Welcome from English UK and opening plenary:
Second customer revolution: putting the right staff before the customer

The first customer revolution placed the student and other external customers at the heart of everything we do. In this talk, we will discuss how the second customer revolution involves putting customer-focused internal customers (staff, such as teachers) first, and applying customer service models to the internal customer journey (recruitment, inductions, support, communication, training, feedback). We will discuss how we can embed staff wellbeing and engagement into our working practices and review research that indicates that this approach benefits all stakeholders, including directors, managers, teachers and students alike. This talk will help you plot improvements to your own internal customer journeys.  

George Pickering is an educational coach, trainer and consultant, who has worked in over 65 countries, but in only one in the last year. He is the academic director of the English UK Diploma in English Language Teaching Management (DELTM) and a tutor on the International Diploma in Language Teaching Management (IDLTM). George is a senior inspector of language schools for the British Council (Accreditation UK) and was a trustee of IATEFL for 12 years. 

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Recruiting safely in ELT

We hear the phrase "Safer Recruitment" but do we fully understand the complexities involved? Recruiting safely is an important part of the whole safer school culture and we need to ensure that everyone involved in recruiting understands the role they are playing in protecting this. This session will provide a brief overview of the processes and will highlight the changes raised in legislation including KCSIE and post Brexit requirements.

A freelance safeguarding trainer with many years' experience of working within the ELT sector, Barbara Lewin delivers a variety of safeguarding sessions including Advanced and Specialist training and recruiting safely. In 2016, Barbara founded the Sussex Safeguarding Forum to share advice, liaise with the relevant local authorities and deliver bespoke training within the region. A background in HR and an FCIPD, she is also a Mental Health First Aider for both Adult and Youth.

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Bouncebackability and resilience

Over the last year our sector has faced many serious challenges. Organisations have struggled, and leadership has been tested in ways that couldn't have been envisaged. In this talk, Andy will look at what it means for an organisation to be resilient, and how organisations can bounce back from the current situation, as well as looking at the leadership skills needed to get there.

Andy Hockley is a freelance educational management trainer. He has been training managers for 20 years. He is co-author of 'From Teacher to Manager' (CUP, 2008), 'Managing Education in the Digital Age' (The Round, 2014), and co-author of the soon to be published "Managing Technological Change" (CUP 2021). He is the co-ordinator of IATEFL's Leadership and Management Special Interest Group (LAMSIG).

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Challenging BAME under-representation in EFL

There are few minorities in leadership positions in education. Jameela's research poses the pertinent questions - why do BAME teachers choose a career in teaching? What are the reasons behind BAME teachers deciding to pursue – or indeed forgo the pursuit of - leadership roles? What can recruiters do to strengthen BAME representation in schools? It's time to have an, albeit uncomfortable, crucial conversation around diversity in EFL.  

Jameela Mohamed is a Director of Studies at EF Brighton and her teaching career has spanned both language schools and primary schools. As an Indo-Caribbean first-generation immigrant, and DoS, she has a personal and academic interest in BAME under-representation. Her research focusses on the complex and challenging area of diversity and she is excited to share her topical findings within a forum which looks to the future of EFL.

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Recruitment best practice post-Covid

Who would have thought this time last year that we would be talking about recruitment! However, as we start to move back towards normal, some centres will be looking at hiring again. With the focus on movements such as #Metoo and Black Lives Matter, ensuring that recruitment practices embrace diversity and equality of opportunity has become increasingly important. This session will look at the common pitfalls in recruitment and selection processes from screening CVs, interviewing, to offers and provide centres with guidance on how to avoid these and ensure that recruitment is effective, legal and encourages a diverse workforce.

Tommy King is a Beststart HR Consultant. Before joining Beststart, Tommy worked as Associate Director of HR at British Arab Commercial Bank however, he has since developed a range of industry experience including supporting the education and English language training sector. He has experience in employee relations, recruitment, redundancies, compensation and benefits, performance management, disciplinary and grievances. Notable recent projects have been a global redundancy programme; the formulation and introduction of values, competencies and behaviours; and successful 'return to normal' strategies for clients post-covid. Tommy is a Chartered Member of the CIPD, and is a fully qualified workplace mediator.

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Taking the lead toward educator wellbeing

This session addresses the shared responsibility of educational leaders in enhancing language teachers' wellbeing. Tammy will examine the characteristics of positive institutions and the affirming culture they nurture, and propose proactive measures to help teachers identify more strongly with their institutions, expand their autonomy, work with others, and respond positively to reforms and innovations, especially in the difficult pandemic times we currently are living. Because of the critical role of leaders in fostering teacher wellbeing, Tammy will discuss ways of providing teachers with space to reach their potential of being the best language teachers they possibly can while maintaining wellbeing and contentment.

Tammy Gregersen is Professor of TESOL at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. She has published extensively on individual differences, teacher education, nonverbal communication in language classrooms, positive psychology and language teacher wellbeing. She was awarded two Fulbright Scholar opportunities in Costa Rica and Chile.

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Project-based approaches in staff and organisation development

Since October 2020, English UK, British Council, NILE and IATEFL have coordinated a Partnered Remote Language Improvement Project (PRELIM), supporting remote learning partnerships between English UK centres and Teacher Association members from ODA countries all over the world, and in doing so, to help increase the range of English UK member centres getting involved in tendering processes and project work. A number of the participating English UK member centres began sharing stories of tangible development for their own staff who were involved in the project. We'll be sharing this evidence with you and suggesting practical management approaches that we have learned from our experiences.

Martyn Clarke is an Affiliate NILE trainer and module leader for the Management in Language Education course. He has been working in ELT for over 30 years on numerous education development projects in Africa, SE Asia, S. America and Europe. He is currently the NILE project manager of the PRELIM project (BC, EnglishUK, IATEFL).

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British Council inspections 2021

By mid-April, the industry should have more idea of how progress out of lockdown will affect ELT. It will be some time before inspecting returns to normal, however, language centres whose inspections were postponed from 2020 need to be inspected this year (even if not planning to re-open until 2022). If your language centre is now due for inspection in 2021, this session will give you more information on the plans.

Liz McLaren has worked for the British Council Accreditation Team for nearly 30 years. As Manager of the Accreditation Scheme, she has been responsible for several significant initiatives over the last 12 months as the Scheme has developed in response to the challenges of the pandemic.

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Transformational leadership: building a 21st century learning organisation 

Recently, we have seen upheaval and disruption on a global scale. The landscape within the field is rapidly changing and the stakes are high. How do we keep up with this change? How can we equip teachers with the skills that they need to move through this period of uncertainty towards a more stable future? In this talk Sarah will look at the themes of engagement, autonomy and sustainability, and identify ways in which transformational leadership can identify the need for change, create a vision to guide the change process, and ultimately articulate a clear vision for the future.

Sarah Mount is a founding Director of TransformELT. With 30 years' experience in international sales and marketing and business development she now works in the field of global education management. As a former school governor and project manager on an Erasmus Plus project, she has a particular interest in school development planning. Sarah has worked in as project manager on projects in Algeria, Ethiopia, Senegal/Côte D'Ivoire, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and France. Sarah co-founded the Reader Development Consultancy Read or Die and has worked extensively in the field of Reader Development.

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Online learning: moving out of crisis mode and into the new normal

In March 2020 our industry went through unprecedented upheaval. Virtually overnight providers were forced to move much – if not all – of their teaching online, becoming experts in Zoom or Teams along the way. Fast forward twelve months and many schools are still delivering online classes. This collaborative talk will look at the lessons we have learnt from the past year, and what the future may hold for online training.   

Andy Johnson has been working in teaching and training since 2001 and is responsible for the digital development of The London School of English. Through his work with clients, stakeholders and industry specialists, Andy is passionate about applying new technologies and ideas to produce bespoke training solutions and course delivery.

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Open space discussion sessions

Topics will be gathered on the day from you - the participants - and, in addition we'll be joined by experts on the following:

• ELT and the environment
• Equality, diversity and inclusion
• Accreditation UK
• Human Resources and people management

Closing plenary: Spoon, fork, hand, chopsticks

Perhaps within the next ten years there might be another dawn of a post-colonial world order and English language and culture will have to adjust.     

THEN and NOW  

Why is the past so present and  
what if the past could be present?  

The sun would still rise and set
the old order could be revisited.

We could revise words and
undo deeds.

We would reveal truth, accept, forgive and  
move on.

Until then, those three troublesome amigos  
truth, acceptance, and forgiveness will
remain apart.

Noreen Caplen-Spence is a teacher, a teacher educator and an AEN specialist. She has taught from primary to post-graduate level in Europe, Asia and the MENA region. Noreen set up and for ten years was the head of the ISC at Kent College Canterbury. She has worked on projects for the British Council, Pilgrims and the Esprit group of schools. She is a trustee of a charity Education 4 Diversity. Publications and materials can be found online on Google books and Slideshare.

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Quiz! Sponsored by Macmillan Education

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Approaches to inclusive, global materials for learning at all levels

Stimulating, real-world news videos embedding positive representations and inclusive values integrate equality, provoke critical thinking and encourage intersectional approaches. Sadly, text complexity often limits use to higher levels.

Participants will explore ways all learners can develop using diverse, inclusive content, with examples from Sensations English multi-level news videos. Global voices reflecting global English and sensitive representations of identities, contexts, beliefs and needs create memorable, empowering, language, skills and social development.

Adam Scott is a CELTA trainer, classroom researcher, teacher, materials writer, IATEFL PronSIG Joint Coordinator and ELT Specialist at Sensations English. He has wide-ranging interests across teacher development, language development, learner identity and inclusion, a career-long interest in advancing phonology practice, regularly contributes to international conferences and collaborates on DIY-CPD projects.

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The classroom in 2021: considering hybrid, blending and socially distancing

This session will focus on some practical considerations for the classroom in 2021, with a particular focus on the implications of hybrid learning, blended learning, and the socially distanced classroom. We will look at what some of these changes to our 'traditional' classroom mean in terms of material use, the staging of communicative activities, and assessment of success throughout the lesson. We will focus on these changes from the perspective of the teacher and what competencies might be considered more relevant in these new classroom contexts. 

Chris Farrell is the Head of Training and Development for the CES Group. He is the course coordinator of CES Direct Learning, which focuses on the creation and delivery of tutored online teaching and training courses. He chairs the English UK Teacher Development advisory group and is a guest lecturer at University College Dublin.

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Practical ways of including sustainability in your language classroom

In this session the panel will look at why teaching centres should make sustainability part of the topic of language lessons and will demonstrate some practical ideas on how this can be done in a variety of contexts and with different types of learners. Three teachers working in very different settings will present their ideas. 

Milica Vukadin has a B.Ed. and is currently working on her M.Ed. She specialises in teaching young and very young learners English and she is very passionate about environmental education, storytelling, and distance learning. Milica is also a teacher trainer and enjoys developing digital materials for learning English. 

Ben Crompton is a teacher and trainer based in Jáen, Spain, who has been working in ELT since 2008. He specialises in teaching very young learners and teens, and is keen to experiment with ways of keeping sustainable language teaching student-centred. Ben is currently working on his Trinity DipTESOL and is also the tutor on the online teacher development course Language Teaching for the Planet. 

Owain Llewellyn has been running ELTsustainable website since 2012 and is passionate about empowering others to take action to deal with the environmental emergency we face. He is currently writing his MA dissertation on the learner experience in an online language course and is an academic manager for courses for adult learners in Algiers. 

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IELTS writing made easy

Writing for exams is not only about the language. When it comes to IELTS, language (grammar and vocabulary) is only half of the final mark. The other half is all about structure and task achievement/response.

Using experience from working with IELTS students for several years, focussing specifically on writing, this session will demonstrate a comprehensive classification of writing tasks with an easy-to-follow structure that makes not only students', but teachers' lives easier.

Anastasia Gorlova is an experienced English teacher with an international background in translation, journalism and writing.

She has taught English in the UK, Kazakhstan and Turkey. Having obtained a Masters degree in Linguistics she has taught General and Business English as well as IELTS, TOEFL and Cambridge Exams and read lectures on contemporary linguistics, communication skills and literature.

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Investigating the impact of online eacher development courses

After five years of running online teacher development courses at NILE, they were keen to find out what impact they had had on participants themselves, their institutions and their students. Responses to their questionnaire to former participants suggests a significant impact on all three parties and in this talk NILE will share these findings for the benefit of other online providers.

Johanna Stirling is the NILE Online Academic Manager. She has developed, written and tutored online teacher development courses for NILE since 2014. She is also a materials writer, a teacher trainer, language teacher, and presenter. Besides online PD, her eclectic professional interests range from teaching spelling to using improv techniques in language education to helping green up the ELT business.

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Helping neurodiverse learners prepare for exams 

Exams are daunting for everybody, but for neurodiverse learners (e.g. with dyslexia, ADHD, etc) there are extra layers of challenge that we need to help them overcome so that they can demonstrate their learning.

This session considers exam access arrangements, and exam techniques that make the most of them. Participants will consider what is appropriate in their own contexts, and how they can best prepare their learners to succeed in formal assessments.

Dr Anne Margaret Smith has taught English for over 30 years in several countries. She is the co-ordinator of the IATEFL SIG: Inclusive Practices and SEN. She is also a dyslexia specialist tutor and assessor, and currently training to be a Speech and Language Therapist. Her company, ELT well, offers materials and training to teachers who would like to be confident in including all their learners effectively.

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Paperless teaching – good for your students, good for the environment 

From heads-up learning to collaborative tasks, it has been shown time and again that relying on paper handouts or coursebooks is not the key to successful learning (although of course they can have their place). In this talk, Jo will give you five pedagogical reasons why you should go paperless, and 10 tips on how to do it. 

Jo Kroussaniotakis has been in TEFL for longer than she cares to remember, even if she could! She has worked her way around independent London schools, working her way to the renowned Wimbledon School of English. She now works as the Director of Studies at WSE and is passionate about continuing the school's tradition of teaching excellence. 

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Latest assessment solutions from LanguageCert: the perfect fit (pre-recorded)

During a constantly changing and challenging global environment, LanguageCert has continued to fully support test centres and test takers, offering enhanced services as well as adding exciting and innovative exams to their existing portfolio. Join LanguageCert to discover more about how they can transform your assessment experience, offering a perfect fit for teachers and learners. 

Marios Molfetas was appointed Responsible Officer for LanguageCert by the Board of Directors in 2016 and he has been driving the languages assessment development programmes for PeopleCert since their inception. As LanguageCert Executive Director he is overall responsible for LanguageCert's strategy, new qualifications development, partnerships & contract management and high level for all its activities.

Janet Golding is an Academic Support Consultant at LanguageCert. Focusing on the awarding body's portfolio of English Language qualifications, she supports teaching staff and test takers at LanguageCert test centres across the globe. She has worked in ELT in both state and private sectors, in UK and throughout Europe, for 35 years.

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From syntax to syringes: how to get started teaching English for healthcare (pre-recorded)

Don't know your article from your clavicle or your pancreas from your passive? Don't worry. In this seminar, Rebecca will talk about how to get into teaching English to healthcare professionals. She'll tell you how to get started, what healthcare professionals tend to want and need, give an overview of the (free) OET preparation provider programme and share tips and materials.  

Rebecca Bush is part of the Education Team at OET, supporting candidates, teachers and institutions around the world. She presents popular fortnightly Facebook Live Q+A sessions and helps teachers and institutions through the OET preparation provider programme. 

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The native factor and the last five years

Five years ago Silvana Richardson gave one of the greatest plenary sessions at IATEFL 2016. Meticulously researched, excellently delivered and grounded in real experience, Silvana effectively dismantled many of the surviving myths supporting the idea of native English speaker teachers and made sure the discussion was put under the glare of the ELT spotlight.

Now we are five years on. With discussions in society around equality, diversity and fairness gathering pace and ever more visible in society, Silvana considers our industry and what, if anything, has changed since 2016 and how we might think about moving forwards to have a more equitable post-pandemic ELT industry.

Silvana will be introduced by author, blogger, trainer and teacher Chia Suan Chong, who will also join Silvana to discuss aspects of the presentation. Chia Suan speaks English and Mandarin as first languages, and also speaks Japanese, Spanish and Italian. She has written extensively on intercultural communication and on native and non-native speaker considerations and interactions in EFL teaching and learning. We are exceptionally proud to have two key thinkers on our programme to talk about this topic.

Silvana Richardson is Head of Education at Bell Educational Services and Strategic Education Advisor at the Bell Foundation. She is a guest lecturer on English as an Additional Language at the Faculty of Education, Cambridge University and has been Academic Director of Bell Teacher Campus, Cambridge and Course Director of the Bell Online Delta. Silvana has over 30 years of experience in various roles: teacher, teacher educator, academic manager, materials writer and consultant.  

Chia Suan Chong is a writer, communication skills trainer and a teacher trainer. She is the author of Successful International Communication and specialises in interactive workshops that encourage reflection for more effective international communication and improved collaboration. Currently based in York, Chia was English Teaching Professional's award-winning resident blogger between 2012 and 2019 and is a co-author for an integrated series currently in development with National Geographic Learning. 

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Virtual Reality: gimmick or effective learning tool?

EC recently developed VR courses for adults and young learners both as full courses and as a supplement to flat screen lessons.

In this talk the speakers will take you through their journey from sceptics to believers, outlining how they identified the real benefits of VR, through research and trial, for developing communication skills, and how they used these as a base to create engaging lessons that deliver real learning outcomes. They will discuss what further research is planned through observation, feedback and action research.

EC use Immerse, but their talk can be applied to all VR platforms.

David Byrne has worked with EC English for over 10 years. In that time he has been a teacher, a director of studies and is now the Curriculum Manager. In his free time, he co-writes a popular blog, articles on effective teaching, and has co-written a teachers' resource book.

Gill Davidson started teaching in 1994 in Slovakia before moving to Indonesia, Russia and back to the UK in 2006. Having carried out a variety of roles in teaching, curriculum and materials development and teacher management, she has been Group Academic Director for EC English since 2015.

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Creating more inclusive learning experiences

The global pandemic of 2020 led to an unprecedented rush to move courses online, which both highlighted and potentially exacerbated problems of access, equality and inclusion for many learners worldwide. In this session, we'll share some of the insights, tips and surprises we've encountered as we've been learning about how teachers and course designers can not only 'build back better' after COVID-19 – but build back fairer.

Laura Patsko is a researcher and teacher trainer who's currently working as a learning experience consultant with LearnJam on a project funded by Innovate UK, focusing on EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion). She specialises in teacher development, online learning and how to use English clearly and effectively when communicating with international audiences.

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"Oh crumbs, how do I deal with that?!" Diversity and inclusion in an ever-changing world

Teaching in any classroom full of global, diverse individuals will always bring up a level of challenge. Ensuring that everyone is included, and no one experiences prejudice of any kind is what we all strive for. We also know that achieving such a utopian space can be very challenging.

This session will focus on how to create inclusive spaces that are safe and enriching for students and teachers alike. Drawing on examples, both general and also focused on our current global situation (for example, the rise of anti-Asian racism), we'll explore coping mechanisms for the educator and action steps for the classroom. We'll discuss materials and how to use texts to ensure your classroom includes a variety of diverse narratives. You can expect a gorgeous selection of lovely take-home materials to leave with and, in addition, Charlotte will probably play a bit of Lady Gaga at the end.

Charlotte Williams is a BBC Learning English producer, EFL tutor and Diversity and Inclusivity advisor. She has worked in the world of EFL for just shy of a decade, and is passionate about ensuring that our educational spaces are safe and inclusive to allow our students to develop to the best of their ability.

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How to integrate soft skills into exam classes

Students often find exam preparation difficult, especially Cambridge Main Suite exams and IELTS, and likewise, teachers can find them challenging, too. This workshop will explore ways to help teachers focus on their students' soft skills such as group work, time management, critical thinking etc. and how to prepare them for their exams mentally, highlighting how they can overcome their mental blocks.

Melih Duman is a Delta-qualified EFL teacher with a background in American Studies combined with nearly ten years of professional experience in ELT sector. Melih has been teaching at Stafford House International for about two years, and he is an IELTS Subject Leader there. Having been trained as an IELTS Teacher Trainer at British Council Istanbul, IELTS is his specialism, alongside interests in further personal development and teacher training.

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What does it mean to teach culture in the English classroom?

Traditionally, teaching students English meant helping them to understand British or American ways of thinking and doing things. However, if most students are using English for international communication, how relevant or necessary is it for us to focus on the culture of 'native speaker' communities? What can we do to help them become more aware and adaptable to the different cultures they'll be interacting with? This session will look at practical ways we can help learners develop their intercultural competence.

Chia Suan Chong is a writer, communication skills trainer and a teacher trainer. She is the author of Successful International Communication and specialises in interactive workshops that encourage reflection for more effective international communication and improved collaboration. Currently based in York, Chia was English Teaching Professional's award-winning resident blogger between 2012 and 2019 and is a co-author for an integrated series currently in development with National Geographic Learning.

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The landscape of Green ELT

This session aims to provide a complete overview of Green ELT. The general climate and ecological background that ELT is facing and some of the problems, solutions and opportunities that are emerging will be discussed. Chris will describe actions that are available to ELT organisations and what individuals can do to play their part in addressing the crisis. He will consider psychological reactions to the emergency and advise on ways of overcoming denial, avoiding overwhelm and providing effective leadership. He will invite you to join ELT Footprint UK in helping our profession to emerge from Covid-19 on the right side of history, ready to play its part in a regenerative future.

Chris Etchells has spent a lifetime in ELT and is co-owner of English Country Schools, a flight-dependent summer school organisation. He's thought long and hard about how to reconcile his business interests with his dismay at the state of the planet and his instinct to do no harm. The result is ELT Footprint UK, which he will share with you in this session.

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Closing plenary: Climate action in language education: Impactful ways to integrate environmental issues in English language teaching

This session will be centred around the research strand of the British Council's new 'Climate Action in Language Education' project. The first section will be led by Christopher Graham who will briefly outline some of the headline findings in the research, and their possible classroom and institutional implications. Colm Downes will lead the second section and drawing on case studies of good practice from around the world, this session will focus on practical ways English language teachers can develop and deliver lessons with a sustainability focus, moving beyond traditional coursebook environment units. The third element will be led by Dianna Torosyan who will outline the project that led to the development, writing and publication of her 20-hour supplementary coursebook 'Our Planet' for students aged 10-14. 

Christopher Graham studied Politics at Warwick university, has a Cambridge DELTA and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a freelance English language teaching consultant and writer and has worked in the field since 1981 in over 30 countries. One of the founders of ELT Footprint, a 2020 ELTon winner, he is currently working for the British Council on the 'Climate Action in Language Education' project. 

Dianna Torosyan is a Master's student at UCL IOE. She is studying at the Education and International Development programme. She has co-authored a CBI book called "Our Planet" that focuses on teaching English and raising awareness of environmental issues. She has also developed English curricula for Chinese primary schools.

Colm Downes has been involved in language education for over 20 years across Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. He is currently the Director English, Education and Society at the British Council Indonesia. Publications include 'Cambridge English for Job Hunting' and 'English for UN Military Peacekeepers'.

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