Transformational Potential of Blended Learning to Personalize Foreign Language Teaching in a Non-Linguistic Higher School

The importance of personalization of teaching a foreign language in a non-linguistic higher school resides in applying blended learning approach. The role of dynamic syllabus is crucial. Nowadays the use of information and communication technology and electronic language portfolio significantly enhance the learning process. It is evident that blended learning is an efficient educational model with great potential to increase students’ outcomes. Moreover, it creates exciting new roles for teachers and learners

Irina I. Klimova - Head of the Foreign Languages Department, PhD, professor, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation

Unreliable Narrators and Hidden Agendas: developing critical reading skills

One of the key principles of Communicative Language Teaching is the use of authentic texts. However, texts are all too often presented in a contextual vacuum as neutral and unproblematic. Students are rarely encouraged to interrogate texts, to consider the identity of the writer, the context of publication or the intended readership. If texts are only made to serve as vehicles for testing comprehension, we risk neglecting attitude, implication and sub-text

Alan Pulverness - Academic Director, Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE) and Course Leader for the NILE TEFL Delta Modules

How to maximize impact of language teaching – and make learning visible?

In these times of ever increasing pressure on maximizing effectiveness, often understood rather narrowly as students’ test scores, it is becoming more and more urgent to seek teaching strategies that can make significant difference, really and truly. That’s just what this session aims to achieve. In particular, we’ll look at how to prepare an impactful class, how to begin it, how to carry it out and how to evaluate its impact on our learners. Can you afford not to know how …?!

Grzegorz Spiewak - MA in Linguistics, Ph.D in English & Linguistics, the president of IATEFL Poland

Workshops

Workshop 1 Technology Assisted Language Learning

Marina Khalutina - Ph.D. in Linguistics, Senior Lecturer MSU

Workshop 2 Continuous Professional Development

Natalia Wright - Head of Languages Department at “Golden section” private school, Moscow, Russia. She has been an English teacher for 20 years. Being a student at NILE (MA in Language Education), her research interests include all aspects of language teaching, focusing in particular on the issue of holistic grammar. She worked as a regional British Council trainer from 2011-2013. In her spare time, she writes poetry. She has been a member of the Russian Writers’ Society since 2011.

Workshop 3 Teaching English for Academic Purposes

Maria Burova - Senior English teacher of the department of foreign languages 4 in MGIMO university, RSE task developer (FIPM), CELTA and DELTA, Cambridge speaking assessor (KET/PET/CAE)

Workshop 4 Business English, Materials and Methodology

Matt Vesty - English teacher, Teacher Trainer (Trinity Diploma TESOL in Progress) from Birmigham, UK