Following the success of the Best of BESIG 2006 in Paris, TESOL France and IATEFL BESIG have decided to come together for a second time. Prospective speakers for the Best of BESIG 2 are kindly asked to submit abstracts for talks pertaining to new and emerging practical approaches in the Professional English context. These include:
Teaching tips for teachers of Business English
Relationships between Professional English and other disciplines
English for Professionals and the use of technology
New materials, but more importantly, innovative ways on how teachers can use them
Discussions on the trends, evolution and future directions of Business English
Best of BESIG 2006 abstracts can be found at:
http://www.tesol-france.org/BOBAbstracts.php
Please include:
Name of speaker(s) + affiliate (where necessary)
Title and synopsis of workshop /
paper you consider appropriate for the event and target audience.
100 words approx
Language of delivery (French / English)
Target audience – e.g. experienced / less experienced trainers, etc.
Publisher sponsored workshop Please include name of publisher
Biodata. 100 words max
Any time during the event when you will not be available
Technical needs.
NB: In the past, Best of BESIG attendees have greatly enjoyed workshops that have been more practical than theoretical.
Important Dates:
Deadline for submission of proposals: March 31, 2008
Notification of acceptance: April 18, 2008
Details of preliminary schedule: May 1, 2008
Event Date: June 7, 2008
Papers are to be submitted in .doc or .pdf format via e-mail and sent to: tesol@enst.fr.
Please put Best of BESIG Call for Papers in the Subject Line.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Presentations and workshops
Read some documents from the 2006 workshops
Barry Abrams, Video Recording in the Classroom
John Allison, Using Case Studies
Ian Badger, The Changing World of Business English
Elke Beder, Energize Your BE Class with Hollywood Film Scenes
Nick Brieger, International Team Building Training
Lynn Burney, Coaching
Damian Corcoran, Voice Management Skills for Presentations
Michael O’Connor, Powerpoint for Student Presentations:
Added Value or Audience Nightmare?
Adrian Pilbeam, Developing Intercultural Training Skills
Gunvar Sarelin-Sjöblom, How Should Language Programmes in Higher Education Adapt to the Needs of Industry and Business?
Julia Starr Keddle, The Creative Teaching of 'Soft Skills' in Business English
Tom Smith + Stephanie Ashford, Critical Moments: Creating Spontaneous Teaching + Learning
Charles Talcott, Teaching TOEIC
Graham Tullis, Getting Published
Greg Williams, Suggestopedia
How to Use Videotaping in the Classroom in Several Easy Steps!
By Barry Abrams The workshop, while brief, will try to give participants some insights into how to effectively use video in the classroom. This will include, in large part, dispelling the 'fear factor' of working with technical equipment.
We will look at various uses of video in meetings, negotiations and presentation role-plays and discuss the many possibilities video provides to work on not only the learners’ language skills (with delayed correction), but also to help them become more effective public speakers.
If time allows, some of the more creative uses of the medium, such as one on one interviews and letting the learners script and act in their own socializing video role-plays will be discussed.
Using Case Studies (Macmillan)
By John Allison This workshop investigates a classroom activity which has recently come back into fashion, and attempts to answer three essential questions:
What exactly is a case study?
Why should I use case studies?
How can I use case studies?
In a hands-on session, participants are invited to compare materials, techniques and experiences in order to reconsider and perhaps redefine their own attitudes and approach to using case studies in a variety of different teaching contexts.
The Changing World of Business English (Marshall Cavendish)
By Ian Badger In this talk I will examine how globalisation and new channels of communication, such as the use of email and the Internet, mobile telephony, messaging and intranet data systems, have increased the demand for higher proficiency in English - from the shop floor to the board room. I will also examine the constants, the areas of everyday communication where basic skills in writing, telephoning and face-to-face situations have remained largely unchanged over the years. Throughout the talk I will refer to my own experiences of running ‘in-company’ training programmes and courses to meet the changing needs of business learners.
Energize Your Business English Class with Hollywood Film Scenes
By Elke Beder In teaching Business English we often face the problem of having to find materials that reflect the real business world instead of the business world of the language classroom. Scenes from films are an ideal source for language activities because they provide both "authentic" language and business situations. Film scenes are short and fun and learners are usually familiar with the films used. They can be exploited to teach a wide range of topics including presentations, meetings, role-plays, vocabulary work and grammar. This workshop will introduce hands-on activities and ideas that can easily be adapted to any Business English class.
International Team Building Training (Sponsored by IATEFL BESIG) By Nick Brieger ‘Developing Yourself and Your Team in an International Context’is a one-day training programme run by York Associates to various international clients. It brings together three areas:
- awareness of preferred working styles, using a psychometric tool
- people-linking skills and task-linking skills for effective team working
- intercultural awareness, looking at national and corporate cultures
These three background issues are then developed through practical activities to raise awareness of their applicability in the participants’ working contexts.
In this session, I am to go through the programme for the day:
the course objectives
the stages
the activities
From Teaching to Coaching
By Lynne Burney
Many learner centred language trainers consider themselves to be coaches already and can't understand what the fuss is about. They can understand that the fees they are getting relate to the language training market but not to the coaching market so what is the mental shift that is required to jump from one market to another? What is the skills shift that is required to become a coach? What needs to happen for a teacher to become a coach? What is coaching in fact? A 55-minute workshop that seeks to model a coaching process will not answer these questions so it will be interesting to see what emerges during the time available. What will meet participant expectations and what will be left unsaid and undone but the most interesting question will be "so what do you want to do about it?"
Voice Management Skills for Presentations By Damian Corcoran In this workshop presentation we will explore 3 themes in voice management in depth; posture, breathing, and production, considering them as primary concerns for trainees giving presentations in English.
Posture: Working on basic strategies for finding a centered position. Discovering personal preferences and analysing negative and positive aspects of being “off-centre”. Touching on body language and gestures as extensions of an alert mind and relaxed body.
Breathing: Essential work will be done on relaxed breathing and breath control as a way of managing stress and enhancing production. Ways of helping trainees breathe effectively will be practised.
Production: We will discover activities to increase awareness of how articulation, tone, and pace can affect how people understand what we are presenting. Testing the argument “It’s not what you say but the way that you say it” that counts. Specific work will be done on rehearsal techniques especially in a one to one context.
PowerPoint for Student Presentations: Added Value or Audience Nightmare?
By Michael O’Connor Since its introduction 20 years ago, PowerPoint presentation software has become a staple of business presentations, but misuse and abuse has led to a backlash of rejection. This presentation will briefly retrace the extraordinary growth of PowerPoint and analyze why so many people in business and teaching are criticizing it. The workshop will include practical activities that can be used in the classroom to help students design effective PowerPoint presentations as a complement to their in-class oral presentations, and tips on how to get the most out of the software to add value to business presentations without boring the public. Easy alternatives to PowerPoint and common errors in slide design and information presentations will be addressed.
Developing Intercultural Training Skills
By Adrian Pilbeam Intercultural awareness and communication are considered to be essential components of many Business English courses. But what is the best way to integrate intercultural topics and activities into Business English courses? Should the focus be only on culture as it affects communication or on other aspects of culture as well? And what training do Business English trainers need to be better versed in this field? In fact, what is intercultural training and how does it differ from language training? How can language trainers make the transition to intercultural trainers? I will address these questions, using a variety of workshop activities.
How Should Language Programmes in Higher Education Adapt to the Needs of Industry and Business? By Gunvor Sarelin-Sjöblom What are the language needs of industry and business, and which are the communication situations in today's business life? Do Business English teachers take into account the educational trends for the future?
Critical Moments: Creating Spontaneous Teaching and Learning Opportunities
By Tom Smith + Stephanie Ashford
This is an interactive workshop that examines ways of developing scenarios for teaching the 'high surrender' language chunks that are essential for business people using English in a range of situations. No materials are used – the participants suggest the situations, and the facilitators create simple 'information gap' simulations and monitor the activities and give feedback. We will discuss issues of classroom organisation, how to set up authentic simulations and encourage participation, and effective ways of taking language notes and giving feedback. This workshop will be of interest to anyone involved in the practical aspects of teaching Business English.
The Creative Teaching of 'Soft Skills' in Business English OUP)
By Julia Starr Keddle In the modern workplace it is not enough for the language learner to understand practical issues such as letter writing, business theory and the technical ability to do a job. These hard skills need to go hand in hand with soft skills: transferable personal and interpersonal skills such as emotional intelligence, dealing with anger, listening effectively and conflict management. Through guided tasks and fun presentations the English language student can begin to develop an awareness of the soft skills necessary in a 21st century workplace.
Teaching TOEIC: What a Test Can Teach Us About Teaching? (CUP) By Charles Talcott How can standardized tests enhance our teaching? English teachers are feeling more and more pressure to incorporate outcomes assessment tests into their curriculum, and this produces the added pressure of having to re-orient the syllabus and to alter our pedagogical methods and styles toward test preparation. Charles, co-author of Cambridge University Press's Target Score, will talk about the challenge of developing and delivering a creative, language-acquisition-friendly syllabus for students who are both learning English and preparing for the TOEIC.
Teacher to Author – Making the Transition<
By Graham Tullis Adapting existing materials or preparing new ones for use in the classroom is just part of the job for most Business English teachers. But how do you make the transition from preparing your own tailored materials to submitting a publishing proposal for a coursebook? Drawing on his own experience as a teacher and author, Graham will be looking at the issues that are involved in putting together a book proposal and discussing how best to go about it.
How Suggestopedia Has Developed and Can Be Adapted to French Corporate Culture
By Greg Williams What’s behind the word Suggestopedia and how has this learning technique been developed and adapted since Dr. Lozanov first published his findings in the 50s? Should certain activities be changed due to changing attitudes? Is relaxation and calling on the creative energies of the mind still an important issue in the classroom? And how does French culture in general and French corporate culture in particular affect the fundamental precepts of Suggestopedia?
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