PD Update

27 March 2015

The annual QLD branch PD Fest was held on Sat 21 March and was a huge success. Over 200 delegates attended and were offered two great plenary sessions and a choice of 24 concurrent sessions. This event is growing in strength every year! To see photos, click here. 

Registration and the call for proposal submissions for the 2015 English Australia Conference to be held in Brisbane on 23-25 September are now open! The conferecne theme is 'Looking ahead: change, challenge and opportunity.' Jeremy Harmer has already been confirmed as a plenary speaker. To see other speakers and to register, visit our website: www.eaconference.com.au

Want to know more about the the ins and outs of the TOEFL test? Or, would your teachers like some tips and recommended resources for teaching TOEFL? Join the free English Australia webinar: Overview of the TOEFL test  at 4pm on 8 April. 

Online registration for the NSW UECA PD Fest to be held at Macquarie Uni on Saturday 2 May opens 1 April. Register now! (This day is aimed at providing affordable PD for teachers by teachers and is always excellent.)

The next #Aus ELT Twitter chat is happening on 2 April and looks to be very practical for teachers.  Topic: app sharing. Format: slow burn: http://auselt.com/

The NSW Police Force is holding a cricket tournament for international students on Sun 12 April. These Police sporting events have been hugely successful in the past and are a great way for our students to build trust in the Australian Police. Please tell your NSW students. https://www.facebook.com/EnglishAustralia?ref=hl

Do your teachers want PD about grammar? There is a free TESOL webinar coming up presented by Oxford Uni press authors: Teaching Modals Across the Levels
When: 22 April (register by 19 April) (unfortunately at 12.30am Sydney time!)
Focus: Important aspects of teaching modals, including focus on form and basic language functions for beginning learners and appropriate use of modals for hedging in high-level academic writing.

Copyright Agency Webinar about their survey of schools and universities which is used to determine payments from the Copyright Agency.
Speaker: James Tweed, Manager, Surveys and Monitoring + Q and A
Date and time: Wednesday, 8 April, 2pm–2.30pm
RSVP: to communications@copyright.com.au by 2 April

Do you like using music and songs in your classes? This article from a presenter at the 2015 TESOL convention has some wonderful ideas: http://1.usa.gov/1pfmpsk. And for corresponding worksheets, Youtube clips and activities: http://www.rohpress.com/esl.htm

Enjoy your daily commute and prepare for class too: TEFL commute is a new podcast website for ELT teachers. It is a light-hearted listen aimed at brightening your daily commute to class. Each episode is built around a topic that teachers can use in in class and the podcast links to articles, questions and resources for in-class use too.

Most teachers enjoy using games in class to liven things up from time to time. If you’d like some fresh ideas for games, download this new free ebook: http://www.teachthemenglish.com/2015/03/free-e-book-using-games-in-the-language-classroom/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Would you like to present at the 2015 English Australia Conference? Even if it’s your first time presenting at a conference, this year it should be easier to submit a proposal because we have prepared an information sheet about writing conference proposals on our conference website. Also, posters are a great way to share information among the industry too. Why not read our information sheet What's involved in presenting a conference poster? for some inspiration? Visit our conference website for more details: www.eaconference.com.au

The Sydney University TESOL Research Network Colloquium on Saturday September 5, has opened its call for papers. This forum aims to encourage discussions and possible future collaborations on research in the area of TESOL. Submission deadline: 30 June. Contact Brian Paltridge for further info about the Colloquium: brian.paltridge@sydney.edu.au

The Association for Academic Language and Learning conference (AALL) on 25-27 November in Wollongong is calling for papers. Theme: 'Critical Intersections.'

April

25-26 2015 International Conference on English Education, ‘English for Specific Purposes (ESP): Global Trends and Local Practices,’ Taipei, Taiwan

May
7-8 NEAS Management Conference, Pyrmont, Sydney

8-9 Innovate ELT, ‘Innovation in ELT, now and into the future,’ Barcelona, Spain

June

11-13 CAES (Centre for Applied English Studies) International Conference, ‘Faces of English: Theory, Practice and Pedagogy,’ Hong Kong

September

23-25 English Australia Conference , ‘Looking ahead: change, challenge and opportunity’, Brisbane Hilton, QLD

24-26 Argentina’s Federation of English Teachers’ Associations (FAAPI) annual conference: ‘EFL Classroom in the New Millenium – Local Developments and Global Concerns,’ Argentina, call for papers now open: contact Ms Mariana Agnolin for details

28 Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association (ASFLA) Conference, Brisbane, Call for presentations open until 2 April 

October 

6-9 Australian International Education Conference (AIEC), Adelaide, #AIEC2015. 

November

23-26 4th Language Education and Diversity Conference, Auckland, New Zealand

19-21 The 14th Symposium on Second Language Writing, ‘Learning to Write for Academic Purposes,’ AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand

25-27 Association for Academic Language and Learning conference (AALL), ‘Critical Intersections,’ Wollongong, NSW

30 Nov-2 Dec 4th ALAA ALANZ ALTANZ 2015 Learning in a Multilingual World, University of South Australia 

December 

3-5 TESOL International Association Regional Conference, ‘Excellence in Language Instruction: Supporting Classroom Teaching and Learning, National Institute of Education, Singapore, call for proposals now open until 15 April 2015

Did someone else at your college forward this to you? If you have an English Australia member college email address you can sign up for PD Updates directly – just contact easec@englishaustralia.com.au .

Please feel free to email me at sophieokeefe@englishaustralia.com.auwith any questions.

Kind regards,

Sophie O’Keefe
Professional Support & Development Officer