On Friday 25th May teachers from all of the IH schools around the world (over 150 in over 50 countries) will be coming together online to share experiences and knowledge and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first IH teacher training course, which took place at IH London in June 1962. 

If you work for Intermational house, you can find out everything you need to know about the conference here:

http://ihworld.com/conferences_and_events/teachers_online_conference/

If you are a friend of International House, you studied with us in thepast or used to work with us, then you are invited to attend the plenary sessions:

10.00 GMT Things to do in your summer holiday by Shaun Wilden

Many schools are reaching the end of their academic year and while work may be the last thing on teachers’ minds as they head off for the summer, now is a good time to consider your CPD plan. CPD seems to be one of the buzzwords of this year in ELT. In case you don’t know CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development; a term for the process of taking responsibility for your own development as a teacher.  With the continued growth of the Internet as a teaching resource you can now attend conferences and workshops online, get easy access to research and enjoy the benefits of a global staffroom. Living in digital times means that it has never been easier to find a CPD path that best suits you as a teacher. IH world recognizes this fact and has recently launched a new initiative to help teachers plan their CPD through their career. This talk aims to open the door to self-access CPD, introduce you to our new scheme and give you some ideas for filling the hours either of your summer holiday or simply until your next class!

Shaun’s Bio

Shaun has been involved in English language teaching for over twenty years. He is currently the International House World Organisation Teacher Training Coordinator but also works as a freelance teacher trainer. Apart from that he maintains several online teaching sites including ihonlinetraining.net and is interested in the application of technology to teaching.  He is a moderator ELTon nominated  twitter #eltchat group which meets every Wednesday to discuss issues and ideas in ELT and membership secretary of the IATEFL Learning Technologies SIG. Feel free to follow him @shaunwilden or read his blogs shaunwilden.com and appedelt.com.  When not sitting at a computer, Shaun enjoys growing food in his garden and then cooking it.

13.00 GMT The Decline and fall of coursebooks? by Simon Greenall

Coursebooks not only continue to get written, but continue to get written about and written off with equal regularity. The Decline and Fall of Coursebooks? will consider the present day polemic in favour of and against coursebooks, and set it against a review of their recent past history. It will examine the dilemmas and compromises which coursebook publishing and writing face today and in the future.

Simon’s Bio:

Simon Greenall has been an ELT textbook writer since 1982, is a past president of IATEFL and is currently an IH Trustee.  He has published many books including exam material, adult and secondary courses, as well as radio and television programmes for the BBC. Since 2000 he has been co-editor in chief of textbook series for Chinese primary, junior high and senior high schools and universities. He also works as a consultant to the ministry of education in Palestine on the teaching of English in state schools. He has given workshops and conference presentations in 45 countries.

17.00 GMT Surviving through songs – words of wisdom for NQTs by Neil McMahon 

The first year or two of teaching post-CELTA or teaching college are usually a wave of hits and misses, successes and insecurities.  In Surviving through song, we’ll look for words of wisdom from the best of the last fifty years of music that will help make our early (and not so early) days of teaching a more comfortable and rewarding experience as we continue to grow as teachers.  At the same time we’ll see a variety of ways of exploiting songs in class to promote engaging and personalised skills and language work and get the students thinking as well as singing.

Neil’s Bio:

As IHWO Academic Coordinator for Resources and DoS Support, Neil is responsible for developing and editing resources and materials for schools across the International House affiliate network, while supporting DoSes of IH schools in their day to day work.  Neil was a DoS himself for four and a half years, at IH Belgrano, Buenos Aires, before moving across town to become a full-time teacher trainer at IH Buenos Aires Teacher Training.  He also tutors various IHWO courses on OTTI and gives conference presentations for both IH and Macmillan.  Before arriving in Argentina at the beginning of 2002 he worked in Prague for four years, where he began teaching and working for IH.   If he ever gets a break from the above jobs, he loves going for a run, watching football, cricket and opera, eating out or relaxing at home with his wife, two cats, a good book and an Argentine red, all of which he then records for posterity on his blog at amuseamuses.wordpress.com.

If you sign up to receive our alumni newsletter you will be sent all the information you need in order to attend these sessions.

http://ihworld.com/teachers/alumni

You can also follow events at the conference online leading up to and on the day by following the Twitter hashtag #IHTOC50.

Looking forward to seeing you there!