IATEFL-Poland Wroclaw 2012

IATEFL-Poland Wroclaw 2012

• 
• Editor / City & Guilds
  http://www.cityandguildsenglish.com
• September 17 2012

Real Speaking for the real World & Whose culture are you teaching

by David A. Hill (Freelance, sponsored by City & Guilds)

This year City & Guilds were very honoured in sponsoring David A. Hill’s participation in the 2012 IATEFL in Poland. David’s presentations consisted of a workshop titled ‘Real Speaking for the real World’ and the closing plenary titled ‘Whose culture are your teaching’ and we are pleased to say both the workshop and plenary were a huge success with great interest from delegates at the conference and excellent feedback given at the City & Guilds exhibition stand.

Real Speaking for the real World looked at the nature of real speech and its unbreakable bond with listening. It dealt with such issues as Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca in the context of who our students will really be communicating with and it examined examples of real speech and suggested practical ideas for their use in the classroom.

Background culture (British, in David A. Hill’s case) used to be a fundamental element of a language course. No course book was complete without its red phone boxes and cups of tea. But in these days of language for communication, that cultural background is neither use nor ornament. What should we fill the cultural void with? This talk discussed the background to these issues and pointed the ways forward.