YOU HAVE MADE IT TO A QUARTER OF A CENTURY!

The 25th International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL)  Conference in Budapest  (9-11 October 2015)

Author: Fazli Rrezja

Due to the support of the Regional English Language Office (R.E.L.O.) based in Hungary, I was able to attend the 25th International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) Conference in Budapest. Attending this conference, entitled “Looking Forward, Looking Back”, was a great experience. The journey to Budapest from Prishtina is only 896.6 km, but it took me a whole day to get there by plane! After having landed in Budapest at 20:30, I was tired, but that feeling soon turned to happiness when I received a message from Nora Tartsay, the President of IATEFL Hungary, inviting me to join several other presenters for dinner at Café Vian Gozsdu. Located in the former Jewish district, the Gozsdu passage is a beautiful area, full of cafes and young people. So, my exhausting day of travel ended with drink and conversation with English teachers from different countries.

IATEFL Hungary- Organizing Committee

 ‘Grow strong, grow together’

IATEFL-Hungary hosted a very successful and resourceful ELT conference. The location was pleasant, the people were kind, and the presentations were excellent. The Conference organizers and student volunteers were always busy and active, working to make the conference run smoothly. As one member of the Conference’s Organizing Committee stated, “We help our members with their professional career. We build our community and we plant trees; hopefully we’ll grow strong and grow together.”

Fruitful presentations, plenary talks, and panel discussions

 Nearly one hundred presentations, plenary talks, and panel discussions were offered at the conference, so it was impossible to attend all of them. However, I will try to summarize the sessions that I was able to attend and share about the things that impressed me the most. Enik Csomay, Professor of Linguistics at San Diego State University, spoke at the opening plenary. She talked about lexical verbs in English and illustrated how teachers and students can benefit from using a large body of texts to answer questions about grammar and vocabulary. Hearing from experienced teachers is always helpful, so I went to the Gólyavár building next, to take part in a teacher training panel discussion on the past and the future of teacher training. Giving personal opinions, each panelist evaluated the current situation and considered options for the future. In the afternoon, Alan Maley, former IATEFL president, reflected on the topic “The Eternal Triangle—Past, Future and Present.” He reviewed major developments that have occurred in English Language teaching since 1960. He explained that an historical perspective is useful and placed emphasis on Danish philosopher Kierkegaard’s quote that “Life must be lived forward but can be only understood backward.” Another motivating presentation came from Adelina Holmes, whose session was titled “Mirror, Mirror: The Impact of Culture on Reflective Practices.” She showed examples of how the cultural background of a teacher or student can affect their responses to reflective practices. It is also worth mentioning Ádám Ná- dasdy’s plenary talk “Phonetic transcription—curse or blessing?” He pointed out some cases where distortion is scientifically justified and noted recent developments and innovations in representing English pronunciation in dictionaries. Two other useful sessions that day included “Teaching with TED Talks: Creating your Own Lesson with TED Ed” (ed. ted.com), presented by Margarita Kasior and Dimitris Tzouris, and “Conducting an EFL Mobile App development event”, in which Nora Tartsay and the Croatian team shared their experiences through an interactive talk. “Getting older…getting wiser”, by Jane Revell, was closing plenary. She made us think and laugh, and she gave us many ideas to take back home and use, both inside and outside the classroom. In addition to attending various sessions, I was pleased to be able to present, together with Timea Tiboldi, an English Language Teacher from Eötvös Loránd University, and George Chinnery, the Regional English Language Officer with the U.S. Embassy in Budapest. Our presentation aimed to share experiences from two aspects—that of English language and Journalism—and about a blended pilot course called “English for Journalists.” From July 2014-2015, this course was developed in Budapest by R.E.L.O., the U.S. Embassy, and Voice of America, with support from the coordinator, Professor Maggie Sokolik, at the University of California, Berkley. This project involved ten course developers, from different European countries (Belarus, Bosnia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine), who worked together to develop and implement the course for ten weeks. Students enhanced their knowledge about English language skills through Journalism and increased their knowledge about Journalism skills through English language. At the end of the course, one exceptional student from each country (including one from Kosovo) was offered a fully funded, two-week internship at Voice of America in Washington, D.C., in Fall/Winter 2015.

Budapest, Hungary

A truly vibrant atmosphere

For three days, this wonderful conference also contained an exhibition area where teachers could check out the latest ELT publications. There was a Nostalgia Room where participants who had never been involved in IATEFL activities could find out about past activities. The conference was full of raffle prizes, too, including a trip to Palma De Mallorca for the CITA Conference, two places for SOL teacher training course, attendance at a training course in Malta, and many more. Social events always bring joy and rhythm, and the Conference’s Steering Committee deserved a standing ovation for a surprising performance with their comedy show. Delicious pizza was offered by R.E.L.O. There was the Silver Amazing Jubilee Party where English teachers danced at the Könyvtár Klub, a club where books were hanging from the ceiling. The conference was filled with a truly vibrant atmosphere, and I am so grateful to have met wonderful English teachers from different countries: Beate, Agnieszka, Beatrix, Ilona, Zita, Marcin, Zsuzsa, Yeo, and so many others! Attending the conference provided me with a welcome distraction from the routine of everyday work, and the experience sparked motivation within me to bring new ideas into my English teaching world.  

Thrice I have traveled to the beautiful city of Budapest, known as the “Pearl of Danube”, on study visits, and I tremendously enjoyed visiting places like Castle Hill, the Opera House and the National Gallery, the Baths, Ruin Pubs, the Jewish Quarter, etc. This trip, as a presenter in IATEFL, was just as enjoyable, if not more so, and I would strongly recommend every English teacher consider this Conference as a must-do for their professional development in ELT world.