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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
