One of the great strengths of the UK ELT industry is its diversity, and nowhere is this more apparent than at the annual English UK conference, held in London! Attendees included a mixture of staff from universities, private language schools, summer schools and web-based institutions, to name just a few. This meant there was a great range of talks on offer, with the conference divided into one full day of sessions for managers and another for teachers, all in the very comfortable surroundings of Prospero House in Borough. Here are some of the key insights that Matthew Ellman, one of our ELT Trainers, came away with from the teachers’ day:
David Crystal can rap
As the world’s foremost authority on the English language, you wouldn’t expect David Crystal to stumble over his words, but he ended his opening plenary talk on current trends in English accents by demonstrating a hidden talent for spitting rhymes. Before (metaphorically) dropping the mic, Professor Crystal also explained how:
- The prevailing trend in UK accents has been the growth of Estuary English and the decline of Received Pronunciation.
- Globalisation and the internet mean we’re exposed to a wider range of English accents than ever before, and as a result its international varieties of English that are driving change in UK accents.
- The main trend is in a levelling of rhythm, rather than changes to vowel or consonant sounds.
- That means that although English has historically been stress-timed, it’s quite common now to hear syllable-timed English amongst British teenagers.
The millennials are taking over
Picking up on the youth theme, Andy Johnson of the London School Online explained in his talk how the vast majority of students learning English in the UK, and an increasing proportion of those teaching it, are millennials – those born since the 1980s who have grown up with the internet and mobile technology.
Debunking the myths of how millennials are entitled, disloyal to employers, and addicted to their phones, Andy described how teachers can best help millennial students by:
- Incorporating technology into lessons.
- Relating English studies to students’ career development.
- Teaching leadership skills such as empathy and active listening.
- Encouraging social connectivity (eg. WhatsApp) and peer feedback.
- Giving regular, open and honest feedback to students on their performance.
Digital swimming pools
I also presented a session at the conference, casting aside the cold, grey London weather with a talk on Malaysian swimming pools. More precisely, a talk on how these swimming pools are rather like the digital components of your coursebook: they look lovely when you’re deciding which house/coursebook to buy, but they rarely get used after that.
If your coursebook includes online resources (and unless you’ve been using the same first edition of Headway for the last two decades, it will) there are some simple steps you can take to start making the most of them successfully:
- Provide plenty of support to your students – Introduce the online components during lessons so that your students can ask questions and be shown where to click.
- Link online and classroom work – Make sure that online work either consolidates what students have learned in class or prepares them for upcoming lessons.
- Build community – Include activities designed to help students interact and express themselves online.
- Plan using your data – Use students’ progress scores to inform your classroom planning.
If you enjoyed this article, why not check out Laura Patsko’s post about 5 things she learned at IATEFL!