Thanks for coming to read this. I need your help please, if you can spare a few minutes of your precious time.
As might have seen from twitter, #eltchat is going to have a symposium at IATEFL about social networking. My talk is going to centre on hashtagging.
Read more on Can you help me with the content for a talk please…
Wednesday afternoon’s #eltchat was on the use of translation. Over my teaching career this has been a topic that has often come up in development session. As a teacher as I have got more experienced I think I have gone from the draconian ‘no use of l1’ to a more tolerant approach but nevertheless I was blown away by Guy Cook’s revelation (in a talk I saw at the weekend) that there is no research to support the ‘banning’ of translation. I tend to agree with the point made that translation is a skill (the fifth skill as it was referred to yesterday) but we need to be careful and ensure we draw a line between L1 use in the classroom and the use of translation.
Finally back at my desk long enough to reflect on the DoS conference last week. Holding a conference on a landmark seems to work for publicity and it certainly made for a unique conference. This is especially true when you add in the torrid weather that also hit the UK. The weather put pay to some of our speakers and delegates. I am especially sad @heikephilp couldn’t make it, was really looking forward to finally meeting her in person – maybe next year Heike 
Posted in Conference, IH, IH DoS conference, ihworld.com, Shaun's talks, Teaching, technology, videos 
No Comments »I am really looking forward to the IH DoS conference, which starts tomorrow (the 7th) and runs until the 10th. As conferences go it may seem a little low key with usually about 100 people attending but for me it is one of the most enjoyable I get to speak at every year. One of the reasons for that (apart from catching up with friends) is that it is always a constant reminder of the part IH plays in the ELT profession. The DoS conference is one of four internal conferences we run in a year – in fact it is a little bit of a misnomer as it not just for directors of studies, it is also for teacher trainers but its focus is very much about the academic management side of things and what we can do to help teachers.
Tags: 
