taylor

On 16 June 2012 the Besig Summer Symposium took place in Paris. Unfortunately I couldn’t be there, so I asked Mieke Kenis and Vicky Loras, two people who were lucky enough to be present, to report back for me.

I was really looking forward to the symposium for various reasons. It would be my first ever Besig event, David Crystal was going to be the plenary speaker and the programme looked very promising. Furthermore I was taking a colleague of mine, whom I was going to introduce to some Twitter friends. The train journey from Brussels to Paris wasn’t long enough to tell him all about the benefits of a Twitter PLN 🙂

Mieke with Sue Annan

But what was most exciting was the prospect of finally meeting Vicky Loras. We had been talking to each other on Twitter for some time when one evening, a few tweets led to our collaboration on some of Vicky’s poems. It was just great I was going to see her live 😉

Continue reading “Guest post: BESIG Summer Symposium 2012 report”

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IATEFL issues: People

James Taylor
Just a small part of the marvellous PLN at IATEFL this year.

For me, there’s no doubt what the highlight of any conference is. Yes, the presentations are great, and yes, it’s an opportunity to visit a great city, and yes, the parties are fun, but first and foremost, it’s about the people. Continue reading “IATEFL issues: People”

conference review, Dogme ELT, iatefl15 Comments

IATEFL Issues: Dogme (or Wandering Naked Through the Dogme Forest…)

James Taylor

So Dogme ELT was one of the big issues of the conference. Big surprise, I hear you say. Well I’m sorry if you’re tired hearing about it, but it’s not going away. If this conference proved anything, it showed firstly that there are still a lot of teachers who don’t know what Dogme ELT is, and secondly that even some of the ones who have heard of it don’t really know what it is, even though they think they do. More about that later… Continue reading “IATEFL Issues: Dogme (or Wandering Naked Through the Dogme Forest…)”

Ania Musielak, conference review4 Comments

A Weekend in Zug

James Taylor
Beautiful Zug

On September 17th I was fortunate enough to attend the English Teachers Association of Switzerland Special Interest Groups Day in gorgeous Zug, just a short train journey from Zurich. Among the many fascinating attendees were Mike Harrison, Ania Musielak and local resident Vicky Loras. As a way of reflecting on our weekend at the conference, we asked each other two questions to answer on our blogs. You can read Mike’s answers here, Vicky’s here, and my and Ania’s below. Continue reading “A Weekend in Zug”

conference review, iatefl6 Comments

IATEFL 2011 – A Summary in Springtime.

James Taylor
I wrote most of this post last Wednesday but I needed a week to sit on it, just to dwell on it a bit longer…

It’s a funny state, feeling tired and energised at the same time. It’s how I feel now, writing this on the Eurostar, winding its way from London to my current hometown of Brussels. I’m actually in the tunnel right now, and it’s not half as interesting as I expected. Exactly what I was expecting is another matter of course, especially since it isn’t made from glass and the view isn’t much to write home about. Continue reading “IATEFL 2011 – A Summary in Springtime.”