Online Events 2022
18 June 2022
BESIG & IP&SENSIG: How to better represent your learners’ reality for the classroom, the workplace and life
Does business English have a class problem? – James Taylor
There are many aspects of representation, but one which is often overlooked is class. This is an important subject in any area of ELT, but strikes me as being of particular relevance in Business English in which the focus is usually on the middle management, affluent employees and rarely looks at the other important members of a company hierarchy who usually make up the majority. In this workshop, we asked the participants to bring their coursebooks so we could take a look at how BE deals with class in published materials, and how we could alleviate some of the issues that we found.
Identifying and supporting language learners with Specific Learning Differences – Anne Margaret Smith
As teachers, we recognise that our students don’t all progress at the same rate. But sometimes we have students who do not seem to be progressing at all. There may be something different about them that makes us wonder if they have a specific learning difference (SpLD), like dyslexia, dyspraxia or AD(H)D.
In the absence of any formal identification, we may need to be the ones to take the first steps and evaluate how best to work with our neurodivergent learners.
In this interactive session, we looked at how we can spot any learners with SpLDs, and looking at key indicators that are evident in the classroom. Just as importantly, we considered some inclusive practices we can implement in our classrooms that will benefit all learners – especially those with SpLDs.
James Taylor, based in Brasília, Brazil, is an ELTON award-winning EFL teacher, teacher trainer, materials writer, and project manager for Active English. He’s the 2nd Vice President of BRAZ-TESOL, leader of BRAZ-TESOL MAWSIG, a committee member of BRAZ-TESOL Brasília & IATEFL TDSIG and has written coursebooks for FTD Educaçao and TransFor.Me. He produces the TEFL Commute podcast & co-founded the Raise Up! project, encouraging diversity in ELT materials. He has twice been nominated for an ELTON award, winning for Excellence in Course Innovation in 2021.
Dr. Anne Margaret Smith started her career as a teacher of English as a foreign / additional language around 30 years ago. Alongside her language teaching, she also works as a dyslexia assessor and specialist tutor, and is currently also training to be a Speech and Language Therapist. She founded ELT well in 2005, to combine these two fields of education, and offers professional development and resources to language teachers in all contexts. She was instrumental in setting up the IATEFL IP&SEN SIG and served as the second Coordinator of the SIG.
Online Events 2020
1st Online Mini-Conference
On 9th May 2020 IP&SEN SIG together with TESOL Spain organized
the 1st Online Mini-Conference. If you would like to (re)watch Anne Margaret Smith’s webinar titled: ‘Transferring Inclusive Practices to Online Teaching‘ or Rachel Harris’s webinar titled: ‘Happy Students Make a Happy Classroom‘ go to: https://www.iatefl.org/ then login to your IATEFL account and go to My resources tab and then SIG resources to find these great videos!
Just to remind you: Anne Margaret Smith is the SIG’s coordinator and Rachel Harris is our Social Media Coordinator. If you want to meet the whole team follow the link: https://ipsen.iatefl.org/ipsen-committee-2019-2022
Inclusion in ELT – Global Perspectives
On Saturday, 28 November, 2020 IP&SEN SIG collaborated with
5 partner SIGs to bring you a one-day pop-up online symposium Inclusion in ELT – Global Perspectives exploring issues of inclusion in English Language Teaching.
The first presenter was Davey Young from TESOL International Association (US) Supporting Students With Disabilities (SSDIS) Section.Davey’s presentation was titled Making space for inclusive practice in English language teacher training. You can watch Davey’s presentation below.
The second presenter was John Corbett from Brazil Tesol Intercultural Language Education SIG. John’s presentation was titled Negotiating diverse identities in telecollaborations.You can watch John’s presentation below.
The third presenter was Aleks Palanac from BALEAP EAP Social Justice SIG. Aleks’s presentation was titled Trauma-informed pedagogy in ELT for refugee students. You can watch Aleks’s presentation below.
The panel discussion devoted to the language of inclusion was facilitated by Davey Young. You can watch the video below.
The fourth presenter was Maha Hassan from Inclusive Practices and SEN SIG. Maha’s presentation was titled New CEFR revisions, inclusive practices, win-win situation. You can watch Maha’s presentation below.
The fifth presenter was Xenia Konstantinopoulou from TESOL Greece Specific Learning Differences SIG. Xenia’s presentation was titled Language and cognitive development of children with focal brain lesion. You can watch Xenia’s presentation below.
The last presenters were Maha Hosny and Sherihan Morsi from Nile TESOL English for Inclusive Education SIG. The presentation was titled Using technology in remote inclusive classrooms and in homeschooling. You can watch Maha and Sherihan’s presentation below.
Live Events 2018
Dare To Be Different: Learn, Develop, Succeed
November 2018 (with TESOL Greece & BELTA)
Making Pronunciation Inclusive
October 2018 (with PRON SIG)
You can find the information here.
