• 5 Days • 5 Authors • 5 Workshops
• 5 Days • 5 Authors • 5 Workshops
Helbling Spring Festival 2022
Inspire Teaching with Refreshing Ideas
For English Teachers of Young Adults and Adults
• 5 Days • 6 Speakers • 5 Webinars
APR 20 WED
APR 22 FRI
APR 26 TUE
APR 27 WED
APR 28 THU
TIME : 10:00 -11:00 (Mexico City, Panama)
09:00 -10:00 (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala )
The Workshops
01
WHAT'S YOUR STORY?
20 April Wednesday 10:00 -11:00 am
Robert Campbell
Why was the smart lock not so smart? What is the secret of the house? Who is that woman in the picture? What did you do on the weekend? Our lives are filled with stories, from everyday conversations with friends and colleagues, through our posts on social networks, to the TV series and films we watch, the books we read, and news stories we follow.
Stories are an important way for students to connect with each other and with the outside world. But how can we make storytelling more than simply reading or listening to texts? Using video, audio, images, and the printed word, this workshop is filled with practical ideas you can use with your students to develop their listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills. It’s not storytelling – it’s storydoing.
About Robert
Robert has worked as a teacher, an ELT magazine editor, an author, and musician. He has written secondary and adult courses as well as several graded readers. He’s the winner of a Learner Literature Award and has developed and produced audio and video material for many ELT courses. For more information visit www.robertcampbell.info
02
READING FOR PLEASURE
-‘The road to reading everything’
Julia Starr Keddle & Martyn Hobbs
22 April Friday 10:00 -11:00 am
Do young people read? Yes, they do. In fact, our students today are reading more than ever. And much of this reading happens in real time. Last century we talked on the phone, now we all chatter with our fingers. Gossip, news, information, posts and messages; chats, homework and research. But whether students are studying online or in the classroom, their success in a foreign language depends on reading skills from old favourites like scanning, skimming and predicting, to new digital tools such as online dictionaries.
But with all this ‘busy’ reading, it’s easy to forget the essential role of reading for its own sake. When we read for pleasure we discover ideas, emotions, situations and experiences which either reflect our own lives or reveal other people’s points of view. We also see language working at its full creative potential. We can lose ourselves and forget we are language learners. And as an added bonus, extensive reading has been proven to improve vocabulary acquisition and develop language skills.
In this session we will explore ways in which reading for pleasure contributes to better language learning, liberates the imagination, engages the brain and heart, builds empathy, and helps our students grow as people. As the writer Neil Gaiman once said, ‘fiction forces you to learn new words, to think new thoughts, to keep going, to discover that reading is pleasurable. Once you learn that, you’re on the road to reading everything.’
About Martyn & Julia
Martyn Hobbs has been involved in ELT for over 35 years, at first teaching then as a writer of course books, readers and videos. He is the co-author with Julia Starr Keddle of many successful courses from primary to young adults. Martyn has a particular interest in stories in all their forms – from short stories and novels to scripts for the theatre and cinema. He is also a prize-winning playwright and screenplay writer.
Julia Starr Keddle has been involved in ELT for over 35 years, as a teacher, teacher trainer, course developer and a writer of course books. She is the co-author with Martyn Hobbs of many successful courses from primary to young adults. Julia is passionate about motivating students with topics and activities that truly engage. She also designs gardens – the planning and development stages are like writing courses, and the nurturing of plants is like teaching!
03
WAKE UP YOUR INNER ELEPHANT!
26 April Tuesday 10:00 -11:00 am
Jane Revell
Memory is a vital part of learning anything, and, essentially, it’s a question of practice. Our memory is like a muscle: the more we exercise it, the better it works. Use it or lose it! But we sometimes forget just how powerful our brain is and we often have limiting beliefs about our ability to remember things, especially as we get older.
This session will look at some ways to help us ‘use’ our memory - and boost our confidence in our power to remember - by suggesting some simple practice activities for us as individuals/teachers.
There are a lot of things we can to do keep our students in good shape mentally too: simple memory exercises and games that can be played in the classroom (and outside it), that are beneficial and fun and that don’t take up too much time.
Why do this ‘memory training’? Because these activities are not just about language learning in particular, but about learning - and life - in general. In fact, recent research has shown that playing brain games and doing regular memory exercises can help keep our brain ‘ticking over’ nicely and protect against Alzheimer’s and other degenerative diseases in later life!
About Jane
Jane has taught English and trained teachers all over the world. Three times winner of the ESU Duke of Edinburgh Award for her ELT courses and books for teachers, she has also written readers, children’s stories, BBC radio and video material as well as innovative personal development books for teachers. Jane is also an international NLP trainer, a stress management consultant and a Pilates instructor.
CLASSROOM PSYCHOLOGY
IN ACTION
WHAT KIND OF WOOD ARE YOUR STUDENTS MADE OF?
04
27 April Wednesday 10:00 -11:00 am
Koen Van Landeghem
Language teachers’ aim is to make learning languages enjoyable and successful, but perhaps above all, we aim at bringing the best out of our students, so that they can better relate to themselves, others, and the world around them.
This is easier said than done, especially since over the past two years our teaching / learning environments have drastically changed. Experienced teachers can, in a face-to-face classroom, develop a sense of what kind of students and personalities they have in front of them, and thus adapt their class dynamics and teaching styles accordingly. In an online or hybrid class, however, understanding the “student’s profile” is an equally challenging task for the experienced and the less experienced teacher.
This session will take a closer look at the Mind’s inner workings, and is packed with simple hands-on activities you can do to help identify the different learning preferences and needs in your online or face-2-face class. Developing an understanding of what your students' needs are is a first step to achieving better results. For your students, being aware of their preferences and the learning styles available to them helps them to play a more active role in achieving the overall goal.
About Koen
With a background in psychology Koen has a special interest in experiential coaching and he is passionate about change and innovation in language teaching. He has been involved in ELT as a teacher, teacher trainer and is a frequent speaker in ELT conferences in Mexico and abroad. Koen has worked in nearly every area of ELT publishing and is currently the director for Helbling English in Mexico and Central America.
05
USING MICROBREAKS IN ONLINE TEACHING
28 April Thursday 10:00 -11:00 am
Lindsay Clandfield
During the pandemic, millions of students have been thrown into online versions of their classes and the results have varied. What has become clear is that following an online lesson on a screen from home can be more taxing for students and it can be more difficult for the teacher to maintain their attention. One tool that we can use to cope with this is the implementation of microbreaks: short breaks during a period of work.
In this workshop, I will argue for the importance of incorporating microbreaks into our lessons and provide practical examples of tasks that can be done during microbreaks to make them as productive as possible for everyone involved.
About Lindsay
Lindsay Clandfield is an award-winning writer, teacher, teacher trainer and international speaker in the field of English language teaching. He has written more than ten coursebooks for language learners and is the co-author of various methodology books for teachers. His latest work is as lead author on the new Helbling young adult course Studio. You can find out more about him at his website www.lindsayclandfield.com
About
1. FREE WEBINARS: Helbling Festival Webinars are for teachers for young adults and adults. They are all free of charge.
2. CERTIFICATES: All workshop webinar attendees will receive the Helbling training attendance certificate after each webinar.
3. TOO BUSY TO JOIN: If your schedule cannot match the webinar time, please still register the event. We will send you the webinar recording after the event.
4. WE USE ZOOM: All webinars will be hold via Zoom. Please make sure you have a zoom account and use the zoom email to register the event.
REGISTRATION
