SUCCESSFUL STORIES

Dear colleagues
TEACH would like to invite you to contribute to the section: Successful Stories where you could present people who have participated in personal or institutional activities that have contributed to the following areas: English language teaching, English language learning, Teaching Spanish as a Second language, Social Responsibility, Sustainability, Intercultural Issues. You can interview your coordinator, a colleague, a lecturer, anyone who you think has contributed to the development of English teaching in your institution or in any other.
We would also appreciate your sharing with us your stories about your activities as part of the English department of your institution. What is it that you as an individual or as part of the teaching staff of your institution are currently doing? A poster exhibition or competition, a special  activity to celebrate Spring, Christmas, your institution anniversary. You may have organized  a Recycling project or any activity that you, your colleagues and/or your students are currently involved in, these will be more than welcome.
You can write to us and send  pictures of  your  institutional events, you can send  comments on the latest academic events you attended, send us pictures of your colleagues and some of the activities you do with your students, you can even send us videos of your students performing activities for the English classes.
Remember that TEACH is a place for you to contact other teachers who can benefit from your experience and get ideas for similar projects.
To contribute to Successful Stories you just need to be an associate, you can write your  text in English or in Spanish making sure it is no longer than one A4 page at single space and you can upload up to 4 photos of the event, interview or performance.
We look forward to hearing from you.
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XVII Convención de Centros Binacionales del Peru : Time for Change – Building the Future

The XVII Convention for Binational Centres in Peru was held in Cajamarca from September 1 to September 4. The event was organized by ICPNA Chiclayo and the last two days were devoted to the first ELT International Conference :  Excellence in a changing world – Innovative approaches & new challenges, a free-of-charge event where teachers of English had the opportunity to attend the plenaries and participate in different workshops. The event was sponsored by the RELO, US Embassy Peru and Cambridge University Press, Macmillan-Peru, Oxford University Press, Pearson-Peru and SBS.

The open plenaries were given by Dr. David Fay, US Embassy RELO, who presented a very memorable lecture, Painting Chewing gum, How English is Taught in the Andean Region, using a metaphor to understand how English is taught in this Region and then by Dr. Ronald Schwartz, who gave an amusing presentation on Basic EFL teaching techniques to help your students improve their English language skills, where he explained about Classroom Interaction Behaviours and provided tips on Basic Classroom Interactions Techniques.

The closing plenaries were given by Ms Suzanne Hilliard, from Pearson Peru whose presentation about Teacher-Learner Autonomy provided information about the meaning of Teacher Autonomy and its dimensions and competencies and by Ms. Mary Myers from Oxford University Press who, in her plenary Teachers are from Mars, Learners are Earthlings, presented several practical tips for making our classrooms more learner-centred.

The event was a complete success and teachers felt reassured and motivated to try-out all these techniques and ideas.  Congratulations to Dr. Majid Safadaran, Academic Director of ICPNA Chiclayo and all his staff, for putting up this important event, one very much needed in the area.

Some of the teachers who attended the Conference gave their opinions on the event, you can read them  below and if you want further information on the event and presenters you can visit   

http://www.icpnachi.edu.pe/icpna/convencion/elt.html

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 XVII Convención de Centros Binacionales del Peru: Time for Change-Building the Future
Interviews

To move along some of the techniques mentioned by Dr. Ron Schwartz to propitiate learning, we proposed two questions to check understanding and provide participants with the opportunity to summarize and internalize the knowledge they received along the event.
The two questions were:
  1. Could you please summarize what you have learned in this event?
  2. What effect do you think this knowledge will have in your future practice?

Here are their answers:

Ms. Shannon Stone, Fulbright English Teacher Assistant and a teacher at Universidad Nacional de Cajamarca
  1. “ I reviewed some techniques that I learnt when I graduated in Elementary Education in the United States two years ago. I think it is important for teachers to change the interaction patterns and allow students to have more participation. I also believe it is important to do the comprehension checks so as to make sure that students get the information we presented.”
  2. “It was a great event. I feel energized and encouraged to use the techniques I learned 2 years ago when I just graduated and that I have re visited today. I have got more great ideas about how to motivate my students.” 

Mrs. Leticia Zavaleta, Teacher at Dpto. De Idiomas y Literatura- Facultad de Educación, Universidad Nacional de Cajamarca
1.       “I have learned about the importance of using technology and get information for our personal and professional development.  I also like the possibility of exploiting everyday situations and I have learned how to use more resources for our classes and how important it is to incorporate technology in our classes.”
2.       “All along the event I have felt involved and have perceived a feeling of friendship and comradeship all along. I believe the new RELO is doing a wonderful job propitiating more collaborative work with institutions even if they are not binationals and I appreciate that this event was free for us since it is not common to attend events of this academic level.”

Mr. Raul Pinillos. Teacher at ICPNA Chiclayo and NESI
  1. “I think that this event has helped me activate my learning and has made me reflect on my own teaching practice. I used some of the activities presented but did not use others so I think I can have more variety in my teaching after this.”
  2. “The event was good. I liked the topics and presentations. I think it has been a good refreshment event for us teachers who have been in the trade for some time and I am determined to try some of these suggestions as soon as I am back.”

Mr. Richard de la Cruz, Teacher at ICPNA Huancayo
  1. “I liked to know about the different interaction behaviors and to know that besides the T-S, there are many more possibilities to propitiate interaction. It is good to know more about the learning process and how important it is to share with students. I also learned the importance of the comprehension checks before moving on with the lesson.”
  2. “I think internalization is a key factor. Once students know how to do things we must provide plenty of opportunities to practice and allow them to talk about themselves and things they like. I loved being here, everything was perfect from the very beginning, the service was great, people were really helpful and the workshops were very good!!.”

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