HERE. - English Teachers Association of Switzerland

Workshop descriptionsA6 Rob Dean • One million and one things to do with a textWorkshop… well, not quite one million, but a lively selection of practical, easy-to-prepare activities whichcan be applied to get the most out of any text – coursebook-sourced or otherwise.A7 Linda Vignac • Beyond language: skills for managing cultural diversityWorkshopIn today’s globalized workplace it has become obvious that skilled and successful managers,team leaders, and members must not only be culture savvy but must also possess thecompetences that turn cultural knowledge into operational communication skills. In thisdynamic, interactive workshop attendees will have the opportunity to participate in an exerciseintended for adult professionals and designed to help learners identify and measure theirintercultural skills. The exercise will be followed by a debriefing, a short presentation ofcurrent tools and writings on the subject, and by a group discussion of how these skills canbe fostered in English Language Teaching.A8 Dave Allan • Assessing writing(a two-part workshop; continues in B7)WorkshopThis two-part workshop will focus on how to assess learners’ proficiency in written English inways which are valid and reliable across a range of levels and ages. The paired sessions willexplore how a fundamentally communicative approach to written English proficiency can beapplied in practice to both ends of the ‘assessing writing’ equation: the need to find ways ofboth generating suitable samples of written English and of assessing them fairly, which impliesthe development of instruments to achieve scoring validity, inter and intra-rater reliability, andideally meaningful marks and grades in the context of a now widely recognised comparativeframework, the CEFR. The workshop will explore a range of topics, tasks, text types, situations,and settings which can provide appropriate written samples. A number of examples of detailedassessment criteria, linked to the CEFR but offering much more ‘delicacy of discrimination’,will be offered for consideration and adaptation to the participants’ contexts.A9 Marie Delaney • How can students with dyslexia learn English successfully?Understanding the issues and developing teaching strategies(repeated in C8)WorkshopThis workshop will look at the impact of dyslexia on English language learning. It will considerdifficulties which are faced in class by learners with dyslexia as well as explore ways in whichthe teacher can support their learning. Topics covered will include:• factors which affect how a student with dyslexia learns• specific issues in learning English – phonological and visual processing, working memory,• emotional aspects• how to identify students who might have dyslexia• understanding learning from the point of view of a student with dyslexia• ‘Magic Spelling’ technique: what do all great spellers do?The workshop will be practical and interactive. Participants will learn strategies which can beput into practice immediately in their classrooms.Thun • page 34 • ETAS 30th Annual Conference and AGM