BILC 2012 Prague Professional Development Opportunities at DSL and in the UK Jean Meakin Senior Lecturer, English Language Wing, Defence School of Languages, UK

Outline ‘Best Practice’ Staff Development Programme at DSL The IATEFL Conference in the UK

‘Best Practice’ Mission Deliver a staff development programme of sharing best practice for instructors across the whole of DSL Aims Share skills and ideas Get to know colleagues Increase uniformity

Started May 2007 Workshops on different topics related to teaching All instructors encouraged to attend Sessions facilitated by different instructors from across the School Every 4 weeks, term time, Weds 3pm-4.30pm The Programme

The Sessions Refreshments Introduction by facilitator Group discussions Plenary feedback

Topics See handout

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Lessons Learnt Informal 3 sessions per term No need for write-ups Keep attendance register, no certificates Refreshments Publicise widely, various media Find facilitators well in advance Brief facilitators fully

Feedback Students Instructors Inspectors 41 sessions so far, more planned Average attendance 24 instructors

IATEFL International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language ‘Linking, developing and supporting English Language Teaching professionals worldwide’

IATEFL Background Founded in UK, 1967 Annual Conference Special Interest Groups Newsletters 4,000 members from 100 countries

Glasgow IATEFL Conference, April day programme 2,313 delegates, 116 countries 581 talks, workshops, symposiums 70 ELT related exhibitors: British Council, BBC, OUP, CUP, Macmillan etc Watching online: 60,000 people from 170 countries Social programme, cultural visits

Benefits Meet leading writers, theorists, practitioners, all sectors of ELT Lots of free materials Generous discounts Your chance to present or exhibit Try before you buy: whiteboards, interactive materials 30 scholarships for 2013 conference

Michael Swan Raymond Murphy Geoffrey Leech Henry Emery

Talk to publishers Listen to experts Be an exhibitor Try the Technology

14 Special Interest Groups Learner Autonomy Teacher Training and Education Pronunciation Testing, Assessment and Evaluation (Collaboration with AMATE, Conference in Prague Oct 12, Setting and Maintaining Assessment Standards. Call for papers now.)

47 th Annual International IATEFL Conference: Liverpool 8-12 April 2013 Proposals by September 2012

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