Tour around the ELT conference circuit as our team shares conference highlights and session reviews.

Conferences

<blockquote>
This September 14 and 15, Ellii is&nbsp;hosting&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023">ElliiCon2023</a>&mdash;a free two-day virtual conference to explore the intersection of technology and traditional teaching. Learn how to maintain human connections with your students in the age of AI while incorporating practical tech tools that can free up more time for the crucial aspects of learning. This article is part of a series of posts introducing our 2023 conference&nbsp;speakers.
</blockquote>

<h2>Meet Nik Peachey</h2>

Nik Peachey is a two-time British Council ELTons award winner for innovation in English language teaching. He&rsquo;s also the founder and director of pedagogy at PeacheyPublications, a publishing company that designs digital learning materials for English language classrooms.

<h2>Presenter Q &amp; A</h2>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-nik-peachey" target="_blank">Nik Peachey</a> was a popular speaker at last year&#39;s ElliiCon, and we are thrilled that he agreed to come back to offer&nbsp;more great ideas and tools this year. Nik was kind enough to share&nbsp;a few&nbsp;thoughts with the #Ellii team ahead of ElliiCon2023 to help us get to know him better. (View <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biu9XIYq45s">last year&#39;s session with Nik Peachey</a> here.)

Ellii: The theme of ElliiCon2023 is&nbsp;Humanity &amp; Technology in ELT: Striking a Balance in the Age of AI. In your opinion, is AI a friend or foe&nbsp;of English language teachers? How do you think AI will impact our learners?

Nik: I certainly think that AI can be a friend of language teachers. It can save us so much time in so many ways from lesson planning to creating materials that are personalized and differentiated for our students&#39; needs. It does require us to step outside of our comfort zone, but for me that&rsquo;s always been an exciting place to be. That&rsquo;s where we can really grow. It can also be a great friend for students. They can literally make it into a friend that they can chat to in English and that can talk back to them and support and encourage them. It can open up so many ways for students to practice and learn language and find out more about the world.

Ellii: What topic will you be focusing on at ElliiCon this year? Can you share a few key points that you plan to touch on?

Nik: In my talk, I&rsquo;ll be looking at how AI can be used with students to help them prepare for pair work in the classroom. I&rsquo;ll be sharing some prompts that will enable students to practice interviews, role-play real-life situations, cowrite scripts, get feedback on their writing, and immerse themselves in the world of literature. So come along and see how this new technology can really engage our students.

Ellii: What&#39;s one thing that you would like ElliiCon attendees to know about you before attending your&nbsp;session?

Nik: Even though I&rsquo;ve been working with educational technology in English language teaching for more than 25 years now, I still consider myself to be a humanistic teacher. My real interest is in people&mdash;their culture and their creativity&mdash;and what technology can do to enable and empower teachers and students to engage in expressing those parts of their lives.&nbsp;

<h2>Attend Nik Peachey&#39;s #ElliiCon2023 Session</h2>

At #ElliiCon2023, Nik Peachey will be presenting on ChatGPT as a tool for flipped learning. Join this session on September 14 from 11:15 am to 12:15 pm CDT.&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023" target="_blank">Register for ElliiCon2023</a>.&nbsp;It&#39;s&nbsp;free! You can also connect with Nik Peachey after his presentation at our&nbsp;Presenter Q&amp;A&nbsp;Table.

<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023" target="_blank"><img alt="Description of Nik Peachey's ElliiCon2023 presentation" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3324/content_ChatGPT-as-a-tool-for-flipped-learning_ElliiCon2023_Nicholas-Peachey.png" /></a>

#ElliiCon2023 Speaker Spotlight: Nik Peachey

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<blockquote>
This September 14 and 15, Ellii is&nbsp;hosting&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023">ElliiCon2023</a>&mdash;a free two-day virtual conference to explore the intersection of technology and traditional teaching. Learn how to maintain human connections with your students in the age of AI while incorporating practical tech tools that can free up more time for the crucial aspects of learning. This article is part of a series of posts introducing our 2023 conference&nbsp;speakers.
</blockquote>

<h2>Meet Dr. Charles Browne</h2>

Dr. Browne is a professor of applied linguistics and TESOL in the English Department of Meiji Gakuin University, where he runs the EFL teacher training program as well as the graduate and doctoral programs. He is a specialist in second language vocabulary acquisition and extensive reading, especially as they apply to online learning environments. He is also the CEO of <a href="http://www.charlie-browne.com" target="_blank">Charlie Browne Company</a>, which helps online language-learning companies develop science-based learning platforms, gamified teaching approaches, and content.&nbsp;

<h2>Presenter Q &amp; A</h2>

To help you get to know Dr. Browne, Lise (our ElliiCon host) posed a few&nbsp;questions using&nbsp;VideoAsk! We hope you love his&nbsp;video responses. You can click on each one in the video below.&nbsp;

<ol>
	<li>The theme of ElliiCon2023 is&nbsp;Humanity &amp; Technology in ELT: Striking a Balance in the Age of AI. In your opinion, is AI a friend or foe&nbsp;of English language teachers? How do you think AI will impact our learners?</li>
	<li>What topic will you be focusing on at ElliiCon this year? Can you share a few key points that you plan to touch on?</li>
	<li>What&#39;s one thing that you would like ElliiCon attendees to know about you before attending your&nbsp;session?</li>
</ol>

<iframe allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *;" height="600px" src="https://www.videoask.com/cywh6o6e73jcqxd761aifm1jhsitvhpkpx053vmu" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe>

<h2>Attend Dr. Browne&#39;s #ElliiCon2023 Session</h2>

At #ElliiCon2023, Dr. Browne will be presenting on gamified learning of vocabulary. Join this session on September 14 from 2:45 pm to 3:45 pm CDT. You will learn all about the New General Service List and how to make it fun and challenging to learn essential vocabulary.&nbsp;Interested in attending Dr. Browne&#39;s session?&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023" target="_blank">Register for ElliiCon2023</a>.&nbsp;It&#39;s&nbsp;free! You can also connect with Dr. Browne after his presentation at our&nbsp;Presenter Q&amp;A&nbsp;Table.

<a href="https://www.newgeneralservicelist.com/"><img alt="Charles Browne #ElliiCon2023 session" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3313/content_Charles-Browne_Session.png" /></a>

#ElliiCon2023 Speaker Spotlight: Dr. Charles Browne 

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Registration Is Open for #ElliiCon2023

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<div class="white-box">
This September 14 and 15, we&rsquo;ll be hosting&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023" target="_blank">ElliiCon2023</a>&mdash;a free two-day virtual conference to explore the intersection of technology and traditional teaching. Learn how to maintain human connections with your students in the age of AI while incorporating practical tech tools that can free up more time for crucial aspects of learning.

This article is part of a series of posts introducing our 2023 conference&nbsp;speakers.
</div>

<h2>Meet Jamie Keddie</h2>

Jamie Keddie is a teacher, trainer, author, and storyteller. His areas of interest include images, videos, and stories in the classroom. He has shared his ideas with teachers and educators in more than 40 countries. Jamie is the founder of <a href="https://legacy.lessonstream.com/" target="_blank">LessonStream</a>&mdash;a community of teachers with a passion for using stories to engage students. He is the author of&nbsp;Images&nbsp;(Oxford University Press, 2009),&nbsp;Bringing Online Video into the Classroom&nbsp;(Oxford University Press, 2014), and&nbsp;Videotelling: YouTube Stories for the Classroom&nbsp;(LessonStream Books, 2016). Jamie also creates <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/jamiekeddie" target="_blank">YouTube</a> videos for English teachers and is an affiliate trainer at Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE) in the UK.

<h2>Presenter Q &amp; A</h2>

Q. The theme of ElliiCon2023 is&nbsp;Humanity &amp; Technology in ELT: Striking a Balance in the Age of AI. In your opinion, is AI a friend or foe&nbsp;of English language teachers? How do you think AI will impact our learners?

Q. What topic will you be focusing on at ElliiCon this year? Can you share a few key points that you plan to touch on?

Q. What&#39;s one thing that you would like ElliiCon attendees to know about you before attending your&nbsp;session?

<iframe allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *;" height="600px" src="https://www.videoask.com/cwgzlfay19m2y2renlxsbh1perrqotm869m61cyi" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe>

<blockquote>
&quot;Understanding story and storytelling is the quintessential 21-century skill.&quot;

&mdash;Jamie Keddie
</blockquote>

Join us at ElliiCon2023!

At #ElliiCon2023, Jamie Keddie will be presenting on storytelling.&nbsp;Join this session on&nbsp;September 14&nbsp;from&nbsp;12:30 pm to 1:30 pm CDT.&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023" target="_blank">Register for ElliiCon2023</a>.&nbsp;It&#39;s&nbsp;free! You can also connect with Jamie Keddie after his presentation at our&nbsp;Presenter Q&amp;A&nbsp;Table.&nbsp;

<img alt="Jamie Keddie's ElliiCon2023 session" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3352/content_Jamie-Keddie_ElliiCon2023-session.jpg" />

ElliiCon2023 Speaker Spotlight: Jamie Keddie

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TESL Toronto&#39;s TOSCON 2023 was not just an event&mdash;it was also a celebration of the dedication and passion that teachers bring to their classrooms every day. For me, it was a reminder that, as educators, we have the ability to shape the lives of our students and&nbsp;empower them to develop their own voices within their communities as they learn to communicate effectively.

<h1>Plenary speaker: Antoinette Gagn&eacute;</h1>

The conference&nbsp;highlighted the evolving nature of English language teaching. Antoinette Gagn&eacute;&#39;s keynote address shed light on the sociocultural, emotional, multilingual, multimodal, and technological turns that are shaping the English language learning landscape in Canada.

It reminded us that effective teaching goes beyond linguistic skills, encompassing cultural understanding, emotional intelligence, and the integration of various modes of communication. What I loved most about her plenary session was the opportunity to interact and connect with other participants&nbsp;as well as her capacity to ask thought-provoking questions of her audience.

Gagn&eacute; highlighted the &ldquo;affective turn&rdquo; that underscores the importance of emotional intelligence in education.

<img alt="strategies and practices for implementing the affective turn" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3234/content_IMG-3650__1_.jpg" />

<h1>Connecting at Ellii&#39;s booth</h1>

As a representative of Ellii, I was inspired by the enthusiasm of teachers as they shared their experiences and the innovative ways they are implementing our platform. The updates in the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-elliis-lesson-planner">Lesson Planner</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/feature-releases-platform-updates-2023">student onboarding</a> process have generated excitement and opened up new possibilities for enhanced language instruction.

The nature of education and learning is evolving, and it&rsquo;s refreshing to see the willingness of educators to embrace technology and find ways to use it to meet the needs of their students.

<img alt="Ellii Booth TOSCON 2023" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3233/content_TOSCON_2023.jpeg" />

<h1>Workshops &amp; presentations&nbsp;</h1>

The workshops and presentations offered at TOSCON provided a fantastic selection of practical strategies and ideas for educators to implement in their classrooms. From rethinking digital citizenship techniques (John Allan) to the integration of authentic materials, from blended to hyflex teaching (Tehreem Nathaniel), each session offered valuable insights that could be immediately applied to improve the learning experiences of students. The diverse range of topics ensured that attendees could find sessions that catered to their specific interests and professional development goals.

Beyond the knowledge gained and skills acquired, TOSCON fostered a sense of community and collaboration. The connections made and conversations we had during the conference were invaluable.&nbsp;

<h1>Getting noticed in TO</h1>

On a lighter note, I couldn&#39;t help but chuckle at a rather unexpected experience during my time in Toronto. As I strolled through the bustling streets of the city, proudly sporting my Ellii T-shirt, something amusing happened. I was recognized by a random teacher (who hadn&rsquo;t been at the conference). She spotted the logo on my shirt and exclaimed, &quot;Hey, you&#39;re from Ellii!&quot; For a brief moment, I felt like a celebrity, basking in the limelight of the English language teaching world. Who knew that a simple T-shirt could turn an ordinary stroll down Yonge Street into a moment of fame?

<h1>Final thoughts</h1>

As I left the conference, I carried with me a renewed sense of purpose and a deep appreciation for the transformative power of education. TOSCON reminded me that as English language teachers, we have the privilege of not only teaching a language but also empowering individuals to express themselves, connect with others, and succeed in an increasingly globalized world.

Reconnecting at TOSCON

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Over the years, I&rsquo;ve lost count of how many workshops, talks, and webinars I&rsquo;ve delivered and attended.&nbsp;

What always strikes me is that every ELT professional brings such a unique perspective to the industry. There are so many diverse teaching contexts and experiences. Sharing them with the world is essential for progress.&nbsp;

In this blog post, I&rsquo;ll share my top tips for delivering a successful conference workshop, webinar, or talk.&nbsp;

<h2>Know your stuff</h2>

It goes without saying that you should talk about something you know well.&nbsp;

I remember attending a meeting at Education Scotland. One of my colleagues was updating the team on a project they were working on. They were amazing. The presentation just flowed without the need for visuals.&nbsp;

Afterwards, I commented on how well they&rsquo;d delivered the update. Their response was to shrug and say, &quot;I just talked about my job.&quot;&nbsp;

So, just talk about your job! It&rsquo;s a topic you know well because you do it every day.&nbsp;

<h2>Share your passion</h2>

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andycowle/?originalSubdomain=uk">Andy Cowle</a> is one of the most engaging presenters I&rsquo;ve ever seen. He&rsquo;s delivered teacher training sessions for numerous ELT organizations over the years.&nbsp;

When I asked him for his top tip on public speaking, he said this:

<blockquote>
&nbsp;&quot;It has to be something you care about.&quot;&nbsp; 
 
&mdash;Andy Cowle
</blockquote>

That comment was a critical incident for me in terms of public speaking. It was the moment I realized I had to share what I love most about teaching with the world.&nbsp;

If you&rsquo;re speaking about a subject that bores you to tears, it&rsquo;s unlikely you&rsquo;ll be able to get enthusiastic about it. Choose something that makes you sing&nbsp;and it will make you glow!

<h2>Use engaging visuals</h2>

I recently received this feedback:&nbsp;

<blockquote>
&quot;Thanks for an interesting and visually stimulating presentation&mdash;often it&#39;s one or the other but rarely both.&quot;

&mdash;Helen Morfydd, National Centre for Learning Welsh
</blockquote>

Visuals are so important for conveying meaning and keeping participants engaged. They&rsquo;re also invaluable in reminding you what you want to talk about. Consider using them to tell a story, to serve as&nbsp;speaking prompts, or to base an activity on.&nbsp;

For example, I like to use this image I drew of marigolds to have participants share ways to create a positive classroom atmosphere. Using annotation tools&nbsp;or Post-it notes, attendees add their ideas. It&rsquo;s cheerful, fun, and a bit different.&nbsp;

<img alt="marigolds drawing" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3195/content_marigolds-drawing.jpg" />

It&rsquo;s also a great way to remove the need for text. Using a lot of words on a slide can be overwhelming and distracting. Participants may read the text rather than listening to the presentation.&nbsp;

<h2>Be interactive</h2>

Some of the most memorable workshops I&rsquo;ve attended have involved interactive tasks. I still remember <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/johanna-stirling-5aa35717/">Johanna Stirling</a> demonstrating various spelling activities at IATEFL way back circa 2009. The rest of the sessions are long forgotten!

Including activities for participants will not only make your session memorable, but it will also take the spotlight off of you. Plus, every audience is full of participants with great ideas and a wealth of experience. Give them an opportunity to share their knowledge and get involved.&nbsp;

Interaction is especially important during online sessions. In a face-to-face session, people are more likely to make the effort to stay focused. It would be socially inappropriate to stand up, walk out, or start doing a bit of work.&nbsp;

In an online session, it&rsquo;s all too easy to turn off screens and microphones. If there&rsquo;s no interaction, there&rsquo;s no reason for participants not to start checking their emails!&nbsp;

Add interactive tasks such as discussion questions and idea&nbsp;sharing as often as possible.&nbsp;

<h2>Practice</h2>

Talking to yourself&nbsp;or a supportive friend&nbsp;is invaluable when it comes to delivering a successful presentation.&nbsp;

Practicing your session helps you to put the words into your muscle memory&nbsp;and ensure that your timing is spot on.&nbsp;

Before talks at a conference, I like to get my laptop (or phone) out and use it to display the slides. I&rsquo;ll then stand up and time myself. If I have activities that I need to draw, I&rsquo;ll rehearse those in my notepad.&nbsp;

This boosts my confidence&nbsp;and, in some cases, has made the live session feel like I&rsquo;m on autopilot, as I knew it so well.&nbsp;

Online sessions don&rsquo;t need to be memorized so thoroughly since you can always refer to notes or use presenter view to remind you of the next section, but it can still be handy to have a quick read through before logging on.&nbsp;

<h2>Get inspired</h2>

Watching others can be a great way to develop as a public speaker. When you see someone you think is awesome, think about what it is that makes them so engaging.&nbsp;

One of the most inspiring speakers I know is <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chia-suan-chong-27655b28/" target="_blank">Chia Suan Chong</a>. She talks a lot about Intercultural Communication Skills and presents the ELTons every year. She has a welcoming presence and a permanent smile. She uses a lot of stories, visuals, and activities to make her sessions appealing and interactive.&nbsp;

I also always make time to see <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-waters/">Harry Waters</a>. He has an infectious energy and a laid-back manner, which makes people feel relaxed. In his webinars, he uses some magical technique (<a href="https://obsproject.com/">OBS Project</a>) to make words float next to his head rather than using the share-screen function to display slides.&nbsp;

<h2>Exude confidence</h2>

Public speaking can be nerve-racking. Even experienced speakers get nervous before, during, and after a session.&nbsp;

It&rsquo;s completely normal.&nbsp;

Someone once told me that instead of getting anxious about a presentation, it&rsquo;s better to reframe the emotion to excitement. This shift in mindset helps me to view pre-session nerves from a more positive perspective.&nbsp;

Staying positive is crucial for confidence. It&rsquo;s important to remember that 99% of the people attending the session want to see you doing well, and they expect you to do well.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavnagupta2304/">Bhavna Gupta</a> talks about the ELT community being full of marigolds. These are delightful, orange flowers. They are also known as &quot;companion plants&quot;&nbsp;because they help all their neighboring plants to grow.&nbsp;

When you&rsquo;re preparing for your session, visualize a room (or screen) full of marigolds. They&rsquo;re all there to support you.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
What are your top conference speaking tips? Do any ELT speakers spring to mind as particularly inspiring? What makes them stand out?
</blockquote>

Speaking at an ELT Conference: Top Tips for Successful Presentations

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I have been attending IATEFL since around 2008. It&rsquo;s such a brilliant opportunity to stay informed about current practices in ELT, meet new people, and catch up with long-lost contacts.&nbsp;

Here are some of my highlights, reflections, and key takeaways!

<h2>Highlights</h2>

<blockquote>
&quot;It&rsquo;s not about the destination, but the journey.&quot; 
&mdash;&nbsp;Ralph Waldo Emerson.
</blockquote>

This was how my conference started...&nbsp;

I cycled 264 miles from Glasgow to Harrogate <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/page/emily-bryson-cycle-to-iatefl-harrogate-2023-for-hup">to raise money for The Hands Up Project</a>. HUP provides remote theater, storytelling, poetry, and other creative language learning opportunities for children in Palestine.&nbsp;I managed to raise &pound;1,600! This was my third and most challenging ride to IATEFL. Once complete, I discovered I&rsquo;d ascended 6,000 meters&nbsp;(19,000 ft), which is the equivalent of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro!

Learn more about <a href="https://www.handsupproject.org/" target="_blank">The Hands Up Project</a>.

<img alt="Emily Bryson arrives in Harrogate for IATEFL 2023 after cycling 264 miles from Glasgow " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3175/content_Emily-Bryson-Route-Profile-Harrogate-cycle.jpg" />

Another highlight was speaking at the conference. I had three sessions to deliver. One at the pre-conference event, one at the main conference, and one at the Hands Up Project conference.&nbsp;

My first workshop was for the Inclusive Practices &amp; Special Educational Needs and Leadership and Management special interest groups. The focus was on well-being, so my <a href="https://emilybrysonelt.com/freebies/" target="_blank">active doodling meditation</a> and<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/activity-to-boost-confidence-and-well-being"> inner troll vs. inner angel activity</a> fit perfectly. I was scheduled at the end of the day because they knew my session would be interactive and they wanted me to get feedback using <a href="https://emilybrysonelt.com/feedback-comes-in-many-forms-but-the-best-is-a-fairy/">the feedback fairy</a>!

At the main conference, I gave an overview of National Geographic Learning&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.ngl-emea.com/teaching-through-crisis" target="_blank">Teaching through Crisis</a> series. This series provides free resources, professional development videos, and well-being support for teachers and students learning in difficult circumstances.&nbsp;

The day after the conference, I was honored to deliver a similar session for NGL on developing learner voices at the Hands Up Project conference. I left this event feeling so inspired by all the wonderful things this charity does for children who really need it.&nbsp;

<h2>Key takeaways</h2>

As with every conference, key themes emerged. These could be different for everyone that attended, but for me, the hot topic was&nbsp;diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As predicted in my <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/6-english-language-teaching-trends-in-2023">2023 ELT Trends blog post</a>, this continues to be a popular topic. Wiktoria Allan&rsquo;s session on AD(H)D was so popular that they had to close the room and many (myself included) couldn&rsquo;t attend.&nbsp;

Peter Fullager and Thorsten Merse each delivered excellent sessions on how to make LGBT+ inclusion more visible.

<img alt=" Sketchnote of Peter Fullager's IATEFL session on taboo in ELT." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3176/content_Emily_Bryson._Peter_Fullager._IATEFL_2023.jpg" />

Tyson Seburn spoke about the importance of questioning language usage for inclusive purposes. He used a four-step framework. Here&rsquo;s the sketchnote:&nbsp;

<img alt="Sketchnote of Tyson Seburn's 2023 IATEFL session on our language of exclusion." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3177/content_Tyson_Seburn_IATEFL_Emily_Bryson_Sketchnote_April2023_1.jpg" />

<h3>De-centering ELT</h3>

<a href="https://www.hornby-trust.org.uk/decentring-elt" target="_blank">The Hornby Scholars</a> gave a world-changing talk about the need for ELT to meet the needs of teachers and learners in individual contexts. Their session shared the importance of materials, methodology, and professional development that reflects reality and is suitable for local contexts.

<img alt="IATEFL sketchnote by Emily Bryson of the Hornby Scholars talk about the need for ELT to meet the needs of teachers and learners in individual contexts" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3178/content_Decentring_ELT_Emily_Bryson_ELT_sketchnote_1.jpg" />

Translanguaging&nbsp;

Translanguaging is the use of multiple languages to support learning. Students can use their first language&nbsp;or a language they share with other&nbsp;learners to generate meaning, discuss questions and ideas, or take notes. The English language classroom is then a multilingual space where language diversity is embraced to enhance the learning experience.&nbsp;

This was a prominent topic throughout this conference, interwoven with de-centering and de-colonizing ELT (e.g., moving away from so-called &quot;native speaker&quot;&nbsp;models) with a view to embracing all global Englishes.&nbsp;

<h3>Trauma-informed practices</h3>

This may be a theme that stood out to me personally, but it seemed as if ESOL and learners facing difficult circumstances had more of a voice this year.&nbsp;

Lesley Painter-Farrell gave an emotional plenary sharing the experiences of her learners, who have experienced forced displacement or migration.&nbsp;

She asked us to imagine a life where we were forced to leave home, never see our families, live on a limited budget, and communicate across a language barrier.&nbsp;

Powerful stuff. I cried. As did many others.&nbsp;

<img alt="Sketchnote of Lesley Painter's 2023 IATEFL plenary on the experiences of her learners who have experienced forced displacement or migration" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3179/content_Emily_Bryson._Lesley_Painter._IATEFL_2023.jpg" />

At the ESOL pre-conference event, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&amp;v=533580844823232" target="_blank">Lora Agbaso</a> shared her own experiences of forced displacement&nbsp;with&nbsp;a touching metaphor of how seeking asylum can leave you feeling suspended in a lonely sea. She shared some great advice for teaching learners who have experienced trauma.&nbsp;

<img alt="Sketchnote of Lora Agbaso's 2023 IATEFL session on her own experiences of forced displacement" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3180/content_Lora_Agbaso_sketchnote_EmilyBrysonELT_1.jpg" />

<h3>Reflections</h3>

IATEFL 2023 was a whirlwind of a conference for me. I feel like I met so many people in short bursts, but didn&rsquo;t get enough time with anyone!&nbsp;

If I could wish for one thing, it would be that my drawing tablet could have been light as a feather so I could have brought it on my bike for sketchnoting. But it wasn&rsquo;t, so I didn&rsquo;t. And I still enjoyed creating my analogue notes.&nbsp;

In many ways, IATEFL&nbsp;and other conferences&nbsp;can feel like the annual meeting of the ELT clans! It&rsquo;s a time to share ideas, discuss challenging topics, and take steps to improve.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
Did you attend IATEFL or another ELT conference recently? What were your highlights, key takeaways, and reflections?&nbsp;
</blockquote>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/speaking-at-an-elt-conference-demystifying-the-application-process" target="_blank">Speaking at an ELT Conference: Demystifying the Application Process</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-an-elt-conference">How to Get the Most Out of an ELT Conference</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-in-portland">TESOL 2023 in Portland: Feeling the #ELT Pulse</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/sketchnoting-101-supercharged-professional-development-with-visual-notes" target="_blank">Sketchnoting 101:&nbsp;Supercharge Professional Development with Visual Notes</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2023/05/04/4-takeaways-from-iatefl-2023/" target="_blank">4 takeaways from IATEFL 2023 by Jo Szoke</a></li>
</ul>

IATEFL 2023: Highlights, Key Takeaways & Reflections

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Speaking at an English language teaching convention is an excellent way to develop professionally and share your ideas with the world. Maybe you&#39;ve been inspired by speakers at a recent conference or perhaps you need motivation to attend an&nbsp;in-person event down the road.&nbsp;

In this blog post, I&rsquo;ll explore tips for finding the right conference and writing a successful speaker proposal.&nbsp;

<h2>Finding the right conference</h2>

When it comes to ELT conferences, there are so many to choose from. Which one you select will depend on a number of factors.&nbsp;

Firstly, consider how easy and cost-effective it is to travel there. I&rsquo;ve always coveted a trip to TESOL in the US, but so far it&rsquo;s been highly impractical and overly expensive to make that happen.&nbsp;

Online or hybrid events are a good alternative. These are&nbsp;perfect opportunities to network internationally and share your message with the world&nbsp;without having to leave home. They&nbsp;also have the added advantage of saving time. Travel days and time spent at conferences can really eat into working hours, which can be a big consideration if you&rsquo;re not getting paid to attend.&nbsp;

Smaller local conferences are a great place to start, especially if you are speaking for the first time. A room with 20&ndash;40 delegates, possibly familiar and friendly faces, will ease you in gently and allow you to gain confidence.&nbsp;

<h2>Deciding what to speak about</h2>

Every teacher has something important to say. Each educational context is unique and sharing what has worked for you can inspire and support others.&nbsp;

<img alt="Emily Bryson ELT at IATEFL 2023" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3132/content_Emily-IATEFL-Presentation.jpeg" />

Emily Bryson presenting on teacher well-being at IATEFL 2023 in Harrogate. Learn more about Emily&#39;s thoughts on the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/activity-to-boost-confidence-and-well-being">inner troll here</a>.

Presentation topics at conferences are often limitless. Think about what you&rsquo;ve been working on recently. It could be:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>A class project</li>
	<li>Action research</li>
	<li>Your favorite teaching activities</li>
	<li>A problem you&#39;ve solved</li>
	<li>A collaboration with other organizations</li>
	<li>Content you&rsquo;ve developed</li>
</ul>

Some conferences have themes. For example, inclusive learning or removing barriers to learning. It&rsquo;s important that your topic fits with the overall theme.&nbsp;

<img alt="Emily Bryson's sketchnote of the Coffee Talk on Simplicity for ElliiCon 2022" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3135/content_2022-10-11_Emily-Bryson-Drawings_01.png" />

In 2022, the theme of #ElliiCon&nbsp;was Simplicity. Emily sketchnoted the Coffee Talk that the Publishing team hosted to kick things off.&nbsp;During the conference, speakers focused on hacks, simple activities, and tools to make teaching a little less hectic. You can watch the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP0N5nuiA3aMqdcebjNOfZUGdOEGRmrms">recordings</a> on our NEW Ellii for Teachers YouTube channel: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@elliiteachers">youtube.com/@elliiteachers</a>. Stay tuned for the 2023 theme&nbsp;and be sure to join Ellii for this free online conference in September!

Whatever you decide to speak about, I recommend choosing something you know well and that you are genuinely passionate about. Your knowledge and enthusiasm will shine through during the session.&nbsp;

<h2>Staying informed</h2>

Once you&rsquo;ve selected which conference you want to speak at, it&rsquo;s a good idea to follow the organization on socials. This is where they&rsquo;ll post information about their call for proposals.&nbsp;

If the conference has a mailing list, I recommend signing up&nbsp;so you don&rsquo;t miss any important information or dates.&nbsp;

<h2>Writing the conference proposal</h2>

Each conference has a slightly different application process. It&rsquo;s important to read the speaker proposal guidelines thoroughly before you apply&nbsp;and to get your application in on time.&nbsp;

In general, for English language teaching conferences, I&rsquo;ve found that most calls for proposals require the following:&nbsp;

A title: Usually 10 words or less. The catchier, the better.&nbsp;

An abstract: This is usually around 50&ndash;100 words and is a summary or your session. This is the text that participants will read when choosing the&nbsp;sessions they will attend. It&rsquo;s a good idea to make it as appealing as possible. Including keywords will make it easier for delegates to find you in a&nbsp;search&nbsp;if the conference program&nbsp;is online or in PDF format.&nbsp;

A summary: This is more detailed information for the conference organizers. It&rsquo;s likely to be 200&ndash;500 words, but could be more. Here is where you can give information about the type of presentation you&rsquo;re doing, what activities you&rsquo;re including, and whether you&rsquo;ll be promoting a product or giving access to openly available content.&nbsp;

A bio: In this section, you get to briefly summarize yourself. Give the key points of interest and focus on your professional life. I tend to tweak my bio based on what I&rsquo;m talking about and my audience. You may wish to include things like how long you&rsquo;ve been in ELT, what roles you&rsquo;ve played (e.g., teacher, materials developer, researcher), your qualifications, any publications, and specific areas of interest or expertise you may have.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
My top tip is to save all your conference applications in one place. This way, if you speak about something similar in the future, you can easily tweak them.&nbsp;&nbsp;
</blockquote>

It&rsquo;s also a good idea to ask a friend to read it over for you. Ask them to check that it meets the guidelines, it&rsquo;s clear what the session will be about, and it sounds interesting enough to attend.&nbsp;

<h2>Session types</h2>

You may be asked to specify whether you&rsquo;re delivering a talk or a workshop. If you intend to speak for the duration of your allotted time, select talk. If you&rsquo;re planning something more interactive&nbsp;where participants work together or discuss certain aspects of the topic, choose workshop.&nbsp;

<h2>Funding and getting paid</h2>

This is the tricky bit. The majority of ELT conferences don&rsquo;t have the budget to pay all their speakers. Often it&rsquo;s only the plenary speakers that receive a payment or funding for expenses (e.g., travel, accommodation, and food).&nbsp;However, it&rsquo;s also common to get a reduced rate or free pass to the conference itself in exchange for speaking.&nbsp;

In order to get paid, you could do one of the following:&nbsp;

Ask your boss:&nbsp;If you&rsquo;re speaking about a topic related to your organization, they may have a budget to pay your conference fees and expenses. They may also be able to either pay you or compensate for your time through additional vacation days at a later date.&nbsp;

Represent a publisher or other organization:&nbsp;If you&rsquo;ve been working for a larger ELT organization, they may want you to represent them and deliver teacher training based on one of their products or services. You could approach them, stating the benefits from their perspective.&nbsp;

Ask the conference organizer:&nbsp;Sometimes there is a budget to pay speakers or to supplement their travel and accommodation fees. It can be worth asking.&nbsp;

Look for scholarships: Large international conferences, such as IATEFL, have a range of scholarship opportunities. Get organized and research these early. They are offered for a range of reasons, such as:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Where you live (e.g., Africa, Latin America)</li>
	<li>Your teaching experience (e.g., IATEFL has one for early career teachers)</li>
	<li>Your area of expertise (e.g., pronunciation, research, inclusion)</li>
</ul>

Stay positive when you&rsquo;re applying for these scholarships and consider applying for more than one. Some are oversubscribed, but others struggle to find the right applicant each year. It&rsquo;s often a game of being the right person at the right time!&nbsp;

<blockquote>
What are your top tips for applying to speak at an ELT conference? Feel free to share them in the comments. We&rsquo;d love to hear from you.&nbsp;
</blockquote>

Speaking at an ELT Conference: Demystifying the Application Process

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Over the last few years, Canadian LINC teachers have demonstrated tremendous resilience and adaptability in challenging situations. They have gracefully navigated shifting learning environments and&nbsp;pivoted when necessary without seeming to miss a beat.&nbsp;

In my conversations this past year with LINC teachers and administrators at in-person and virtual conferences,&nbsp;such as <a href="https://www.teslontario.org/content/tesl-toronto-t4t">TESL Toronto&nbsp;T4T</a>, <a href="https://www.tesllondon.ca/">TESL London</a>, <a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/blog/summit/Summit-Schedule">BridgeUniverse Summit</a>, and <a href="https://cesba.com/">CESBA</a>, I&rsquo;ve been able to get a feel for what teachers consider their most pressing professional development needs.

<ol>
	<li>Communities of practice.&nbsp;The need to have frequent, ongoing professional networks and connections, whether they be online or in person, is prevalent among educators.</li>
	<li>Technology KSAs.&nbsp;Knowledge, skills, and abilities related to educational technology still top the list of teacher PD pursuits.</li>
	<li>Learner-engagement strategies. Teachers in blended learning environments have noted a kind of learner online fatigue setting in&nbsp;and are looking for ways to mitigate&nbsp;it.</li>
</ol>

<h1>Communities of practice&nbsp;</h1>

Connecting and collaborating have taken on deeper significance as of late, given what we know about <a href="https://oeb.global/oeb-insights/communities-of-practice-indispensable-support-for-todays-educators/">personal growth and mental health</a>. More and more teachers work remotely&nbsp;or in blended classrooms. Being part of an engaged community of practice means staying connected and on top of what&rsquo;s important and relevant in the field. It means teachers&nbsp;feel&nbsp;less isolated when they are part of an active in-person or virtual community of practice.

<blockquote>
Networking and collaboration are of huge importance. Little can be gained from repeating existing practices; we need to move forward, to progress. Doing the same things over and over and expecting different outcomes is simply not plausible.&nbsp;

&ndash;Dr. Sandra Kučina Softić, EDEN (European Distance and E-Learning Network) president
</blockquote>

<h2>Finding ways to get involved</h2>

Take advantage of&nbsp;social media. Find out about relevant learning opportunities and take part in them. For example, I stumbled across an excellent <a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/blog/webinars/">BridgeUniverse webinar</a> recently on 21st-century skills and was able to connect with teachers and publishers globally. Sometimes these incidental meetings prove to be fruitful and serendipitous.

Don&rsquo;t leave it all up to chance, though. Make your connections intentional.&nbsp;Schedule time each morning, every evening, or whenever you have a few moments, and make it part of your routine. Take 20 minutes a day to browse social media, comment, contribute, and make note of the events that are relevant, interesting, and practical to your teaching.

Connect in person whenever you realistically can. Conversations, laughter, and the hey-I-didn&rsquo;t-know-you-were-going-to-be-here type of run-ins can&nbsp;lead to strengthening relationships in your community. TESL Ontario is having an in-person conference day this fall; the other two days will continue to be virtual. I am eagerly anticipating the in-person connections.

I recall the last TESL Ontario in-person&nbsp;conference, where I found myself&nbsp;sitting by a giant open fireplace and having excited t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;tes with fellow teachers and administrators. We were deeply engrossed in stimulating conversations, which often included&nbsp;laughter. There was&nbsp;one heated and exciting debate over <a href="https://www.languagehumanities.org/what-is-the-input-hypothesis.htm">Stephen Krashen&#39;s input hypothesis</a>, and there was even an impromptu reflection on Canadian culture mishaps. This all started as a would-you-rather icebreaker&mdash;would you rather come face-to-face with an angry beaver&nbsp;or a mild-mannered moose? I mean, come on!&nbsp;Where else would we be able to ponder these quintessential Canadian dilemmas?

Communities of practice need to be tended, cultivated, and intentionally pursued. Online&nbsp;or in person, teachers need to find&nbsp;ways to refuel, reconnect, inspire, and be inspired. These connections can help improve a teacher&rsquo;s confidence and foster more positive mental health.

<h1>Technology KSAs&nbsp;</h1>

Given the pace of educational technology innovation, teachers and students alike can feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available. Who has the time to test out different quiz applications and&nbsp;alternative LMSs&nbsp;or find the perfect forum discussion board?&nbsp;

The recent buzz about AI in education has not gone unnoticed.&nbsp;AI-themed workshops have been offered at recent conferences since teachers now need to grapple with how to deal with this new phenomenon. While <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4468-ai-generated-content">AI-generated content</a> isn&#39;t about to replace teachers, it will have an impact.&nbsp;It&#39;s just too early to know the extent of that impact at this time.

<h2>Tip</h2>

Keep your students&#39; overarching learning objectives in focus. No matter what activity or task you choose, you&#39;ll need to ask yourself how&nbsp;this furthers the real-world learning goal? For example, if you are developing real-world reading skills (such as comprehending information on a university application website), consider using Microsoft&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-microsoft-immersive-reader-on-ellii">Immersive Reader</a>&nbsp;to encourage students to engage more deeply with&nbsp;the text, to notice the parts of speech, or even to activate prior knowledge through the L1 translation function.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Be intentional about your technology use. Keep it simple and routine&nbsp;as well as accessible and in line with your learning objectives. Choose one tool per function and use it often.&nbsp;

<h1>Learner-engagement strategies&nbsp;</h1>

&nbsp; 
Online learning offers opportunities for working students, students with young&nbsp;children, students with mobility difficulties, and students residing in remote communities. Reaching these marginalized students has never been more important.&nbsp;For teachers working within a blended learning or fully online environment, however, learner engagement continues to be a stress point.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

What teachers have said to me is that they want to do more than just reach their students.&nbsp;They want to engage them, motivate them, and inspire them to take control of their learning and&nbsp;develop their own learning pathways.

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tips-for-developing-students-digital-literacy">Digital literacy</a> continues to be a skill that students need to develop. As I learned at a recent CESBA workshop, many service-providing organizations now have a digital literacy plan in place where digital concerns can be addressed and basic skills built at the outset of students&#39; enrollment in language classes.&nbsp;

But it&rsquo;s a long way from having competent keyboard skills to being an engaged and active learner taking part in classroom activities, discussions, and collaborative efforts. Teachers have noted a kind of<a href="https://elearningindustry.com/is-zoom-fatigue-becoming-serious-threat-for-online-learners"> online learning fatigue</a> setting in, though this could also be applied to in-person evening courses that have students who are busy throughout the day, working and taking care of their families.&nbsp;

<h2>Ideas to help</h2>

Use resources and activities that are interesting, relevant, and useful to your specific group of students. Find stories and articles that reflect <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/that-s-news-to-me">current events</a> and pop culture&mdash;things that people are actually talking about.

<h1>Conclusion</h1>

As a teacher myself,&nbsp;I welcome the opportunity to develop a robust community of practice where we can discuss technology KSAs and learner-engagement strategies. Let&rsquo;s talk about what&rsquo;s working, what we can improve, and what we&rsquo;re excited about. Let&rsquo;s take a note from Emily Bryson and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/sketchnoting-101-supercharged-professional-development-with-visual-notes">sketch it out!</a> &nbsp;Let&rsquo;s meet in person&nbsp;when we can&nbsp;and further strengthen our connections. Let&rsquo;s challenge each other to refine our teaching methods and stay up-to-date on&nbsp;technology in the language classroom. Let&#39;s look for ways&nbsp;we can help inspire and motivate our students to become the best version of themselves that they can be.

And occasionally, let&rsquo;s meet up for a strong cup of coffee, share a few laughs, and then finally make that critical decision&mdash;would you rather have a chance encounter with an angry beaver&nbsp;or a mild-mannered moose? (The answer, of course, has got to be angry beaver. What&rsquo;s the worst thing a beaver can do?)

Rising to the Challenge: Ideas for Canadian LINC Teachers

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Last week, I had the privilege of attending the TESOL 2023 Convention in Portland, Oregon. I&#39;ve been attending TESOL with Ellii (formerly ESL Library) since 2013, but this was my first one since the pandemic. Being able to attend an in-person event again, meeting subscribers and teachers from all over the world, and attending informative and inspiring sessions were all such a treat!

I went to&nbsp;all sorts of interesting sessions, but there were some on teaching pronunciation that really stood out to me. At Ellii, we&#39;ve been busy this year adding <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/pronunciation">a series of videos</a> to our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/pronunciation">Pronunciation lessons</a>, and it was important to us to confirm that our content still follows best practices for teaching pronunciation.

<h1>An argument for the IPA</h1>

In her session entitled &quot;An Argument for the IPA: Effective Strategies for Teaching Pronunciation,&quot;&nbsp;Heather Mehrtense from the University of Maryland explained how helpful using the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) has been in her classes. She began by listing some pros and cons for its use:

<h3>Pros of IPA use in class</h3>

<ul>
	<li>accurate (unlike English spelling)</li>
	<li>comprehensive</li>
	<li>(mostly) standardized</li>
	<li>systematic</li>
	<li>used by most pronunciation resources and textbooks</li>
</ul>

<h3>Cons of IPA use in class</h3>

<ul>
	<li>can be overwhelming</li>
	<li>not completely standardized (e.g., not all dictionaries use it since many dicationaries employ their own pronunciation systems)</li>
</ul>

Mehrtense developed a plan for teaching pronunciation with the IPA that she found worked well. She starts by introducing the IPA on Day 1 but only teaches a couple of sounds. On Day 2, she reviews consonant sounds, and then she covers vowel sounds on Day 3. Day 4 is for targeted practice based on her students&#39; needs, which involves tasks with minimal pairs. She monitors her students&#39; output and recycles and reviews as needed. Finally, on Day 5, students rehearse in class by performing a short dialogue that they&#39;ve written (which incorporates the target sounds).

<h3>Lessons learned</h3>

Here are Mehrtense&#39;s main takeaways for teaching with the IPA:

<ol>
	<li>Keep it as simple as possible.</li>
	<li>Focus on student needs.</li>
	<li>Accept non-standardization (comprehensibility is the goal, not accent reduction).</li>
	<li>Discuss variety (from&nbsp;different accents, etc.).</li>
</ol>

<h1>Phonetics in L2 pronunciation teaching</h1>

Later in the week, I attended another great session on pronunciation called &quot;Phonetics in L2 Pronunciation Teaching: Bridging Research and Practice.&quot; This session was led by a panel comprised of&nbsp;Tamara Jones from Howard Community College, Di Liu from Temple University, and Marnie Reed from Boston University. This session was presented as a series of questions and answers and contained valuable information for current pronunciation teaching practices.

<h3>Why is pronunciation important?</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Listening, speaking, and pronunciation have a close relationship.</li>
	<li>Comprehensibility is far more important than accent reduction.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Do I have to teach all vowels and consonants?</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Focusing pronunciation instruction&nbsp;on several target sounds based on students&#39; needs is better than teaching all the sounds in English.</li>
	<li>Functional load is important (i.e., sounds that affect the meaning of a word). For example, /p/ and /b/ have&nbsp;a functional load of 98 because they&nbsp;affect&nbsp;the meaning of many minimal pairs, such as &quot;park&quot; and &quot;bark.&quot; Conversely, /th/&nbsp;has a low functional load and isn&#39;t as important to teach as you may think.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Do I have to use the IPA?</h3>

<ul>
	<li>It&#39;s important to have a system in class, whether it&#39;s the IPA, the color vowel chart, or another system.</li>
	<li>Focus on learning the sounds more than the symbols.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Are sounds the only important thing to teach in a pronunciation class?</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Other features of pronunciation are just as important. Make sure you&#39;re teaching contracted forms, prosody/intonation, and meta-linguistic awareness (i.e., students often think the L1 speakers are talking too quickly, but they&#39;re actually just not catching the connections between words.)</li>
	<li>Intonation can carry a lot of meaning in a conversation. It&#39;s important to teach the functions of intonation.</li>
	<li>The goal should be to teach pronunciation within sentences, not just as individual sounds.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Ellii&#39;s takeaways</h1>

We at Ellii agree with&nbsp;Mehrtense, Jones, Liu, and Reed&mdash;you don&#39;t need to teach the complete IPA to students. It&#39;s enough that they have a symbol to represent the sound you&#39;re currently learning. The goal of most language classes wouldn&#39;t be for students to be able to transcribe full words into the IPA, but rather to be able to understand and recognize the sound they&#39;re currently learning and are expected to reproduce.

Ellii&#39;s pronunciation materials&nbsp;use <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3352-basic-ipa-phonetic-chart">IPA symbols</a> to represent sounds. As a company with global subscribers, it is important to use a system that&#39;s recognizable worldwide. However, we do have customers write in asking for a different system on occasion, which is why we take care to note other symbols or naming conventions (e.g., /&aelig;/ is also known as short A) within our lessons.

<a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/pronunciation">Ellii&#39;s Pronunciation lessons</a> also include minimal pair practice (both receptive and productive tasks) because being able to distinguish two like sounds is&nbsp;a great way to ensure students have mastered those sounds.

We&#39;re planning on&nbsp;developing more materials on the prosodic features of pronunciation, such as intonation and reductions. Thank you to all the teachers who requested these materials at our booth this year!

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7ZBufKMlhJg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

TESOL 2023 Takeaways on Teaching Pronunciation

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We&#39;re back! This year&#39;s TESOL team included (from left)&nbsp;Lei (Director of Accounts), Michelle (Accounts Manager),&nbsp;Tara (VP of Publishing, me), Tanya (Head of Video Production), Ann (Editor), Lise (Video Content Creator &amp; Producer),&nbsp;and Ben (CEO &amp;&nbsp;Founder of Ellii).

<img alt="Team TESOL 2023 in Ellii shirts" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3108/content_Team-TESOL-shirts-2023.jpg" />

In addition to the team above, we also had Ashley (Outreach Coordinator)&nbsp;working remotely with us all day, every day in &quot;Mission Control.&quot; From hotel and restaurant reservations&nbsp;to session rooms and booth maintenance, Ashley ensured that everything ran smoothly from beginning to end. (Ben describes Ellii&#39;s work ethic in this heartwarming,&nbsp;pre-conference post: <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/all-hands-on-deck-all-the-time">All Hands on Deck, All the Time</a>.)

If <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/takeaways-from-tesol-2022-7-points-to-unpack" target="_blank">last year&#39;s TESOL convention</a> was about sharing and caring about feelings&nbsp;in the midst of a&nbsp;pandemic (with a focus on the pros and cons of <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/academic-subjects/social-emotional-learning" target="_blank">SEL</a>), this year&nbsp;was more about putting out the feelers to see how&nbsp;the #ELT industry is responding in a time where education and technology seem to be changing at lightning speed.

Here are some of the questions we headed into TESOL with (and some buzzwords we heard this year):

1. What are English language teachers worrying about in 2023?

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2465-how-to-paraphrase" target="_blank">plagiarism</a></li>
	<li>equity</li>
	<li>community</li>
	<li>testing</li>
</ul>

2. What are some <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/6-english-language-teaching-trends-in-2023" target="_blank">important trends and targets in ELT</a>?

<ul>
	<li>ChatGPT</li>
	<li>digital &amp; media literacy</li>
	<li>critical thinking</li>
	<li>differentiation</li>
	<li>gamification</li>
	<li>translanguaging</li>
	<li>collaborative teaching</li>
	<li>virtual excursions</li>
</ul>

3. Where is the ELT industry&nbsp;heading next?

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4468-ai-generated-content">AI-generated content</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li>prompt engineering&nbsp;</li>
	<li>student-focused apps</li>
	<li>paid subscriptions&nbsp;(with reduced freemium features)</li>
</ul>

If you take a look at the #TESOL2023 chatter on <a href="https://twitter.com/ElliiLearning" target="_blank">Twitter</a>&nbsp;or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/esllibrary/">Instagram</a>,&nbsp;you&#39;ll notice one thing that is differed from last year. Everyone was thrilled&nbsp;to be face-to-face in community, sharing moments, ideas, and even food together. &nbsp;

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It&#39;s all about the people. From teachers from my <a href="https://twitter.com/ELPrograms?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elprograms</a> fellowship in Armenia and Ukraine to <a href="https://twitter.com/thinkaloud_pod?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thinkaloud_pod</a> guests to grad school mates to old friends at ETS and many more, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TESOL2023?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TESOL2023</a> has reconnected me with so many beautiful and talented humans. My heart is full. 💙💜 <a href="https://t.co/FV4WUu4Pfm">pic.twitter.com/FV4WUu4Pfm</a>
&mdash; Anna Ciriani-Dean ESL (she/her) (@acd_esl) <a href="https://twitter.com/acd_esl/status/1639677032710942721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2023</a></blockquote>

<h2>Session Topics</h2>

With so many sessions to pick from, Ellii&#39;s Publishing team&nbsp;typically heads to TESOL with a clear mission on which types of sessions we want to focus on. This year, we walked in with&nbsp;more of an open mind. Rather than choosing specific topics to research, our goal was to get a feel for&nbsp;what&#39;s important to English language teachers today&nbsp;and where the industry is heading.

While Lei, Michelle, and Lise&nbsp;held demos and chats with&nbsp;teachers at the Ellii booth and Ben focused on giving&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/where-to-find-ellii-at-tesol-2023">Ellii presentations</a>, Tanya, Ann, and I&nbsp;attended dozens of sessions and gained inspiration and insight on the following topics:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Plagiarism&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Differentiation</li>
	<li>Critical Thinking</li>
	<li>Storytelling</li>
	<li>Vocabulary Strategies</li>
	<li>Using Controversial Topics</li>
	<li>Academic Reading Strategies</li>
	<li>The New Academic Word List</li>
	<li>ChatGPT and AI Tutors</li>
	<li>Diversity</li>
	<li>Gamification</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-takeaways-on-teaching-pronunciation">Teaching Pronunciation</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-in-portland-top-takeaway">Correcting Listening &amp; Speaking Mistakes</a></li>
	<li>Assessment</li>
</ul>

<img alt="Supporting ELs in Content-Specific Classrooms" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3115/content_supporting-ELs-content-specific.png" />

TESOL 2023 Presentation by Sarah Levitt: Strategies for Supporting ELs in Content-Specific Classrooms

Watch for upcoming session highlights as well as content updates and additions born out of our research and reflection at TESOL 2023!&nbsp;

<h2>At the Ellii Booth</h2>

For many years, showing off ESL Library at TESOL was pretty simple. Teachers asked to see the PDF content, and we showed everything we had. Many loved our offerings and subscription-based service and signed up on the spot.

Last year in <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/takeaways-from-tesol-2022-7-points-to-unpack">Pittsburgh</a>&nbsp;(our first year as <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-our-new-name-ellii">Ellii</a>), we focused more on sharing our new features. Teachers (especially those still teaching fully online) were very excited about tools like our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-microsoft-immersive-reader-on-ellii">Immersive Reader</a> integration and digital&nbsp;<a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/241-speaking">Speaking task</a>. However, it became clear to us in recent months that while our tools and digital features are&nbsp;nice to have (or even a must-have), most teachers are still&nbsp;more interested in the content itself.&nbsp;

<img alt="Video team at TESOL 2023" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3113/content_team-vid-ellii.JPG" /> 
 
From Ellii&#39;s booth backdrop to our brochures and demos, we let our content drive our conversations&nbsp;at TESOL this year. Though we were&nbsp;thrilled to show off our new <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-elliis-lesson-planner" target="_blank">Lesson Planner</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-grade-feed" target="_blank">Grade Feed</a>&nbsp;(released just in time for TESOL), we recognized that what English language teachers really want and need from Ellii is ready-made, high-quality, relevant content for every age, level, and need.&nbsp;

Guess what else teachers wanted&nbsp;at our TESOL booth this year?&nbsp;T-shirts! Chocolate! Coffee! Stickers! (And photos&nbsp;with the team!)&nbsp;

<img alt="I love Ellii T-shirts" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3112/content_i-love-ellii-t-shirts.JPG" />

<h2>The City of Portland&nbsp;</h2>

It had been nine years since Ellii (formerly ESL Library) had been to Portland. We had fond memories of Portland being colorful, liberal, and welcoming, and we were not disappointed.&nbsp; 
 
Here are some local businesses and products we enjoyed:

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://q-portland.com/" target="_blank">Q Restaurant &amp; Bar</a> (our top pick, highly recommended by AC Hotel)</li>
	<li>Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen (huge portions)</li>
	<li>Mother&#39;s Bistro &amp; Bar (great service)</li>
	<li>Portland Mama Mia Trattoria (good appys)</li>
	<li>Portland City Grill (amazing view from 30th floor)</li>
	<li>Urban Farmer (cozy brunch spot where&nbsp;basketball players were signing autographs)</li>
	<li>40 LBS (trendy coffee shop)</li>
	<li>Voodoo Doughnut (tourist trap we had to check out and enjoy)</li>
	<li><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B09XZ33FTW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&amp;psc=1" target="_blank">&quot;I&quot;-Lignment</a> (a self-help book written by our Uber driver&mdash;ordered)</li>
	<li>Punchbowl Social (where we bowled with some locals)</li>
	<li>Powell&#39;s City of Books (where I found some local <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-delicious-reasons-to-learn-english-with-poetry" target="_blank">poetry</a>)</li>
	<li>Majita Wine Co. (featured at the women-owned Woodlark Artisan&nbsp;Market)</li>
	<li>Portland Farmers Market (every Saturday, across from Portland State University)&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Steel Bridge and waterfront (where we enjoyed&nbsp;the <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4064-cherry-blossom-festivals">cherry blossoms</a>)&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<img alt="Voodoo Doughnut Portland" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3110/content_Voodoo.jpg" />

Having shared these positive Portland experiences and eateries, it cannot go unsaid that Portland is different now than it was when we visisted for&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-portland" target="_blank">TESOL 14</a>.&nbsp;There is a major homelessness problem in this city, and we understood&nbsp;the need to take a bit more care getting around than we enjoyed almost a decade ago.&nbsp;During our week in Portland, we had several interesting conversations with drivers and hospitality staff&nbsp;in order to stay both safe and informed. 
 
During one of our seven&nbsp;presentations, Ben shared our Discussion Starters lesson on <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2820-homelessness" target="_blank">Homelessness</a>, which we think is a relevant conversation to be having with language&nbsp;learners all around the world, including the Canadian cities many of us work from (Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Windsor, where I&#39;m blogging from today).&nbsp;

<img alt="Using Controversial Topics in the Classroom TESOL 2023" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3116/content_IMG_7227.jpg" />

US State Department TESOL 2023 session on using controversial topics in class.

<h2>Thank You, TESOL &amp; Team</h2>

As Ben mentioned in his opening remarks at TESOL, it is a great feeling to be able to give back to the ELT community by sponsoring this important event each year.

<img alt="Ben Buckwold, CEO of Ellii (TESOL 2023 diamond sponsor) giving opening remarks before keynote " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3117/content_IMG_7202.jpg" />

Ben Buckwold, CEO of Ellii, giving opening remarks before TESOL 2023 keynote on March 22. Ellii was a Diamond sponsor at TESOL this year.

Working remotely has its perks, but heading home after spending a week together laughing&nbsp;and making memories is always bittersweet. A big thank you to Ben for bringing us along for this year&#39;s TESOL adventure. We love Ellii!

<img alt="Ellii team in welcome sign when TESOL 2023 was over" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3109/content_welcome-TESOL-2023.jpg" />

Ellii&#39;s 2023 TESOL team finally got a chance to pose in the Welcome sign after we took down our booth and got ready to say our final goodbyes.

Hope to see some of you next year for TESOL 2024 in Tampa!

~ Tara

<h2>Related Posts</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/all-hands-on-deck-all-the-time" target="_blank">All Hands on Deck, All the Time</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-in-portland-top-takeaway" target="_blank">Takeaways from TESOL 2023: The Error-Friendly Classroom</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-takeaways-on-teaching-pronunciation" target="_blank">TESOL 2023 Takeaways on Pronunciation</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-an-elt-conference" target="_blank">How to Get the Most Out of an ELT Conference</a></li>
</ul>

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7ZBufKMlhJg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

TESOL 2023 in Portland: Feeling the #ELT Pulse

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2371/Tara_TESOL-2023-in-Portland-Feeling-the-ELT-Pulse_Banner.png

Learn how to make the most of your Ellii subscription with tips from our publishing team.

Teaching with Ellii

Seven&nbsp;members of <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-in-portland" target="_blank">the Ellii team attended TESOL 2023</a> last week in Portland, Oregon, and I was lucky enough to be one of them. When I wasn&#39;t chatting at the booth with teachers and administrators from all around the world, I went to some amazing and inspiring sessions.

One session really stuck with me. It was titled &quot;The Error-Friendly Classroom: Learning from Listening and Speaking Mistakes.&quot; In this session, Beth Sheppard from the University of Oregon emphasized that learners have to notice their errors before they can correct them.

To this end, she outlined four classroom activities that can help capture listening and speaking mistakes, allowing for metacognitive reflection on current strengths, weaknesses, and next steps for learning.

During these activities, students are encouraged to analyze their work by asking themselves the following questions:

<ul>
	<li>Which part was easy?</li>
	<li>Which part had an interesting mistake?</li>
	<li>Which part had an important mistake?</li>
	<li>Why did I hear/say it that way?</li>
</ul>

They can answer these questions in a pair&nbsp;or group discussion, on an exit slip, in a brief presentation, or as a homework assignment.

Now for the activities...

<h2>Activity #1: Fast Dictation or Gap Filling</h2>

In this activity, students&nbsp;write down what they hear as you read a text aloud. If you choose to have them just fill in gaps of a given text, use more than&nbsp;one word per gap.&nbsp;(If you want, you can give students a line for each word.)

<ol>
	<li>Read the text at a natural pace&mdash;you can adjust the level via length and complexity.</li>
	<li>Repeat the input, but not so many times that the students will make&nbsp;no errors.</li>
	<li>Hand out the text or project it&nbsp;on the board and allow students to correct their work.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Ask students to reflect on their mistakes and report on the one(s) they would lke to work on most to you (the teacher), a partner, a small group, or the whole class.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Activity #2: Paused Transcription</h2>

In paused transcription, students listen to an extended text into which pauses have been inserted at irregular intervals. During each pause, students write down the last phrase they just heard.

<ol>
	<li>Choose target phrases (4&ndash;5 words) in a graded audio clip.</li>
	<li>Copy the audio file into an audio editor such as <a href="https://www.audacityteam.org/">Audacity</a>. Insert a beep and a 15-second pause&nbsp;after each target phrase.</li>
	<li>Play the audio once in class and have students write down the phrase they&nbsp;heard just before each beep.</li>
	<li>Give students a transcript of the original audio and have them correct their work.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Ask students to reflect on their mistakes and report on the one(s) they would lke to work on most to you (the teacher), a partner, a small group, or the whole class.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Activity #3: Elicited Imitation</h2>

In this activity, the learner is asked to repeat an utterance that is modeled by the teacher or a partner. Unlike typical listen-and-repeat tasks, learners do&nbsp;not see the utterance in written form nor do they repeat chorally.

Depending on the level, the language sampling can be one or two words, one or two phrases, or one or two sentences. Whatever the length or complexity, the delivery should be natural.

<ol>
	<li>The teacher or partner says the sampling.</li>
	<li>The learner repeats what they heard verbatim.</li>
	<li>Students correct each other&nbsp;or the teacher corrects the learner.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Students analyze whether their mistakes are in comprehension or production.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Activity #4: Recorded Speaking</h2>

Students can use their own devices to complete this activity. It works well as a&nbsp;homework task.

<ol>
	<li>Students record themselves giving a brief monologue in response to a prompt. (I suggest using the&nbsp;Personal&nbsp;Response task in&nbsp;the digital version of any of our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/discussion-starters">Discussion Starter</a> lessons. These tasks include both&nbsp;a prompt and a recorder.)</li>
	<li>They then transcribe their speech word for word, using another colored pen or pencil to correct their mistakes.</li>
	<li>Students re-record the monologue and apply corrections.</li>
	<li>Alternatively, this activity can be done in class. In pairs or groups, students record a conversation among themselves. They collaborate to transcribe it&nbsp;and discuss any mistakes they notice.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>

Learner errors are a wonderful resource for both teachers and students, and&nbsp;it never hurts to repeat these mantras:

<blockquote>
&quot;Have a growth mindset.&quot;

&quot;Don&#39;t be afraid to be wrong.&quot;

&quot;Mistakes are an important part of learning.&quot;
</blockquote>

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