Me & Barca :p

I’m happy to be in Barcelona (after a cancelled flight and another one delayed because of the heavy snow in Istanbul). I feel like an author or a journalist writing on a journey during that journey:) I have always wanted to do that and here I am:)One of my colleagues and I will present an article we wrote at the 4th World Conference on Educational Sciences. It wil take place in Barcelona University.  It’ll be interesting and of course challenging to continue running at the blog marathon here in Spain, but I’m so excited. Tomorrow is the first day of the conference. The opening will be huge as far as I guess. There will be hundreds of academicians from different countries. I will try to share things about the plenary speeches and workshop sessions I attended. I may not be so active in reading and commenting, but I will do my best

DAY 2 ‘Hola’ from Spain

Me, just before my presentation at Barcelona University

We all like to attend conferences and enjoy being a part of the audience while we are watching our favourite course book author or a world famous presenter and digesting the concurrent sessions. There are of course other sweet things like seeing ex colleagues, meeting new ones, stopping by the book stands, munching the cookies and biscuits and looking forward to raffle time to get a prize.What about being there as a “presenter”? If you have never attended a conference or a seminar as a presenter, it is time to take a step. I know that some people do not like to be on the stage, but if you have a little bird twitting in your heart and telling you to do so, it is not difficult to reach your aim.

Here are some suggestions from me:

-    Decide on the type of the conference you would like to attend. An ELT conference or any other one such as Educational Sciences, Social Sciences etc.

-    Start with baby steps and try a local one, then you can go on with the international ones.

-     Try to be unique in some part of your presentation, so people will not forget you. -     Follow and watch the presenters and trainers, but never try to act like one of them.

-    Never think that your ideas are not valuable.

-    You can enlighten the way of (a) colleague(s) with your experiences.

-    Believe in yourself. The door of the courage is already in your heart, waiting to be opened.

Buena Suerte (Good Luck in Spanish:)

DAY 3 Tapa Tapa

Happy and relieved after I ate up my 'tapas':)

After people heard that I was going to Spain, they suggested me to eat “tapas”. When I first heard about it, I thought it was a specific dish with some kind of sauce. I don’t know why, but the sauce was visualized in my mind as a green smoothie. (human mind is strange, esp. mine:))) I don’t like reading or searching about a place before I visit it (the same strange mind again:))), so tonight I tasted my first “tapas” and understood what it really is. (actually it was more than one )“tapas” is a dish of different kinds of snacks and appetizers. You have the chance to get a small or big dish, but I preferred the small ones to taste more of them at the same time. Yummy! They were delicious. Now, I’m back to my hotel room and reflecting about my day to decide on the post of the day. What I just realized is the similarities between “tapas” and English lessons. A good lesson should include bits of pieces (as different tapas dishes) to keep the attention. Imagine yourself in a lesson working on the same type of activity using the same skills or having different type of activities appealing to different skills. Which one would make you feel better? Would you prefer a cauldron of beans to be eaten without any pauses or little dishes of “tapa” (food) with a wide variety of food to be enjoyed:)

P.S: Thanks to Turgut Turunc, my colleague, for suggesting me (at the dinner) to write about “tapas” for today’s post though it was a bit challenging for me to connect it with English lessons:)

DAY 4 The Soul of the Flamenco Dance

A shot from the awesome Flamenco Dance Show

Tonight, we were at ”El de Tabloa Carmen”. It was a tremendous dance performance. Watching a live Flamenco dance show left me breathless though I was not one of the dancers:)) I admired the performers who were in such a great harmony. Their handclaps and steps were increasing the speed of the dancers’ movements in some parts and slowing down in other times.  A story seemed to be hidden behind each dancer’s own mimes and gestures. Imagining a Flamenco dance show as an English lesson, I would probably be the handclaps and steps and my students would be the dancers adjusting their movements according to my actions.What about you? What part of the dance show would you be as an English teacher?Hope you can catch the soul of the Flamenco dance in your English classrooms:))

DAY 5 ‘Woke up’ in Spain and ‘Slept’ in Turkey:)

Me and my dear colleague Turgut Turunc (Thanks to him for making this 'conference' journey so special) - We are posing with the 'dragon fruit' before tasting it:)

I woke up in Spain and slept in Turkey yesterday. The world conference is over and I’m back to my home sweet home.Luckily it was my half day today and I woke up late. Today was the beginning of the second module at the university I am working. I was so excited like a little child. Although I’ve been teaching for fourteen years, I always have this feeling before I start a new term at school.  Teaching at a university preparatory class is a bit different. You do not teach the same classes for the whole year. There are 3 modules and in each module your classes change. The first module takes 17 weeks and the others are 8 weeks at my university. This makes 3 different starts:) New beginnings are always nice and refreshing, but some teachers think that teaching the same classes during the academic year is much better than this. The teacher can develop a better rapport with the students in a longer time and can also be more beneficial. What about you? Do you think teaching the same group of students in a shorter term is better? Why? Why not?

P.S: Today was also the first day of the primary and high school students in Turkey. Wishing all the teachers a nice and successful term / module. Welcome back to school

This post was first published here

Hello from a Liverpool Online blogger:) IATEFL 2013 is starting today. This year I had the chance to attend the conference in person. There are 2500 ELT professionals from 100 countries and there will be 500 talks and workshops and it is such a great pleasure and honour to be one of the presenters. I’m very excited about it all.

It’s a four day programme full of inspiration and wonderful ideas and if you want, you can follow this great event online for free.

Click on the image to connect Liverpool Online!

If you miss it, you can watch the recorded sessions and interviews. You can also have a look at the posts of other Liverpool Online bloggers.

Here are the other details about the conference:

Follow @iateflonline on Twitter

Twitter hashtag for the conference #iatefl

Conference Programme

The time of the sessions are given the UK time, so don’t forget to check your local time.

Enjoy and stay tuned:)

No matter where you live (on Earth:) we can all meet and share our stories this weekend! I’m inviting you to a story sharing conference hosted by British Council Turkey.

I can imagine what you are thinking right now:) Don’t worry! You don’t have to leave your house or change your clothes. You can enjoy the event in your pyjamas because the conference is online and all for free.

The only thing you should do is to provide speakers or headphones. You also need to upload Adobe Connect (if you don’t have). You can test the system and the connection. Right after that you will be ready for the conference.

The sessions take place in different Adobe rooms and each room has a different link. In the conference programme you can find all the details about that.

Story Sharing Web – Conference ‘Saturday 9th – Sunday10th February 2013′ from British Council Turkey on Vimeo.

There are great pleanary speakers and I’m sure you will not miss this chance. You will even have a chance to speak out (by typing of course:)) or ask questions on the chat box during the talks. Here are the great speakers:

9th February – SATURDAY – Plenary Speakers

Reading for Pleasure: Why it Matters, How it helps, and Ways to Encourage it. Alec Williams, UK

Classroom Storytelling: Wonder, Wit & Wisdom in World Stories. David Heathfield, United Kingdom

Using Story Picturebooks with Primary Children. Gail Ellis, France

10th February – SUNDAY – Plenary Speakers

Yaratıcı Okuma / Creative Reading. Sevim Ak, Turkey

Using Graphic Novels and Comics with Teens. Samantha Lewis, Spain

Sharing Stories: Powerful Lessons in Language Learning. Shelly S Terrell, USA

There are also concurrent sessions with very interesting titles and I’m proud to announce that I am one of the presenters. My session is on the 10th February. It’ll be great to meet you at a Sunday breakfast:)

It’s at 08:00-8:30 (GMT) and 10:00-10:30 (TURKEY TIME) and my room is TOLKIEN which is a perfect match for my abstract:)

My title is MAGIC CALLS THEE and I’ll be sharing some hands-on activities you can use in your classroom. Here is my abstract:

I summon thee, the lovers of the “Educaland”!

Rise; magic calls thee.Get ready to be inspired to find out thy magic tools.

Thou shalt take thy little ones to a miraculous journey and

Ne’er forget these enchanted moments.

Worry not, there are so many untold stories and

Once thou enter this magic passage, there wilt always be a magic formula!

Check below to see the other concurrent sessions / presenters.

Hashtag for Twitter: #sswebcon

Facebook Page of the conference

Watch the conference live

View the plenary speakers

View the conference programme

Other posts you might like to read:

Story Sharing Web Conference – Saturday 9th – Sunday 10th February 2013 by britishcouncil_elt

British Council Story Sharing Web Conference by Ozge Karaoglu Ergen

I’ll be glad to share the links if you also have a post about the conference. Please do not hesitate to contact me:)

CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU THERE ))

When I read about the main idea of

the 29th ESL / EFL / ELL Blog Carnival on

Sharon Turner’s blog,

I was sure what to blog about and wrote this post especially for the carnival:)

I always think that there is a hidden mother soul deep inside me (though I’m not one yet:) and this holy creature usually arises in the middle of the class while caring for my little kiddos (!). I whirl around the class like a mother giving instructions constantly, guiding them throughout the tasks and correcting their mistakes. Sometimes I even act like a bit manic especially while mentoring group activities. Turning into an older person suddenly, I start reminiscing about my years at school and trying to give them life lessons. I’m not even going to mention about the number of panic attacks I can have during the rehearsals before the end of year shows. No matter what happens, I spread my wings over my baby birds:) trying to improve their morale and flow my love into their hearts. When the time comes to fly from the nest (the end of the year for a teacher:), I feel so proud of them but  still  scared to give them a full responsibility. Doing my best to conceal this whole process from them, I say goodbyes and get ready for the next group of birdies.

Does any of this sound familiar to you? Probably, yes:) As teachers we sometimes don’t have the courage to give our students the “responsibility”. Why not giving them more opportunities to help them find out their own skills and interests and express themselves? Do not hesitate a moment longer and let it be! Once you start allowing your students to do that, they begin to discover their own secret gardens.

I’ve been thinking about this since I attended the Third ELT Conference at Bogazici University a couple of months ago. This conference was much more different than the other conferences I attended.  It was organized by five great ELT students and it left an unforgettable impression in our memories.  These enthusiastic students, ‘the teachers of the future’ did not only made the arrangements but also conquered our hearts by taking care of everyone at the conference and dealing with every little detail. Aysegul Bayram, Busra Nur Ozer (4th year students from Bogazici University – probably they will have been graduated soon:) ), Basak Temel , Buse Aral and Sevim Acikgoz (3rd year students from Bilgi University) performed a miracle as students. I’m sure they will set a good example for other students and of course for us, the teachers as well.

From Left to Right: Sevim Acikgoz, Aysegul Bayram, Buse Aral, ME:), Basak Temel and Busra Nur Ozer

This can look like a “unique” responsibility to shoulder, but I think it is not impossible. You never know what hidden potential your students have, so do not hesitate to give them a chance to go for it. Remember that they are the “future”!.  The people of the “future”.

Adem Sahin (an ELT student from Pamukkale University) compiled the best shots of the conference and prepared this great video:

Other posts you might like:

The Third International ELT Students Conference by Adam Simpson

The ELT Students Who Are Already in “Flow” by Burcu Akyol

The Third International ELT Students Conference by Eva Buyuksimkesyan

The flying girl by Merve Oflaz

Don’t let your student run away! by Merve Oflaz

Leave the dark out and let the light in! by Merve Oflaz

Once again “Blogathon” has opened new doors to many English teachers by giving an opportunity to enter the blogosphere. Receiving the golden award at the blog marathon, Adam became the roving reporter of IATEFL. Adam is talking about his “Blogathon” experience modestly and states that he has learnt a lot from the other participants. Adam mentions about his three aims throughout this marathon: To share the theory, practical teaching ideas and the life of an English teacher. Being involved in the same race, I believe he has done this very well by drawing our eyes to his great posts.

Sirin, from the British Council Turkey, gives information about the aims of the race, participants and the criteria. I’m sure their job was harder this year because of the number of the participants from 5 countries. Will there be a third round of the Blogathon next year? Well, watch the video and listen Sirin to find out:)

Reaching the other videos is a cookie for you. Just click the titles below and soak up the conference spirit:

All Interviews

All Video Sessions

I’m sure the conference website will maintain to be a valuable resource including countless new ideas. Thanks to the British Council and IATEFL team for making this happen.

If you couldn’t make it, you still have a chance to be a part of it in the comfort of your home. Glasgow Online gives you the chance to watch some sessions live. You can also chat using the “LiveStream Chat” window and share your ideas during the live sessions. If you want to join in, do not forget to log in. The conference is starting tomorrow and the testing of the Live Channel has just finished. Many viewers (including me:) from different countries were there to give feedback on the testing and had a chance to chat as well.

Chatting while waiting for the testing of Glasgow Online video streaming

It was great to watch Rob Lewis and Andi White talking about the event and giving general information. It was so considerate of them to mention the names of the online viewers during testing.

Rob and Andi tweeting while waiting for the sound test

The conference will take place  between 19th March and 23rd March. Tomorrow is the big day! Looking forward to the plenary sessions online. Please keep in mind that the time given on the website is for Glasgow GMT. If you are in another country, be sure to check your local time. The live sessions will be available right after they are streamed, so you can watch them whenever you want. This year the British Council has invited the ELT bloggers to report on the conference by becoming a “Glasgow Online Registered Blogger”. You can check the list of these bloggers and follow their posts. I’m so happy to be a part of it. I will try to share my thoughts on the videos during the conference.

If you want to check the tweets about the conference, it is enough to type #iatefl in the search box. When you want to tweet about the conference, adding this hashtag will make your tweet visible and available for the other followers.

Twitter Updates on the conference

The Conference Programme

Online Sessions

Follow IATEFL on Twitter

Wishing all the speakers and presenters good luck and sending lots of energy to the conference team:)

Feeling so excited to be one of the Glasgow Online Registered Bloggers and looking forward to sharing more with you all. Are you ready to be a part of this wonderful event? It’s so easy to join in. Just a click away!

Stay tuned!

Name of the Album: Unforgettables of Dogus 1^st International ELT Conference – Turning Challenges Into Opportunities

Genre: Nostalgic / Oldies

Release Date: November 26, 2011

CLICK TO LISTEN!

Great Hits of the Conference

1. Speakers and Workshop Presenters > the 60s: The speakers and presenters of the conference were so special just like all those pop and rock’n roll songs of the sixties. The practical ideas they gave and the activities they shared were enlightening.

Here are my favourite parts of the speeches and workhops:

David Crystal:  “blogarrhea and tweeterrhea”  (like the word ‘diarrhea’ ) - I loved the expressions he made up for the addicts who overuse blogs and twitter. He compared electronic language versus traditional language.

Questions to be asked

A meaningful rewrite activity about the Passive voice

About correcting mistakes

Drama, "Cinderella"

Predicting, pre-reading activity

The Henry Brothers

3. The Roving Reporter > the 80s: Adam Simpson, the roving reporter of the conference popped up from 1980’s with his new beard style which really looked cool. As he twitted during the conference, with his new look he supports a movement about health. Adam took his place at the very back of the conference hall and tried to keep the virtual spirit of the conference alive with his tweets, photos and posts on the  facebook page of the conference.

Adam, Me and Sharon

Me, at my workshop

6. Awards and the Raffle > the New Millennium’s First Decade: Just like the millennium surprises, the awards were great. I won the best workshop proposal award whereas Jeffrey Doonan received the best comment award. The presents given at the Raffle were also awesome. Spanish courses, resource materials for teachers, online teaching courses and so on.

7. Conference Team > the New Millennium’s Second Decade: Each member of the conference team was like a busy bee flying around to make the best honey for the guests and attendees. The rooms (the honeycombs ) were all ready without any technical problems. The colleagues that assisted the speakers and the workshop presenters were so polite and helpful.

Hope you enjoyed reading my reflections on the conference. If you want to watch the videos or have a look at the tweets, check out the links below.

Here is the list of the Seven Wonders of İSTEK ELT World:

1. Keynote Sessions & Workshops: I wish I could have copied and pasted myself into each room and attended all the sessions. They were all precious studies by precious teachers and educators.

2. The Blog Queen: She did a great job by organizing this big event with many colourful activities. She was everywhere with her gentle manners giving a hand to everyone. Elegant and modest. Thanks to Burcu. It’s such a great honour to be a member of her team.

3. Shaman Dance Theatre: An audio-visual feast! I watched the fabulous show breathless. It was a great closing after the impressive speech of Burcu Akyol.

4. Pecha Kucha: One of the most exciting activities of İSTEK ELT. It was funny, enjoyable but challenging. Presenting the slides in such a short time is not very easy! A big applause to the host Lindsay Clanfield and the participants.

5. Conference Hosts: My dear colleagues Vanessa Hatoum and Louis Savoy held the conference just like two professional speakers. Congrats to both for their successful performance.

6. Conference Team: Foreign Languages Departments and the Heads of all İSTEK Schools worked hard and did their best to make everything perfect.

7. Presentation of the İSTEK Schools: Once again I felt proud of being a teacher and also a graduate of İSTEK Schools. The video we watched about İSTEK Schools revealed how productive, cooperative, confident and talented students we have at İSTEK. The great projects they have run so far impressed everyone.

If you want to catch up with the news, please visit the blog of İSTEK ELT and have a look at the interviews by Mark Andrews. He did a great job out there as well.

Fairy Tale Characters of İSTEK ELT (Listed alphabetically)

Thumbelina – Ania Kozicka
Ania, a cute and slender lady, drew everyone’s attention with her great presentation at Pecha Kucha.

Santa Clause - Arjana Blazic
Arjana earned our hearts by giving out the heart shaped necklaces with lovely Crotian writing. What a nice memory it will be!

Conference Fairy – Burcu Akyol
Burcu waved her wand and let it all begin. The conference she organized was a magical event for the ELT World.

Fairy Godmother – Evridiki Dakos
Evridiki was, sweet and kind. She was friendly and motherly, too. She touched each of us with her magic wand and activated the little child inside of us during her great workshop.

İSTEK Red Riding Hood - Gizem Kebabçı
Very young but hard working, delicate but strong! Gizem, my dear trainee at İSTEK Acıbadem touched my heart with the amazing job she did.

Prince Charming – Jamie Keddie
“Prince Charming!” That was what I thought when I saw him first at İSTEK ELT last year. The grammar teaching techniques shared by him  were as cool as him. (I’m sure I’ve been the voice of the crowd!)

Heidi – Lenka Kroupova
The active learning strategies Lenka uses and the beautiful smile on her face will absolutely avoid drop-outs.

The Pied Piper - Louis Savoy
Starting the keynote sessions with his kind manners and charisma was so nice. He glued us into our chairs. He did not use his magical flute for that but he used his cool voice.

Merlin - Ken Wilson
Ideas and recommendations he gave were like magic spells. Thanks to our ELT wizard.

Peter Pan – Luke Meddings
The first slide of his presentation (a picture of him drawn by his father) grabbed me in the very beginning. He was very creative and successful by taking us into a dream world. How could I know that it was possible to make a connection between teaching and paintings? Wow!

Dorothy (of Wizard of Oz) - Marisa Constantinides
Marisa did not give up after all the technical problems she had just like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz:) Besides she collected each of us during her wonderful presentation at Pecha Kucha as if we were going to Oz:)

Wendy (of Peter Pan) – Maureen McGarvey
Humorous and friendly. Motherly just like Wendy. I was in a trance with her funny slides. Hilarious!

Alice in Cyberland – Özge Karaoğlu
Özge did not hesitate to share lots of helpful web based tools and she did all these through a very creative virtual tour using the character, Alice. She also made my day when she commented on my blog with the flattering marks she made.

Dancing Princes and Princesses – The Conference Team
As the Conference Team we were here and there helping out and trying to make our guests pleased. I hope we made our them happy.

Willy Wonka of the Network Factory – Willy Cardoso

Meeting him made me so happy and I enjoyed talking to him. One of the first questions I asked him was this: “Have you ever been called Willy Wonka?” Guess the answer )

İSTEK Mermaid – Vanessa Hatoum
My dear friend Vanessa was kind and lovely. She was so beautiful like a mermaid. The conference became more supreme with her presence on the stage.

What about you? Have you met any more fairy tale characters? Please comment and share!

I hope you will visit the 7 wonders of 3rd İSTEK ELT in 2012 and meet the fairy tale characters, use the magical tools feeling the stardust all over you.