IH DoS Conference
There was a distinctly nautical feeling to this year’s •International House Director of Studies Conference. Not only did the conference take place in the vicinity of the River Thames in London as in previous years, but this year we were actually on the river, aboard the •HMS Belfast. The ship, which played a pivotal role in the Second World War and was later deployed during the Korean War, is a museum ship operated by the Imperial War museum, and is one of London’s major tourist attractions. Some would say it was the perfect venue for approximately 70 International House directors of Studies, Teacher Trainers and senior teachers to come together to discuss plans, assess recent developments and gain a global view of language teaching and learning.
The programme was disrupted slightly by the adverse, snowy weather conditions across the UK and parts of Europe, but for those who made it there was still much of interest. Visiting speakers included Jeremy Harmer who gave a talk about oral fluency, Russell Stannard who highlighted some of the best web resources available for both language teachers and learners, Hugh Deller who wants language teachers to keep things simple and relevant spoke about the ‘Curse of Creativity’ and Keith Kelly who presented some very interesting developments in the field of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). Our very own Sebastian Taylor gave a •well-received presentation about EUROLTA. A selection of the presentations is already available to watch through the International House World website.
As with most conferences, what happens on the fringes of the event is as interesting as the main presentations. The IH DoS conference is no exception to this rule, with lots of opportunities for networking, exchanging information and highlighting best practice, as well as for getting help with problems and exploring potential partnerships. The conference is a valuable forum for sharing ideas, developing resources and building up relationships.
IH Berlin PROLOG’s three representatives, Felix Breitkreuz, Jodi Wohmann and Sebastian Taylor, have returned to Berlin with lots of food for thought, some great ideas and a deeper knowledge of British World War Two history! We’d like to thank everyone at IH World Organisation for organising such a great conference and are already looking forward to January 2011 – although hopefully the weather conditions will be a little better next time around!