CONFERENCES & MEETINGS
Perception and Reality in Language Education
The ICC 19th Annual Conference 2012 will be held in the beautiful surroundings of Pilsen in the Czech Republic:
09 -10 March 2012. The conference will be hosted by the University of West Bohemia.
University of West Bohemia, Univerzitní 8, 306 14 Plzen
This time the ICC 19th Annual Conference has put its focus on 'Perception and Reality in Language Education'.
It seems that there are many disconnects nowadays. What learners perceive as good learning is often at odds with what teachers claim to know. What teachers consider conditions for good learning seems to be at odds with projects like the Hole-in-the-Wall initiative. (see Sugata Mitra).
The claims made by advocates of the new technologies are often at odds with the realities experienced by users. There are increasing doubts about the reliability of information on the new interactive databases – anyone is now an author and anyone is an information consumer – so who can trust whom? Language is perceived as a unifying force in globalisation and yet language and culture are what are often used precisely to define in-groups and national identities. This has profound implications on what precisely language education involves if we are to contribute to better international and intercultural communication.
The conference offers a timely spotlight on issues surrounding teaching and teacher training. With speakers from the worlds of publishing, intercultural communication, education management, ICT in education and those with a range of teaching expertise, the conference offers an opportunity for lively debate on the issues raised above.
The conference ‘Perception and Reality in Language Education’ will cover the following areas:
- Teacher Qualification
- Certification – Testing, Assessment
- Teaching Czech as a foreign Language
- Classroom Practice
- Technology and Language Teaching
- Intercultural Training
- Vocational Training
- ICT based language teaching solutions
If you wish to lead a session at the conference, please register on the conference website http://conference.icc-languages.eu by 31 November 2011.
The conference language will be English, but some presentations will also be held in Czech.
Photo: Christel SchneiderThe currency and marketability of testing mechanisms
The 2nd ICC Think Tank in Athens invites interested professionals to a forum to consider factors involved in what makes a testing mechanism both valid and desirable. The day will take the form of focussed discussion groups with a view to producing a framework to define how currency and marketability might be measured and guidelines for how it might be achieved.
Date: 12 June 2011, 10:00 - 16:00 hrs
The event is hosted by PALSO The Panhellenic Federation of Foreign Language School Owners
Venue: MAVROKORDATOU 1-3/ 1ST Floor, IEK DOMI
ΜΑΥΡΟΚΟΡΔΑΤΟΥ 1-3/ 1Ος ΟΡΟΦΟΣ/ ΙΕΚ ΔΟΜΗ
For further information and registration please contact the ICC Head Office:
This year‘s ICC 18th Annual Conference offers a timely spotlight on issues surrounding plurilingualism and the multilingual society. As an INGO comprising members from many fields in language education, its focus is on the practical rather than the political. The conference approaches the issues under four main themes: integration; class-room practice; materials development and evaluation.
With speakers from the worlds of publishing, intercultural communication, education management, ICT in education and those with a range of teaching expertise, the conference offers an opportunity for lively debate on a theme that will influence our concept of language education for many years to come.
This year local organisers 'Flying Teachers' and 'Club School Migros'' are hosting the conference in the picturesque town of Winterthur in Switzerland, so we can enjoy glorious scenery as well as stimulating discussion.
Winterthur is very close to Zurich, so there will be no problem getting there. For further information about the programme, the venue, time table and booklet of abstracts click here
The 3rd International Conference
in Florence, Italy 11-12 November 2010 provided great opportunities for networking and dissmenitation. The whole conference proceedings can be obtained via Pixel
Christel Schneider, ICC, presented AVALON with Luisa Panichi,University of Pisa and Hanna Outakoski, who presented her part via Skype from Mid Sweden University. In this presentation a special focus was on the Benefits and Challenges of Virtual Worlds for the Learning of Indigenous Minority Languages.
Luisa Panichi presenting AVALONEven though snowstorms in Stockholm prevented Hanna from coming to Florence and even though the technology did not let her appear 'in person' on the screen we managed to get Hanna's presentation online via Skype so that the audience could listen to her lively presentation on using SL for teaching SAMI.
The full conference programme can be viewed here
Training for Excellence - Tools for teachers and International Certification ....
was the title of the 1st International Congress at the Universidad Technológica del Centro de Veracruz in Mexico 28 - 30 October 2010, ICC was privileged to be invited to participate in. The conference was attended by Rob Williams, ICC President, Martin Beck,ICC Vice President, and Christel Schneider, ICC Director who gave presentations on:
- Virtual Learning in 3D worlds, Benefits and Challenges for Teachers and Learners (CS)
- Principles and Views on Online Training as Means of Creative and Effective Teaching - Getting the mix right for a successful blend. (CS)
- Teacher Training - Accreditation and Certification - a EUROPEAN Training Model (CS)
- The NEW Online Language Test Generation - Language exams for students (MB)
- Developing Language Tests for ESP (English for Special Purposes) (MB)
- Teacher Training, Technology and Quality (RW)
You will find the presentations here
( from left to right) Martin Beck with Salvador Garlick, Dr. Francisco Rangel Cáceres with Christel Schneider, audience following Rob William's workshop on Teacher Training.
CHANGING ENVIRONMENTS - CHANGING EXPECTATIONS
ICC 17th Annual Conference, Hamburg, 19-20 March 2010
Barry Tomalin, Prof. Sugata Mitra, Rob Williams, Tim Phillips, Anne Narjes
Panel Discussion – How have expectations changed?
Sugata MitraSugata Mitra fascinated his audience again at this year's ICC Annual Conference in Hamburg with his inspiring keynote on 'An alternative schooling: Self Organising Systems in Education'. His findings are based on the hole in the wall experiment (www.hole-in-the-wall.com) with rural children aged 8-12 who learned to use computers without instruction, organising their own learning.
This programme may be subjuct to alterations
ICC Conference 19_20_03_10 draft15timeta[...].pdf
Adobe Acrobat Document [175.2 KB]
ICC 17th Annual Conference 2010 in Hambu[...].pdf
Adobe Acrobat Document [859.5 KB]
The environments in which language is used have irrevocably changed. Hybrids of face to face communication and the written word have appeared through social networking and the use of mobile phones. Face to face interaction may no longer mean two people in the same room talking. Increasing contact between people from different cultures in the business world and beyond has led to a greater realisation of a need to understand the values and attitudes that drive behaviours and discourse. More than ever before education has become a commercialised utility. Learners are now clients and customer satisfaction is a prime motivating factor in judging the quality of any education programme.
This year's conference will examine the impact of these changes on language education. It will consider how the communications revolution and the rise of the cultural agenda have affected expectations in both receiver (the learner, the learner's sponsor - human resources manager etc) and the education professional. It will examine whether the expectations are realistic and how they might be met. Is it the case that the language end user just doesn't understand the process of language learning or is it that language educators are just not very good at communicating with the wider world?
The conference will look at current challenges faced in the design and delivery of language education and in the measurement of both the performance of learners and the quality of language programmes. Focus will be placed on the teacher perspective, the cultural perspective, the learner perspective and the perspective of those who pay for training. Speakers will consider practical solutions as well as wider implications about where language education is heading.
It will be based around contributions from keynote speakers which will lead into panel discussions on the main themes of the conference. The panel discussions will in turn feed into workshops which will focus on the various perspectives in greater detail. Results from the discussions, practical solutions, etc will then feedback into the plenary forum.
Time will be given for members and others to promote products, projects and publications and there will be an exhibition area for presenting new materials.
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