Workshop choices - available for both sessions
This is a busy, practical session for exploring ways of differentiating that focus on helping ALL students to progress as well as they are able. Forget about labelling your students as ‘weak’ or ‘strong’, sheep or goats, or whatever. We start with a more nuanced understanding of our students as people who need supporting AND challenging in different ways and at different times. We look at some very familiar ways of doing things in the class and consider how they enable us with little or no additional effort to provide support and challenge when it’s needed.
About Christine:
I teach ESOL and run CELTA courses at South and City College Birmingham. I have recently become a Teaching and Learning Coach for the college, and get to observe lessons and think about learning in all sorts of curriculum areas.
In this highly interactive workshop, highly rated by our National Conference 2014 delegates, you will have the opportunity to experience and try out something different in your practice with beginners. Meeting the challenges of working with beginner learners with a range of health, literacy and learning differences demands imaginative solutions. This approach combines standard teaching methods with voice work, repetitions, rhythm and rhyme and participatory activities to engage reluctant newcomers to English, build confidence and encourage voices to emerge.
This gentle, non-threatening workshop is lots of fun and will be the place to share the difficulties and pleasures of working with non-progressing and complete beginners.
About Sheila:
I am a part time ESOL tutor in Kent, specialising in support for beginner learners who are mostly eastern European Roma. Using assessments by Anne Margaret Smith to clarify learning differences and needs, I am developing a range of techniques to meet those needs. I recently graduated with an EdD from Sheffield; my topic was a feminist analysis of ESOL. My current research interests are: mothers learning English who have young children/ LGBT and ESOL.
About Jodi:
Jodi is the Artistic Director of Wantsum Arts, a community folk arts company based in Broadstairs, Kent. Jodi is a Community Artist and Natural Voice Practitioner. With a passion for theatre, a love of singing and a strong urge to engage with others, Jodi's motivation is to nurture communication and confidence in all folk she works with using various forms of artistic expression.
Spend a wet afternoon producing handy packs of pictures for warmers, fillers, conversation classes, emergency lessons… at any level from elementary to advanced. I’ll demonstrate tasks as that have been used in real classrooms, give you practical advice on how to produce a pack and even share mine with you to copy to our memory stick.
About Barbara:
Barbara has been teaching on Certificate, Diploma and other teacher training courses since 1975 and was until August 2007 Programme Area Manager for ELT and Modern Languages. at Warwickshire College. She is now a freelance teacher trainer and an assessor for the Cambridge Delta and CELTA, which has taken her to Hungary, Malta, Russia, Morocco and Vietnam in the last few years.