 |
| Sunsets over Clyde on Sunday evening |
 |
| Arriving at Glasgow Central station |
Greetings from Glasgow! I am sending this
blog from the IATEFL conference 2012. I have signed up to be an official
Glasgow Online Registered Blogger, permission granted by Graham Stanley, who is
the Learning Technologies SIG coordinator. I wasn't sure if I was
worthy enough to be given permission. I'm not a speaker or giving any
kind of presentation here at the conference. I am merely attending my
first one, so I guess I can write about it from the perspective of a virgin
conference delegate, wided-eyed and amazed by the array of knowledge and
experience in English Language Teaching here.
So here are my first day thoughts.
 |
| Monday 19 March - Is this the way to the Armadillo? |
I woke up in what is possibly the most basic hotel
in the area, Etap, down in Springfield Quay. I'm not rich enough for the
Crowne Plaza, of course, but then even Scott Thornbury, who I met today for the
first time, is only there for one night, then he has to find other
digs. I took breakfast and then followed 3 delegates from
Kazakhstan and one from Nigeria from the Hotel to the Scottish Exhibition
Conference Centre, walking across the Millennium Bridge (as advertised
prominently, along with the Clyde Centre, on the cover of the conference
programme). Got there nice and early and avoided the massive queue which
soon developed to register for the event. Got my badge and started to
digest the very thick up-to-date conference programme.
I signed up for the Pre-Conference event run by the
Learner Autonomy SIG. Finding the correct room was a bit of a struggle
but eventually I wound my way through several corridors to the aforementioned
Crowne Plaza to the Staffa room, which later became full to bursting with
delegates. As opening speaker and LASIG coordinator, Leni Dam, got up to
introduce everyone, many were still struggling through the registration
process. Opening speaker, David Little, an absolute authority on the
subject of LA gave a predictable but eloquent 'riff' on the article he
wrote for the LASIG Independence newsletter. This guy "speaks
in paragraphs" as his former employee and student, Ema Ushioda stated in
the first coffee break. He is most certainly an authority, having written
the first of many in the Authentik series on the subject. The theme
was chosen by co-coordinator, Lienhard Legenhausen, as 'learner autonomy across
borders'. Although both he and Scott Thornbury drew me to this
particular PCE, I actually found the on-hand experiences of the guest speakers
the most enlightening. While the main speakers spoke mostly of
theoretical concerns and, in Scott's case, the Dogme approach that he has
become saddled with, the others spoke of their own experiences in implementing
LA in their specific contexts. So we had Carol Everhard talking
about learner centred assessment, Bob (or Brian) Morrison presenting his poster
showing the double-language majors striving towards their goals in Kanda,
Japan, a whole cast of thousands from Bangladesh wondering whether we should
teach English when people don't own any shoes, Dorte from Denmark displaying
insights from Demark and many, many others. My personal highlight
was Irina Minkova's talk on the Learner Autonomy Toolbox.
 |
| LASIG |
 |
| Reception |
I attended the 'civic' reception at the Science
Centre across the Clyde after, but my stomach rumbled after a day in which I
hardly ate anything... just loads of coffee... think I've been highly wired all
day.
I bumped into Nik Peachey for the first time since
meeting him at KSU in Riyadh last year and it would not be the last either. And following my meeting with Scott Thornbury at the Learner
Autonomy SIG, I managed to get a photo with him at the reception. I
didn't realise until later in the week how much Nik and Scott are at-odds with
their views on digital technologies and the language classroom, which
essentially seem to differ on their use within the class. More later, with the interviews with both Scott and Nik on the superbly maintained British
Council iatefl Glasgow Online site.
 |
| With Scott Thornbury, at the Reception on Monday evening |
 |
| Scott taking a photo at the reception |
 |
| Meeting Nik Peachey at Grahamston, city centre after reception |
I woke up in what is possibly the most basic hotel
in the area, Etap, down in Springfield Quay. I'm not rich enough for the
Crowne Plaza, of course, but then even Scott Thornbury, who I met today for the
first time, is only there for one night, then he has to find other
digs. I took breakfast and then followed 3 delegates from
Kazakhstan and one from Nigeria from the Hotel to the Scottish Exhibition
Conference Centre, walking across the Millennium Bridge (as advertised
prominently, along with the Clyde Centre, on the cover of the conference
programme). Got there nice and early and avoided the massive queue which
soon developed to register for the event. Got my badge and started to
digest the very thick up-to-date conference programme.
I signed up for the Pre-Conference event run by the
Learner Autonomy SIG. Finding the correct room was a bit of a struggle
but eventually I wound my way through several corridors to the aforementioned
Crowne Plaza to the Staffa room, which later became full to bursting with
delegates. As opening speaker and LASIG coordinator, Leni Dam, got up to
introduce everyone, many were still struggling through the registration
process. Opening speaker, David Little, an absolute authority on the
subject of LA gave a predictable but eloquent 'riff' on the article he
wrote for the LASIG Independence newsletter. This guy "speaks
in paragraphs" as his former employee and student, Ema Ushioda stated in
the first coffee break. He is most certainly an authority, having written
the first of many in the Authentik series on the subject. The theme
was chosen by co-coordinator, Lienhard Legenhausen, as 'learner autonomy across
borders'. Although both he and Scott Thornbury drew me to this
particular PCE, I actually found the on-hand experiences of the guest speakers
the most enlightening. While the main speakers spoke mostly of
theoretical concerns and, in Scott's case, the Dogme approach that he has
become saddled with, the others spoke of their own experiences in implementing
LA in their specific contexts. So we had Carol Everhard talking
about learner centred assessment, Bob (or Brian) Morrison presenting his poster
showing the double-language majors striving towards their goals in Kanda,
Japan, a whole cast of thousands from Bangladesh wondering whether we should
teach English when people don't own any shoes, Dorte from Denmark displaying
insights from Demark and many, many others. My personal highlight
was Irina Minkova's talk on the Learner Autonomy Toolbox. 
