BESIG Conference 2011

Every year the IATEFL Business English SIG conference draws between 350 and 550 participants. Bringing together teachers, publishers, innovators, school representatives and more, this is a unique forum for anyone working in the field of business English teaching.

This year, the conference will be taking place in Dubrovnik, Croatia over the weekend 19 - 21 November.

Each to his or her own blend! What could be stopping you from integrating mobile learning into your teaching of business English? Technophobia - or sound pedagogical motives?

Speakers: Deborah Capras and Helen Strong

The dual purpose of this workshop is to discuss the role of new mobile technologies in business English training, and to show how a blend of traditional and new media can lead to engaging activities in the classroom and to more autonomous learners. Deborah Capras and Helen Strong will offer pedagogical insight into recent developments in mobile learning and present research on mobile learning carried out by Business Spotlight. We will provide ideas and tips on creating an up-to-date business course using the Business Spotlight blend of products, which includes a bi-monthly magazine, workbooks, vocabulary guides, audio material, a smartphone app and digital material.

Participants are advised to bring their own laptops to access the internet via a Wi-Fi connection for some of the activities.

Deborah Capras is the deputy editor of Business Spotlight and an experienced, qualified business English trainer and teacher trainer. Deborah takes a particular interest in material design, web-based training and new technologies.

Helen Strong is an experienced, qualified business English trainer and teacher trainer and the author of Business Spotlight in the Classroom. Helen also takes a particular interest in the use of technology in teaching.

Motivating topics for your business students

Speakers: Lucy Williams and Maja Sirola

Business English learners want engaging and motivating materials — and so do teachers. In this workshop, the editors of Business Spotlight magazine and onestopenglish.com will discuss their key criteria for selecting topics and adapting material for use in the classroom. We’ll present the results from recent surveys of teachers, in which we researched suitable business topics for the classroom, the requirements for teacher-support materials and the use of translations in the teaching and learning process. Using examples from Business Spotlight and onestopenglish’s compendium of versatile business resources (including Skill Up! and Business Spotlight lesson plans), we’ll look at ways to integrate our resources into your programme of teaching.

Author and teacher Karen Richardson will also give an insight into how she creates motivating lesson activities.

During this hands-on workshop, we’d like you to evaluate our materials, looking at how they can be used effectively in the classroom.

Lucy Williams is an experienced, CELTA-qualified online editor with a background in linguistics and ELT. She has worked for Macmillan since 2006 and is currently Commissioning Editor for www.onestopenglish.com, Macmillan’s successful resource site for English language teachers.

Maja Sirola is managing editor at Business Spotlight, the leading business English magazine in Germany. She is also responsible for the production of all the print products published under the Business Spotlight brand (see www.business-spotlight.de/our-products ). Before joining Spotlight Verlag in 1991, she worked as an EFL and BE teacher in Croatia and Germany.

Fast facts:

BESIG Conference 2011

18 - 20 November

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Register here!