Conference

LATE’s Annual Conference, Teaching and Learning in Our Digital Era, will be held in Riga on the 22-23rd August 2024.

We are glad that LATE membership has grown and teachers in Latvia understand the importance of being a member of a professional organisation. Currently there are 406 members of LATE. Unfortunately, the capacity of most school halls is up to 300 seats at best, so the number of participants for the LATE conference is limited. The Conference is now full.

You can download the conference programme here.


Please see below for information about conference speakers and their talks.


Sindija Līkuma: Using Microsoft Teams’ ‘Reading Progress’ Tool to Improve Grade 2 Students’ English Pronunciation

Pronunciation is a crucial aspect of foreign language learning, yet teachers often face challenges in providing individualized feedback due to time constraints or large class sizes. Technology offers a solution for structured and controlled pronunciation practice. This presentation explores how the Microsoft Teams’ ‘Reading Progress’ speech recognition tool can enhance students’ English pronunciation. Based on a case study involving 17 Grade 2 students, the findings demonstrate the potential of using the ‘Reading Progress’ tool to improve pronunciation through personalized, consistent practice and immediate feedback.


Zane Fabrīcius: Dictation activities to improve grade 5 English listening skills

Listening is a complex activity that presents difficulties to learners and challenges teachers to find new ways to improve their students’ listening skills. This research tries to identify how dictation activities improve Grade 5 students’ listening skills in English. The research results show that dictation activities are interesting for students and can improve their listening and other language skills.


Steven Schuit: Technology Use in the ESL Classroom: All That Glitters is Not Gold

There are many questions we need to ask and answer about the use of technology in our ESL classrooms. Is student screen time getting out of hand? Does the downside of tech in schools outweigh the benefits? And if so, what will we do about it? The presentation will encourage teachers to redouble their efforts to reflect on the role and use of technology in their classrooms and the audience will be engaged interactively by the demonstration of high participation techniques that complement technology.


Tatjana Kunda: State Examinations in English

The presenter will analyse EFL exam results and offer suggestions on what to focus on to improve students’ knowledge and skills and help them prepare for the exam.


Robert Buckmaster: AI: Where are we and is it time to run for the hills?

In this presentation I will explain what AI really is and consider both the opportunities it offers and the threats it poses to us and our profession.


Joseph Jack Horgan: Materials based on James Joyce’s “Dubliners” to prepare students for the 12th grade exam

I will introduce you to a collection of free, downloadable and printable material for you to use to prepare your advanced course students for the “highest level” exam.


Vineta Tiltiņa: Literature in Foreign Language Classes

I will present materials that provide ideas and ready-made lesson plans for using literature in a C1 Advanced Level English Course.


Natalia Liashko: Assessing Writing

What is the difference between assessment and grading, when it comes to writing? Grading is used to measure student performance, but it is not necessarily an accurate indicator of student learning. Assessment and feedback go beyond grading, looking at patterns of student learning and using that data to help students learn more effectively, improving their overall performance in writing. This session will look at the art of teaching writing and how to develop effective writing skills.


Jennifer Uhler: The future is now: Environmental themes and critical literacy in ELT

During this panel presentation, teachers will learn from Latvian practitioners about their experiences in an online and offline program promoting environmental themes in the English language classroom. Participants will learn how the climate crisis, critical thinking, and media literacy can be leveraged for motivating and meaningful classroom activities that promote English learning and practice. Takeaways for LATE members will include activities, free resources, and professional development opportunities on this important topic.


Tamrika Khvtisiashvili: Modifying Evaluation: A Pathway Towards Ungrading

Ungrading is a form of “grading for growth”.  Some educators look at the practice with scorn perhaps due to a lack of understanding of the grading possibilities within the practice. The presentation will give an overview of the practice and suggest some benefits to its use, as well as a practical guide as to how it can be implemented in the classroom gradually.


Michael Earley: Exploiting Mobile Phones in the Classroom

While the ubiquitous mobile phone presents a challenge for teachers in today’s classroom, can we actually use this technology for our benefit? This session will look at a number of practical activities which support language production while also encouraging students to reflect on their work and move further towards autonomy.


Veronika Gedola: Arthur Conan Doyle’s Detective Novel “A Study in Scarlet” for Expanding Secondary School Students` Vocabulary in English Lessons

This presentation will describe the results of a study into how Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective novel “A Study in Scarlet” can be used to help extend the vocabulary of secondary school students in English lessons by using a literary text as the main source of foreign language learning for advanced level secondary school students.


Baiba ĶevereInteractive Flashcards to Enrich Grade 5 Students’ English Vocabulary

After teaching Grade 5, the presenter noticed students’ English vocabulary was insufficient for participation in lessons, so a case study on the use of interactive flashcards in English lessons was conducted, through analysing written assignments and student questionnaires. The findings showed that flashcards significantly improved vocabulary acquisition. This study highlights the value of interactive tools in education to enhance language skills and vocabulary acquisition.


Catherine Hollings: Turning Information into Insights: Driving Student Progress with an Online Platform

There’s no denying that digital technologies have transformed English teaching in recent years, especially in the field of assessment. However, while much of that focus has been on summative assessment, digital platforms offer expanded opportunities for continuous, formative assessment that allows educators to tailor their teaching and respond more effectively to their students’ needs. In this session, we’ll explore the benefits of digital tools for formative assessment and how they can be used effectively to monitor student and class performance. You’ll learn how to leverage the power of an online platform to gather data-driven insights that help you transform your teaching practice and drive student progress.


Natalia Liashko: STEAM Up Your CLIL Lessons

Knowing that today’s learners are required to be flexible, creative and innovative, puts teachers into the position of needing to implement new approaches such as CLIL and STEAM. These two terms are sometimes confused because they are strongly interconnected. During this workshop we are going to investigate them through practice and decide how we can turn our CLIL lessons into STEAM ones.


Robert Buckmaster English Conditionals

English conditionals are a challenging area for most learners, but an essential part of the language to be mastered. In this presentation I will evaluate the current conditional framework we offer students and suggest several ways the teaching of conditionals could be improved.   


Marija Griņeviča Online Space as a Repository of Learning Resources for Students’ Knowledge and Skills Consolidation and Individual Practice

I will share the results of my action research conducted on the basis of MIRO online environment as a repository of learning resources to support Grade 9 students in preparation towards their state exam in English. The aim of the research was to explore an online learning space as a repository as well as some selected computer-assisted language learning tools.      


Yuliia Horbachova Teaching Purpose in Life

This workshop delves into the pivotal role of educators in guiding students towards discovering and embracing purpose in their lives. It explores how teachers can create environments that inspire self-reflection, goal-setting, and values exploration. Attendees will engage in discussions and workshops focused on practical techniques for incorporating purpose-driven education into teaching practices, empowering students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives.


Baiba Kačanova Creating and Implementing Online Courses: Theory and Practice

The aim of the presentation is to share gained theoretical knowledge in 64 hours long Arizon State University course ‘Creating and Implementing Online Courses’ as well as share my own experience in teaching English online.     


Ingūna Melne Media and Digital Literacy in the English Language Classroom

A brief description of the necessity for and possibilities of participating in programs by the USA embassy and the tale of the American Dream.            


Tatiana Ginzburg It’s a FAB Way to Teach! 

After “The Pandemic” forced educators to integrate technology in the classroom, students expect it to remain an integral part of the learning process. However, as educators, we need to be sure that it really benefits our students. In this talk I will describe a Flipped and Blended (FAB) format of teaching adults which, as my research showed, can be considered optimal.                  


Ivars Dominiks Zeps Gamification Frameworks in the ESL classroom

Framing language learning as a game is nothing new. Before Duolingo, there were star-awarding systems, language forums with leaderboards and Boy Scout badges. Many lessons can be found in these experiences and the cognitive processes that guide them. Attendees will learn about the science behind gamification, work organization approaches and helpful tools for enhancing English lessons.


Diana Bolgare Poetry In My Heart

This workshop will introduce the “Poetry in My Heart” contest and offer teachers valuable insights on how to support student participation in the contest. Participants will gain practical experience in guiding students through the contest process, including selecting, analyzing, and recording poems for the online phase. Additionally, the workshop will cover techniques for helping students craft and perform original poems based on prompts for the final stage.


Joseph Jack Horgan Materials based on James Joyce’s “Dubliners” to prepare students for the 12th grade exam

I will be talking about the materials I have created for 12 graders based on James Joyce’s “Dubliners”. These materials are a free, downloadable and printable collection of material for teachers to use to prepare students for the “highest level” exam. The material is based on the 15 stories of James Joyce’s collection “Dubliners.” This workshop will help teachers understand how to use the material with students and give attendees a chance to try it out.


Rita Skara-Mincāne and Inta Augustāne Strategies to Learn Collocations

In the workshop, we will share our experience of teaching collocations in English lessons.We will base our activities on the principles of lexical approach. Participants will use dictionaries, various texts, and explore how AI can help to design tasks aimed at giving students an opportunity to use word collocations in different contexts.


Ben Knight Getting your students to think better than AI

What are the critical thinking skills that our students need in a world where AI seems to be making these skills redundant? Come to this talk to get a better understanding of what skills we should focus on, how AI impacts on our students’ thinking, and how we can work together with AI to help our students to become even better critical thinkers.


You can read about our previous Annual Conferences through the links below.

Annual Conference 2023

Annual Conference 2022

Annual Conference 2021

Annual Conference 2020

Annual Conference 2019

Annual Conference 2018

Annual Conference 2017

Annual Conference 2016

Annual Conference 2015

Annual Conference 2014

Annual Conference 2013

Annual Conference 2012

Annual Conference 2011