English Teaching World | EVS/ESC Review #27
World of teaching, about 500 passionate professionals, meditation by the lake, amazing TPD created out of nothing, memory as a tool, 1001 method of using cards, coded world, values, freedom and inspiration. Read about my trip to an amazing world of English Teaching below.
Several months ago I dropped some lines about my impressions concerning the English Teaching conference which took place in Warsaw and which I was a participant of (read more about it here). That time, it was an incredible event with about 100 kindergarten, primary, and secondary school teachers from around Poland, who came in order to develop their language teaching, classroom management, planning and other important skills. Adding to that, it was a perfect source for inspiration as you may imagine what happens when many engaged and passionate teachers are gathered together in some particular space for 3 days :)
This time, from June 24 till June 26, I was happy to become a part of the English Teaching Market 2019, the next and final part of the annual English Teaching Program! It was a way bigger event; however, the idea remained unchanged - Teachers+Workshops=Development.
I personally was also able to choose a set of workshops to attend during the ETM 2019. Despite the fact this choice was a tough one because there were many great lectures, workshops and master-classes, I decided to keep my attention to the following ones:
- Opening speech - New technology in education (D.Jamielniak)
- Brain power: work and relax (M.Miechowska and M.Saklak)
- Effective methods of teaching (A.Holomejko)
- Memory potential - how is it working? (A.Gelner)
- Games and activities with FUNcards (A.Zajkowska-Gara)
- Coded world (A.Holomejko and A.Kostrzewa)
The opening speech by D.Jamielniak became a good push for all of us as we got a clear understanding that the world is fast but kids are even faster. Therefore, we, as educators or people connected to education, have to develop, create, try, improve and adjust. There is a phrase 'If you don't use it - you lose it', probably the word 'improve' also fits here.
Then, I didn't fail while choosing the first workshop because I hit the bull's eye with it! It was the first one after the travel and it was so refreshing thanks to M.Miechowska and M.Saklak. Only imagine - no cars, no crowds, no sirens of the ambulance and other big-city-noises. The only thing which pays your attention is your mentor's voice, your team's activity and your personal feelings. Isn't it a miracle? Moreover, if you happen to be in the Mazury region, you may imagine how beautiful nature there is. It was my first time ever in that part of Poland, thus nature doubled the outcome of our peaceful and relaxing workshop.
After so refreshing meeting, I came to another workshop dedicated to effective methods of teaching with A.Holomejko. Have you ever thought that spaghetti, colourful cups and toilet paper could be used during an English language lesson? For learning, my friend, not for their main purposes :) To my mind, that enormously creative lady can use every common thing as something for reading, learning new words, playing a vocabulary game, etc. Amazing! So, from now I look at a usual thing, let it be a pencil, and think about the other 4 crazy ways of using it. Can you create any?
Memory potential is exactly what every person, not only a teacher or school student should develop constantly. A. Gelner gave us a good understanding of how our brain and memory are working. Besides some well-known facts like sandwich-method or visual perception, we learnt a way more about the methods of learning, additional activities which we practised and examined in groups, and, of course, useful tips for future. I wonder if you train your memory somehow on a daily basis?
Memory potential is exactly what every person, not only a teacher or school student should develop constantly. A. Gelner gave us a good understanding of how our brain and memory are working. Besides some well-known facts like sandwich-method or visual perception, we learnt a way more about the methods of learning, additional activities which we practised and examined in groups, and, of course, useful tips for future. I wonder if you train your memory somehow on a daily basis?
The next activity about FUNcards with A.Zajkowska-Gara was just a one big WOW for me :) That teacher showed us so many incredible language activities with cards that for one hour and a half we were all ears! Also, there are thousands of ways to create TPD (in polish 'tania pomóc dydaktyczna' :) ) - secret boxes, colourful clothes-pegs, kaleidoscopes, grab-the-card-activities and many more! Imagine, we were not only writing notes but also practising all that stuff! With such teachers, no doubts, kids ARE learning the language!
P.S. The funniest thing for me was the moment of describing the activities with clothes-pegs - "Such things are worth using during your lessons! - A.Zajkowska-Gara says. - Firstly, kids are learning how to use them properly as, frankly speaking, they have no connection to them in a modern world; secondly, your tasks become more complicated (therefore interesting) for them as there is some additional activity for their brain; and thirdly, it's a great way to keep calm your nervous kids'' *showing how the kid is pressing the peg with the face of Pajama Kid meme* :) :) :)
Last but not least was the workshop by A.Holomejko and A.Kostrzewa connected to the coding world and the ways of using technology during your language lessons. From the workshop, I got to know what is Ozonator and how it is working (I even created a way for a one!). I knew a long time before that there is Scratch programming language for kids; however, I didn't know that the programs done using that language could be so complicated! The main purpose of teaching kids IT is to show them 'the psychology of programming world' - all the commands are clear, easy to understand and easy to follow. Moreover, because still all the 'words' in any programming language are in English, making your student interested in programming and IT is a great way to raise a motivation in him to learn the language.
The final meeting for all the teachers, I remind you there were about 500 of them!, was very cosy and warm with singing songs, playing the guitar and lots of thanks words. There were also three founders of the English Teaching Program - Jacek Michałowski, Piotr Szczepański, Krzysztof Margol and the coordinator of the Program - Justyna Kowalczyk. Such incredible teams are creating even more incredible universes!
The organizer of both of these incredible events is Nidzica Development Foundation 'NIDA' while the author and founder is Polish-American Freedom Foundation. Such opportunities for other passionate professionals are definitely worth doing as they not only give the knowledge but also create a space for developing new ideas, collaboration and partnership.
As Wisława Szymborska says 'Nothing happens two times' ('Nic dwa razy'), so let's make impossible possible from the first try. The examples to follow we already have.
With lots of love❤️
