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Fiona English, PhD.

Keynote Speaker

Who Do We Think We Are? The elusive identity of the English language teacher.

In this talk, I want to dig into what it means to be an English language teacher in 2019, how we perceive our work, how we perceive ourselves in relation to our work and how we perceive ourselves in relation to the content of what we teach. In the process I will be reflecting on how intrinsic factors, such as whether we are a native or a non-native English speaker, might shape our teacherly identity and how extrinsic factors, such as how we came to be English language teachers, might affect how we think of ourselves as experts or otherwise. I will also be exploring beliefs around legitimacy, authenticity and commitment, or, rather, investment, and how these relate to the concept of community and its importance in developing and supporting our professional identity.

Finally, I want us to consider the question of whether there is such as thing as an English language teacher identity and if there is, what does it look like and how is it formed? Perhaps it is the case that rather than there being an identity, there are different identities which intersect at the point of our profession: pedagogical expertise, openness to others, creativity and knowledge about language itself.

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Tim Marr, PhD.

International Speaker

Who are mi gente? Culture and capital in the ELT classroom

In this talk, I address the question of the teacher’s relationship with culture or cultures: local, global, and ‘English-speaking’. What do people do with and through English? What other languages, identities and communicative practices might be involved, and what does this imply for the teaching of English? Moving away from the idea of culture as something necessarily geographical or ethnocultural, and towards the notion of culture as a form of social capital, I examine a TV advertisement for the online ELT provider EF Englishtown, and consider what it tells us about what it means to be ‘an English speaker’ or ‘the kind of person who can speak English’. I argue that it is no longer a key part of the English teacher’s job (if it ever really was) to act as an ambassador of Anglophone culture to their students. Rather, I would like to suggest that a crucial part of the English teacher’s professional identity consists in their acting as a bridge for their students to transnational, global flows of communication and as a guide to the sometimes conflicting and exaggerated narratives that are spun around the language.

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Ana Laura Martínez Vázquez

International Speaker

Emotional Grammar: Creating Emotional Connections with Language

Throughout the ages, humankind has been interested in exploring other cultures and learning other languages, for such reason they have developed several methods, techniques, and teaching approaches to transmitting the knowledge of languages to other individuals. Unfortunately, this process has relied on the mechanics of language rather than its social use or the way it might affect emotionally to its users. Nowadays, educators, course designers, book editors, and researchers have turned their attention to one essential factor for language teaching; now, socioemotional competencies are key to the development of effective and meaningful language teaching. In this session, we will explore how emotions can contribute to learning and understanding the mechanics of language at any age.

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Maria Fernanda Puentes Rodriguez

International Speaker

The kind of teacher I want to be!
Constructing/redefining EFL teacher identity to teach for social justice.

In addition to facing different dimensions of learning, new teachers also start a process of developing an understanding of themselves as teachers. In this process, identity is an underlying component of teacher learning. Teacher-learning entails a trajectory for exploring knowledge of language, developing teaching skills and critically assessing what it means to be a language teacher. This self-scrutiny involves reproducing pre-established identities or reconstructing them for change and transformation. In this sense, a teacher´s professional identity has a strong relationship with her/his development of critical thinking.

Framed within a critical applied linguistics lens and based on initial doctoral research findings in relation to English and social justice, this discussion will address three issues: the construction of ELT teacher identity, the ELT teacher as critical thinker, and teaching for social justice. The discussion aims to engage both experienced and novice teachers, inviting them to reflect on the kind of teachers they want to be. Do we want to be EFL teachers who are globally-minded and make informed decisions to construct or redefine our identities? Or teachers who have an understanding of their role in the context of political and social struggles for voice and recognition? In the process of constructing our teacher identity, we should not forget that English teachers do not merely inform or pass on knowledge about language: we should transform and provide opportunities for learners to interpret reality critically by teaching for social justice.

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Carolina R. Buitrago

National Speaker

Research, Innovation and Collegiality: Flipping myself up for my students.

Language teaching is a passion for many of us. However, an instrumental approach to language learning and teaching has forced us to comply with regulations and standards for students to be ready for “the globalized world we live in”. For years, language learning has focused on discrete aspects of language, to make sure our students comply with the levels proposed by exams and international standards. Even though this is important, we can not ignore the human factor in our classrooms. We do not teach content, we teach students, and we have to be ready to respond to their needs, interests, wants, and conflicts. Through research, innovation via flipped learning and collegiality, I have created my own vision of language learning that today I want to share with you. In this plenary, I want to share the journey I have taken from being a language instructor to an agent of change in my students’ lives.

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Martin Caicedo

National Speaker

Assessment beyond testing. Learning beyond assessment.

What is the power of assessment and testing in the classroom? How can this power be harnessed in benefit of the students and their learning processes? This talk is aimed at posing questions and reflections in the light of the current issues being talked about in the educational world regarding assessment and testing and how teachers can incorporate those issues into their teaching and purposefully generate meaningful discussions at the very hearts of their institutions with the sole purpose of improving teaching and learning. Assessment beyond testing. Learning beyond assessment.

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Ricardo Romero

National Speaker

Revisiting teachers’ identities: Issues and challenges in the digital era.

Even if -as a healthy point of departure- we consider that the teaching profession is always changing, new generations of teachers, particularly teachers of English, face the challenges of reinventing themselves in a world that is reinventing us. For years, TEFL programs have worked in dynamic curricula, covering aspects of language, language teaching, research, and others, in an honest attempt to provide quality education. This presentation will explore new ways of describing teachers’ identities in light of the new roles imposed upon us.