Events Diary

SATEFL Events

Other Events

SATEFL Events

Forthcoming SATEFL Meetings

Date

Details

9 October 2010

Dear SATEFL Members,

We are proud to announce our next event which will be held in Stirling on 9 October.

It will be a whole-day event to celebrate 30 years of SATEFL.

To mark the occasion we have invited Jane and Dave Willis for a day of workshop and plenary sessions complete with book displays and catering.

Current Subscribers: Free attendance
Non-members: £8.50

To reserve a place please email myself or Eddy Moran.
s.brinz@abcol.ac.uk
edward.moran@stir.ac.uk

 

Recent SATEFL Meetings

Date

Details

24 April 2010

Tony Lynch - Listening Comprehension

Webster Building, Perth College

10.30 Coffee and Book Display
11.00 - 12.00 Presentation

12 December 2009

AGM & Try it, It works!

Randolph School of English, Edinburgh
10 am for Coffee, Wine and Book Display
10.30 for AGM and Presentations
Finish around 12.30 - 1 pm

Randolph School of English
63 Frederick Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1LH

Map of location

If you wish to join the SATEFL Committee and contribute with experience and ideas then please contact Ms Sybille Brinz, Membership Secretary, s.brinz@abcol.ac.uk

Also, if you would like to present a novel or interesting teaching idea at the AGM and bring your name to fame, we still have a slot available. Contact as above.

download poster (PDF format)

download minutes (PDF format)

October 2009

Stirling University

23 May 2009

Teaching Vocabulary in the Classroom: Diane Schmitt

Many thanks to June Johnstone et al at English for Everyone in Aberdeen for hosting our SATEFL event on Saturday 23 May 2009. For most of us non-Aberdonians, this was the first time we had visited the school and most impressive it was too: bright airy classrooms, good facilities, welcoming atmosphere and great central location on Union Street.

The speaker, Dianne Schmitt (recently jetted in from Copenhagen), gave an illuminating talk on Teaching AWL and Mid-Frequency Vocabulary. The key point of this for us teachers was that the average student needs to know thousands more words than they typically do, especially in the mid-frequency range. Merely encouraging students to read widely (graded readers, newspapers, etc) is not enough to ensure that they acquire the necessary 8,000-9,000 word families for efficient comprehension of texts, and teachers need to teach vocabulary in a principled and focused way.

Diane supported her talk with academic research findings in this area, several of which showed that teachers are paying a disproportionate amount of attention to low and high frequency words.
She then went on to address ways in which teachers can help to redress this imbalance and, as she put it, bridge the mid-frequency vocabulary gap. Among these were:

  • Implementing a principled vocabulary element in our courses at syllabus/programme level (i.e. including intentional versus incidental learning opportunities).

  • Creating text chains of related topics (increasing the complexity of texts and building on vocabulary).

  • Using computer programs like the Compleat Lexical Tutor (www.lextutor.ca) to identify low/mid/high frequency lexis.

  • Getting the learners to keep vocabulary cards/notebooks and encouraging frequent recycling.

All in all a very interesting and informative talk which gave everyone food for thought.

download poster

December 13th 2008

TRY IT – IT WORKS + AGM

New ideas and ‘hat-tricks’ for the EFL classroom

Various Presenters

Randolph School of English, 63 Frederick Street, Edinburgh EH2 1LH

10am Coffee, biscuits, wine and nibbles – and Book Display
10.30am to 12noon Presentations
12.15 – 1.30 AGM

Non-members welcome – a fee of £3 will be charged
(you can subscribe or renew there and then)

Further details from: Jo Coley at j.coley@hw.ac.uk

download poster

November 15th 2008

Sue O'Connell - Preparing low level learners for IELTS

Stirling University - Pathfoot Lecture Theatre

10am - Coffee and Book Display
10.30 to 12 noon - Presentation

For further information contact Dr. Eddy Moran: edward.moran@stir.ac.uk

download poster

June 14th 2008

Panel Discussion

with:

Euan Reid, Member of the Scottish Executive ESOL Panel
Anna Connor, EAL Secondary School teacher
Remzie Memishi, Student at Anniesland who is moving on to GCU
Sybille Brinz, ESOL Lecturer at Aberdeen College

A panel discussion on how recent changes in immigration patterns to Scotland may have impacted on the culture in our ESOL classrooms.

Venue:

Room A526F (enter through George Moore Building)
Glasgow Caledonian University Website - Campus Map

10am: book display (there is no catering!)
10.30am to 12pm: Panel discussion

For further information contact Sybille Brinz at s.brinz@abcol.ac.uk

download poster (PDF format)

April 26th 2008

Aberdeen: Rita Baker - Phrasal Verbs

The global approach to understanding phrasal verbs.

Phrasal verbs are often listed as discrete items of vocabulary, the meanings of which just have to be learnt. Most learners (and teachers) perceive them as difficult. Why then are they the first verbs that native speaker children manage to master? The reason is  that placed in an environment where they can discover the language  for themselves, children soon intuit that there is a simple and  economic system which can be used to generate new verbs and which can  be readily understood by listeners who are equally familiar with the  system. Phrasal verbs are probably the most dynamic area of English vocabulary as new ones are created every day. The interpretation of their meaning is context-dependent so there is absolutely no point trying to learn them in lists with accompanying definitions. They are cryptic metaphors. This workshop will show you how to approach them visually and kinaesthetically through the simplicity of a young child's experience of the world.

download poster

February 23rd 2008

Perth: Margaret Allan: ESOL SQA

Further details about meetings, including any changes, will be announced via email (SATEFL Announcements).

Other Events

Other events of relevance to SATEFL members will be posted here.

Date

Details

20 February 2010

2nd EAP Workshop – St Andrews