Humanism in Language Teaching
August 29th - September 1st 2004

Sheelagh Deller

Plenary: Humanising the Teaching Process - De-stressing the teachers.
It is fashionable nowadays to focus on humanistic teaching, student centred learning, how learners learn etc. In other words we are encouraged to focus more on the feelings and needs of the learner than of the teacher. But teachers often feel unloved, unsupported and at times, at a loss. The job has not got any easier - and in some ways more difficult. We've had new technology to come to grips with, and a changing attitude among school learners. The keyword seems to be a lack of respect. I don't have any magic wand to wave, but I hope that by acknowledging this situation we can ourselves leave this conference with more confidence and joy.

Workshop: Humanising the Teaching Process - De-stressing the learners.
It's difficult to judge how humanistic we can be in our teaching. There is a fine balance, from our students' point of view, between us being on the one hand respectful and empathetic, and on the other being too soft and patronising. The workshop will cover strategies, which go towards creating a more affective and safe learning environment. We will focus on practical areas, which aim to make our students feel important, adult, responsible, encouraged and respected. There is no learning without our learners' consent. Perhaps these ideas will make that consent more likely.

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John Mc Rae

Plenary: The Fifth Skill.
There has been a lot of talk about the fifth skill recently - this presentation examines what it is and how necessary it is for teachers and learners. It is NOT the end of the four skills approach. It is the most logical extension and development of what we all do every day in our classes: and everybody will get a chance to practice the fifth skill for themselves.

Workshop: Language awareness, text awareness, cultural awareness.
What language awareness is, and how it is a necessary part of all language teaching, is will be examined in this seminar, with a wide-ranging exploration of representational materials, literature with a small l, with all its cultural implications.
What is the relationship between the known language and the target language, and how much are students aware of their own language before they start learning? How such knowledge and awareness can be successfully exploited and techniques in terms of reading, vocabulary, and productive skills will be our focus.

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Sarah Phillips

Plenary: Teaching Science in English, learning English in Science.
A teacher once said to me "If language is a vehicle, we can use it to get where ever we want to go." As language teachers we can forget this, teaching our children the mechanics of the vehicle, but never jumping in and going anywhere with it.
In this plenary I will talk about using language to teach other subjects, or content and language integrated learning (CLIL). CLIL covers an enormous range of situations, from bi-lingual schools to taking time in English language classes to teach the children something that is not strictly language. But in all cases the focus off language and on topic is enormously enriching, as language is put in its true role, that of a vehicle of communication.

Workshop: CLIL in your Classroom.
The workshops will provide some hands on experience of CLIL (content and language integrated learning) with the aim of giving teachers tools to use to prepare their own units.
We will look at some units structured around different subjects and for different age groups including Science, Geography, and Art. We will discuss the factors that need to be considered when planning a unit of work, and look at possible routes to follow in order to put together a successful series of lessons. Then teachers will work together in small groups , choose a topic and plan out a unit that they will then present to the rest of the group. The workshop is for Primary teachers, though of course everybody is welcome!

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Jim Wingate

Plenary: Three Million Years of Evolution Applied to Lessons.
Description: Three million years of evolution perfected our ancestors and therefore ourselves as hunter-gatherers in small bands of up to 25 people. A few hundred years is too short to evolve for our modern, urban life. Jim shows practical ways to work with our hunter-gatherer natures as teacher and learners in the classroom, releasing new, positive energy. Your classroom can become an environment where co-operation, coherence, cohesion, and celebration are experienced and celebrated just as in unter-gatherer societies are today, and have been for our past three million years.

Workshop: Psychic Energies in the Classroom (for teachers of all ages of learner).
Jim helps you as a participant to explore and trust your psychic gifts and energies, and to use these positively in the classroom to achieve better learning outcomes. The techniques can be described as 'inner and outer drama'.
The techniques include clarifying your style of leadership; enhancing your presence and confidence; being refreshed, not exhausted, by teaching; dealing with 'difficult' learners, using your force-field; using nice, simple rituals; the balance of 'work' and 'play' types of activity; lesson dynamics; ways of unifying classes; magic experiences; 'celebrations' for each lesson and each course that you teach.
The 'inner drama' is the energies of your own beliefs and attitudes.
The 'outer drama' is how your energies interact with the energies of your learners.
Your psychic energies are already at work in the classroom, but often not in your conscious control, and not always to the benefit of you and your learners. In this workshop, Jim trains you in selecting and directing your psychic energies to make the learning environment better for teaching and learning.
There is nothing 'religious' about the workshop. Scientific research shows time and time again that every person has psychic abilities and can learn to direct them. To know about your psychic abilities and to use them positively is to be a more holistic teacher. Even if you feel you have no psychic abilities or are healthily very sceptical, you are very welcome to participate in this workshop.

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