Due to the current continuing uncertainty the LATE Board decided to replace our planned Annual two day Conference in August 2020 with a one-day online Conference.
The “Developing Engagement” Conference took place on Friday 21st August.
There were different kinds of sessions:
- Live presentations and workshops conducted through Zoom. These sessions were also available for viewing as recorded sessions from the 23rd to 26th August. After each session the attendees had to follow a link to answer the presenter’s questions on a Google form and were then given credit for this session on their conference attendance certificate.
- Pre-recorded presentations: Again, after viewing these videos, the attendees had to follow a link to answer the presenter’s questions on a Google form and were then given credit for this session on their conference attendance certificate.
- Pre-recorded information announcements: these are for attendees’ interest and there are no presenter questions for these.
Attendees were given an electronic certificate with hours based on the sessions which they watched and answered the presenter’s questions on.
You can see the full programme here.
Encouraging Self-Direction and Self-Regulation + LATE News + Instructions
Inga Linde – LATE President
Robert Buckmaster LATE Vice President
Being More Productive Steve Lever – Express Publishing
The productive skills of speaking and writing are arguably the hardest learners must master, especially for exams, as there is not much of a safety net. In this session, we will look at selected aspects of speaking and writing that often go wrong at the higher levels and suggest ways to help learners avoid them.
Formative Assessment In The Young Learner Classroom Alex Warren – National Geographic Learning
Historically education has put a focus on summative assessment – testing what students know at the end of a period of learning. In other words it is evaluative. However, there is now much more of a push towards formative assessment, especially in the young learner classroom. But what exactly is formative assessment? What does it look like in an ELT context and how can we implement into our classrooms on a daily basis? Using examples from National Geographic Learning’s Look series, in this presentation we’ll look to answer all of these questions with plenty of practical ideas along the way.
Dare to Take the Blogging Challenge Daira Ruta Morusa
This presentation will introduce blogs as a multifaceted classroom tool. Whether the teacher herself hosts a classroom blog or students write their own blogs, blogging is an effective and efficient modern tool to bolster student writing, to provide an opportunity for constructive feedback and an excellent point of contact between students, parents, and the teacher.
Please note that this is a partial recording due to technical problems.
Learning through texts: towards improving the quality of what our learners master as a result of reading, listening and watching Alexander Sokol – TA Group (www.ta-group.eu)
Would it be useful if we had a set of tasks we could use with any text, film or talk? Would it help if learners could work with more meaningful texts and participate in choosing them? Would you be interested if the tasks also systematically developed learners’ key skills? In this talk, I will present the tasks and the principles behind their development. The presentation will be more relevant if you work with B1+ learners and enjoy bringing meaningful texts to the classroom. If you like the approach and choose to pilot it with your learners, I will be providing online support throughout the next academic year to help you in the process.
Integrating Critical Thinking Skills into the Exploration of Culture in a Young Learners’ EFL Setting Agnese Gromova-Ķūrena,Tālmācības vidusskola Rīgas Komercskola
This is a cascading of experience gained while participating in an 8-week-online-course of the American English E-Teacher Program. I then used this newly gained knowledge with Form 1 to 4 students in online teaching. Content: exploring authentic cultures, the multi-cultural society, critical thinking and active listening skills, encouraging reflective practice, multiple perspectives, self-evaluation rubrics.
Click to this link view the Presentation Slides.
Student Agency – flipping the whole relationship Dons Kuklis – Ventspils Secondary School Nr. 2
Looking at how the flipped classroom is to become the flipped student. How does this initiative link to Skola 2030?
Support tools for Online teaching and learning from Oxford University Press Dace Miška – Oxford University Press
This session will summarise the available online learning and teaching tools from Oxford for both for F2F classes and remote teaching scenarios. We will look at some practical examples for using Oxford online teaching resources and learning tools and explore the most useful links for teachers to use for professional development, get advice for online teaching or find ready-to-use materials.
Different Perspectives – Helping teenagers develop a critical eye Alex Warren – National Geographic Learning
Nowadays it’s a generally accepted truth that critical thinking is vital to our students’ future success and therefore, as teachers, it is our duty to help them develop this key 21st century skill. But what exactly do we mean by critical thinking, do we really need to teach it in the English language classroom and if so, how can we do this? Using examples from National Geographic Learning’s Perspectives series, in this webinar we’ll answer these questions and others, including how we can use TED Talks to help our students develop a critical eye.
Dig a little deeper – developing reading comprehension with upper-secondary students Czeslaw Kinski – Macmillan
It is commonly believed that our teenage students don’t tend to read as much as we used to when we were their age. Yet, their reading scores remain relatively high considering the amount of reading that they (don’t) really do. How come? In my webinar, I’m going to argue that teenagers read more than we usually think they do. At the same time, the type of texts and the reading strategies that they use are definitely different from the ones they are faced with in their exams. For this reason, we have to find a way to involve our students in texts that they wouldn’t normally read by showing them strategies they wouldn’t normally employ. Sounds impossible? Using texts from the Gateway series as well as examples from my own teaching experience, I’m going to prove that not only is this possible, but may also be enjoyable.
Bridging the gap between school and adulthood Magdalena Szewczyk – Pearson
We teach older teenagers who will soon be leaving school and venturing into the uncharted territory of adulthood. What do we do to ensure that they not only become proficient users of English but they also become fully rounded citizens equipped with soft skills indispensable in their future work places and so critical in life itself? What tools could we take advantage of to make our lives easier as teachers and what is it that we really need to be teaching now? This short presentation will try to give answers to such questions and show that, whatever happens, we as teachers will be ready to support our students in the best way possible, regardless of whether we teach in the classrooms or from our homes.
Lauren Anderson
Online Learning in the US
Anete Ubele
“Online quizzes for testing students grammar knowledge in English lessons of Grade 6”
Līga Vilcāne
“Reading Detectives for Improving the Students’ Reading Comprehension in English Lessons of Grade 7”
US Embassy
Opportunities and programs for English Language teachers
Inga Saulīte-Bēniņa
Baltic Council News
Tatiana Ginzburg
Express Publishing News
Iveta Vītola
Pearson News: Back to School Ready to Move Forward
Zane Šķinķe
National Geographic Learning and Macmillan News
Vaughan Jones
Pearson English Spring Days: how to focus on personalisation
Majorie Rosenberg, Pearson