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12-13 February 2022

Featuring an exciting range of talks from individual keynotes, to panel sessions and 1-2-1 interview style conversations. With inspirational keynotes and dynamic movers and shakers, these sessions are designed to help you learn about the latest global education trends and to push your education agenda forward.

Conference Opening Speech

Anastasia Sissy Gkika, Educator, Author, currently Member of the Permament Representation of Greece to the EU in Brussels, previously Secretary General of the Education Ministry.

1-2-1 interview style conversations

Cliff Parry, Academic Manager, British Council, in a live interview with Dr Luke Prodromou They will talk about teaching and learning, building teacher/student rapport, Luke’s long career in ELT, the use of drama in ELT…and lots more.

1-2-1 interview style conversations

Cliff Parry, Academic Manager, British Council, in a live discussion with George Vassilakis They will talk about English Language Exams and Certification, student’s achievements, pass rates, what it means to reach a C2 Level… and lots more. Not to be missed!
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International Speakers

Speakers

Who is Who

David Harkin
David Harkin
David is the Founder and CEO of 8billionideas which exists to give every student the skills and belief to change the world. They do this by teaching entrepreneurship, career education and life skills through their 24*7 live experiences, courses and video platform. 8billionideas is one of twenty organisations that was featured by St James' Palace in 2021 in their publication on 'Leadership and Innovation - For the next 300 years', because of their forward thinking approach to education. David is an entrepreneur, a proud 2x TEDx speaker and author. In 2020 he was asked to be a Council member of Foundation of Educational Development, an institution, which helps create a long-term vision for education in the UK. In 2021 he was made a Fellow of High Performance Learning. David made the leap from the corporate world to become an entrepreneur after spending the best part of a decade working for the technology giant IBM.
Jane Cadwallader
Jane Cadwallader
Jane Cadwallader has taught English to children of all ages for over 30 years. She lives and works mainly in Spain but also spends many months of the year working for an NGO in Uganda (Covid-19 permitting). She has given talks to teachers in many parts of the world and has co-authored courses for Primary EFL with various publishers. Her great love is writing readers and she has been doing this for ELI for over 10 years. She works in partnership with the wonderful Argentinian artist, Gustavo Mazali and together they have written over 40 readers and won a number of nominations and awards in the Young Learner category of the Extensive Reading Foundation and of the BRITISH COUNCIL ELTons Awards.
Evo Hannan
Evo Hannan
Evo Hannan is passionate about design and innovation in education. Innately driven by his desire to create positive change and a passion for design, Evo has utilised his 20 years of educational experience to channel into passion projects which have made an impact across the globe. His Innovation X model curriculum helps institutions develop a sustainable culture of innovation, which is often referred to during conference talks and mentoring sessions. Through his experience in education and his network, Evo is working with teachers around the world to promote student agency under his project called The Agency which has over 150 global members. Together with Lead Agents, Evo has delivered sessions to promote how to be an AGENT for agency in London, Dubai, Sydney, NYC, San Francisco, Houston, and at OGC2020 summit in Australia. He also promotes well-being to create a better work life balance for teachers through his global network, Teacher Society. He has recently launched a Youtube channel called Ed Talks Live which engages in hot education topics from around the globe. He is also a TEDx speaker, Innovative Teacher of the Year award nominee, and the blogger and vlogger behind ‘The Innovative Teacher’ and Project.Decade on Instagram.
Dr Thomaï Alexiou
Dr Thomaï Alexiou
Thomai Alexiou is an Associate Professor at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Her expertise is in early foreign language learning, methodology of teaching languages, vocabulary and material development for young and very young learners. She has authored/co-authored books for children learning English as a foreign language as well as online resources in the areas of CLIL (CLIL-Prime), learner strategies (‘Thalis project’), dyslexia (DysTEFL2) and EFL for young learners (PEAP). She has co-edited and co-authored ‘Magic Book’ 1&2. As of 2021, she’s the Academic Leader of the ‘EAN’ project, a funded innovative project for the introduction of EFL in pre-primary schools in Greece.
Dr Jenny Liontou
Dr Jenny Liontou
Jenny Liontou is Assistant Professor at the Department of English Language and Literature, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. Specialising in the area of Applied Linguistics and ELT Methodology, she holds a Ph.D. in EFL Testing & Assessment. She also holds an M.A. in Lexicography: Theory and Applications and a second M.A. in Information Technology in Education from Reading University, UK. Her current research interests include theoretical and practical issues of EFL pedagogy, testing and assessing foreign language competence and corpus-based teaching and assessment practices. She has made presentations in many national and international conferences and has published papers in the aforementioned fields.
Katherine Reilly
Katherine Reilly
Katherine Reilly was born in Chicago Illinois and has dedicated herself to the field of education and specifically that of English Literature. As an author, she works for an International Publisher for which she has authored multiple children's books and novels. As an educator, she works at a private school in Athens Greece, teaching English to learners of all ages and levels, while also working as an oral examiner for the majority of universities which certify candidates in the use of the English Language in all levels according to the CEFR. In the capacity of Teacher Trainer, she has devoted her experience and knowledge to the training of English Language Teachers and University Graduates in the fields of ELT and ICT. She has authored a total of 25 books, six of which are personal publications. As an author of Prime Press Publishing, she has contributed to the ELT learning field with thirteen publications and a further six concerning ICT learning. As an author, she has also collaborated with other publishers in the development of teaching material and offered her voice in recordings for the material’s relevant audio segments. Katherine is a contributor to humanitarian aid as a teacher for impoverished children, as regards the Greek and English language. During her time as vice principal of the Refugee School of Athens, she dedicated her efforts to reorganizing it and teaching there for a total of two years. Finally, as a TEDx Speaker and Trainer, she has organized Ted-Ed clubs, and has used her experience to motivate, inspire and assist students in reaching their true potential. As a scriptwriter, she has worked on theatrical adaptations of children's books, and has written scripts for short films and videos. In her free time, she collaborates with a modelling agency as a part-time model for concept photography and is a member of the HUMAN CAST organization which promotes the artistic endeavors of marginalized individuals.
George Vassilakis
George Vassilakis
George Vassilakis (BA Education, Dip. Cantab, Dip. Trans, Dip. RSA, MA TEFL) has trained EFL teachers for over thirty years. His training experience includes: designing and running preservice and inservice courses and seminars and webinars on a variety of specialist topics in Greece, Italy, Hungary, Spain, the UK and Saudi Arabia designing and running qualifying courses such as the Cambridge CELTA and DELTA training trainers for the CELTA and DELTA schemes.
Cliff Parry
Cliff Parry
Cliff Parry (MSc TEYL, RSA DTEFLA, BSc, Dip. Management) is Academic Manager at the British Council Greece and has been living and teaching in Greece since 1986. He has a wide range of teaching experience across all course types and ages, as well as extensive training experience. He has written numerous articles for professional journals and ELT publications, and has co-authored a number of English language teaching titles. He has also worked on social inclusion projects for a number of years.
Dr Luke Prodromou
Dr Luke Prodromou
Luke Prodromou holds a BA (Bristol University) in English with Greek, an MA in Shakespeare Studies (Birmingham University), a postgraduate Diploma in Teaching English as a Second Language (Leeds University, with distinction) and a PhD (Nottingham University). He is the co-author of over 20 coursebooks (most recent Smash, Flash on, Sprint), the award-winning Dealing with Difficulties (with Lindsay Clandfield) and Grammar and Vocabulary for Cambridge First (Longman). Luke is a founder member of Disabled Access Friendly Campaign and the English Language Voice Theatre.
Natassa Manitsa
Natassa Manitsa
Natassa holds a BA in Educational Psychology (University of Athens), a Diploma in Translation and British Studies (Institute of Linguists, London) ,a Diploma in Digital and Social Media Marketing (American College, Greece) and an MSc in School Psychology (Canterbury Christ Church University, UK). She has worked as a teacher, a school owner, a teacher trainer, a director of studies, an author and translator for more than 25 years. For the last 12 years, she is the Media & Communications Manager of Express Publishing, a Senior Teacher Trainer and the Chief Editor of the Teacher’s Corner site of Express Publishing. She is also the creator, producer, and co-presenter of the educational podcasts in Teacher's Coffee.

Moderators

Plenary Abstracts

Why diversity leads to a culture of innovation

In an ever-changing world we are constantly being challenged with the way we think and how we see our everyday lives. What role does diversity play in this? How can having a diverse team lead to greater organisational progress? Join me to find out more about why diversity leads to a culture of innovation.

Corpora and Data-driven Learning Activities: Embracing Versatility in the EFL Classroom

Over the last decade, using corpora in language classrooms has proven to be an effective tool in teaching authentic language use to EFL learners. However, many EFL teachers find integrating corpus-based activities in their classrooms a challenging teaching practice, while others might avoid using corpora because they think that designing corpus-based activities is an overwhelming task. In this presentation, we will go through a range of easy to design and implement corpus-based activities suitable for EFL learners at different levels of language proficiency. Activities will aim at developing students’ overall communicative competence while creating a more dynamic learning environment that can increase EFL learners’ engagement and motivation by boosting them into acting as “language detectives” discovering facts about the language they are learning by themselves through their exposure to authentic real-life examples.

Gorillas in the Mist or... Guerrillas with a Twist? The Teaching Choice is yours!

Obviously, Guerrillas are not Gorillas. Guerrilla Teaching though is certainly this spicy element that is still missing from your everyday lessons. With a borrowed name from the well-known Guerrilla Marketing tactics, it represents a teaching approach that is fresh, inventive, and unexpected. In other words, Guerrilla Teaching is full of surprising ideas that can immediately be used in a classroom setting with a very low or even zero budget. It is a revolution, but not a drum-beating one. It's an underground revolution that urges you to do what you already do but... with a twist. 
So don't stay in the Mist. You are all welcome to join!

Why a school might or might not be successful?

As CEO and Founder of 8billionideas, I believe we can all embrace a world-class mentality, which could actually have a profound impact on our schools. In my presentation, I will touch on why I think now it is such an exciting time in education and why I feel the topic of skills and more specifically entrepreneurship, is more important than ever. 

I believe that if a leader can have the right mentality, it can not only have a huge impact on employees’ well-being, but also on school’s innovative practices. If a school is relentlessly innovating (because the mentality is right), you will see an array of benefits, such as:

- Improving children’s education

- Improving parents' satisfaction

- Increasing employee’s engagement

But none of these are possible if you don't have vision and mentality. In my opinion and from what I've seen having worked with more than 500 schools the mentality of a leader in education, is a major factor to why a school might or might not be successful.

How to Master Reading Comprehension

One of the most crucial segments of ELT examinations is without a doubt that of Reading Comprehension, which represents the culmination of a well-rounded education in Language Learning. Although Reading Comprehension is in many cases considered the most devious to tackle, in reality it is more than feasible to administer an effective way of approaching and successfully handling it. Join us as we will examine techniques and strategies which will assist students in mastering reading comprehension like never before!

The Place of Readers in Language Learning.

Enabling children to read books in a language they are learning is a lifelong gift which teachers can give to their classes. It helps learners to be autonomous and acquire language in their own time and at their own pace.

It also develops self awareness and humour and awakens interest in other cultures and realities.

But to get pleasure from books we need to be good readers. This talk will look at practical ideas on how teachers can help children to choose their books and how they can guide them to enjoying and getting the most out of reading.

The journey of the EAN Project: Present and future paths

According to the new educational policy in Greece, the introduction of English in pre-primary schools is prioritized and this is in line with plurilingualism and the multicultural aspects of the classrooms. As of September 2021, EFL is introduced in all Greek pre-primary schools through a funded innovative project called EAN.

 

In this presentation we will discuss the process and phases of the first year’s official implementation of the EAN project and discuss aspects of: (a) the systematic designing, monitoring and supervising of the project, (b) developing training courses for both EFL and pre-primary teachers and (c) developing materials and scenarios for children.

Help me find my voice!

Speaking is a productive skill which can be only mastered with constant practice, devotion and of course the ability to convey thoughts into verbal form. Students often feel disappointed as they find this skill difficult or even unfeasible to utilize. What many fail to realize is that speaking is also a social skill; thus, fear of failure, being misunderstood or making a mistake will in many cases deter them from excelling in this field. Join us as we discuss techniques which will encourage and assist them in their control of the target spoken elements, achieving their goal of adopting the language as their own.

Commercial Presentations

Hashtag English: Assisting Flexibility, Maximising Learning!

#English is a newly created, exciting course for A-C classes with engaging, fun content, designed to motivate students, promote inclusivity and meet the new, emerging educational needs. #English offers an effective combination of print and digital resources, allowing for flexible teaching (in-class, Blended or Flipped learning), enhancing student autonomy and boosting the development of real-life skills.

Luke & Myla | Revised ECPE Honors,

Burlington Luke & Myla, our exciting new three-part coursebook series for A-C classes, is packed with exciting adventure stories with 3D animation, real world information and multimodal learning opportunities. It is accompanied by free interactive webbooks for use online when the need arises.
----------------

Revised ECPE Honors, the best preparation course for the Michigan ECPE, is now fully up-to-date with the new specifications. Great new features include a brand new writing syllabus and documentary videos for each unit. It is accompanied by free interactive webbooks to support online and autonomous learning.

Luke & Myla | Revised ECPE Honors,

Burlington Luke & Myla, our exciting new three-part coursebook series for A-C classes, is packed with exciting adventure stories with 3D animation, real world information and multimodal learning opportunities. It is accompanied by free interactive webbooks for use online when the need arises.
----------------

Revised ECPE Honors, the best preparation course for the Michigan ECPE, is now fully up-to-date with the new specifications. Great new features include a brand new writing syllabus and documentary videos for each unit. It is accompanied by free interactive webbooks to support online and autonomous learning.

Sponsors & Supporters

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Teacher Talks Schedule

Saturday 12 February 2022

10:15-10:30

Opening and Welcome Speech

Opening and Welcome Speech by Sissy Gika and Anastasia Spyropoulou

10:15-10:30

10:30am - 10:55am

1-2-1 Interview: English Language Exams and Certification

Cliff Parry, Academic Manager, British Council, in a live discussion with George Vassilakis They will talk about English Language Exams and Certification, student’s achievements, pass rates, what it means to reach a C2 Level… and lots more. Not to be missed!

10:55am - 11:25am

Burlington Luke & Myla

Burlington Luke & Myla, our exciting new three-part coursebook series for A-C classes, is packed with exciting adventure stories with 3D animation, real world information and multimodal learning opportunities. It is accompanied by free interactive webbooks for use online when the need arises.

Speaker: Sophia Goundi, Senior Teacher Trainer, Burlington Books

10:55am - 11:25am

11:25am - 11:50am

Gorillas in the Mist or... Guerillas with a Twist? The Teaching Choice is yours!

Obviously, Guerillas are not Gorillas. Guerilla Teaching though is certainly this spicy element that is still missing from your everyday lessons. With a borrowed name from the well-known Guerilla Marketing tactics, it represents a teaching approach that is fresh, inventive, and unexpected. In other words, Guerilla Teaching is full of surprising ideas that can immediately be used in a classroom setting with a very low or even zero budget. It is a revolution, but not a drum-beating one. It's an underground revolution that urges you to do what you already do but... with a twist. 

So don't stay in the Mist. You are all welcome to join!

Speaker: Natassa Manitsa, Media & Communications Manager, Express Publishing

11:50am - 12:15pm

Why a school might or might not be successful?

As CEO and Founder of 8billionideas, I believe we can all embrace a world-class mentality, which could actually have a profound impact on our schools. In my presentation, I will touch on why I think now it is such an exciting time in education and why I feel the topic of skills and more specifically entrepreneurship, is more important than ever. 

I believe that if a leader can have the right mentality, it can not only have a huge impact on employees’ well-being, but also on school’s innovative practices. If a school is relentlessly innovating (because the mentality is right), you will see an array of benefits, such as:

- Improving children’s education

- Improving parents' satisfaction

- Increasing employee’s engagement

But none of these are possible if you don't have vision and mentality. In my opinion and from what I've seen having worked with more than 500 schools the mentality of a leader in education, is a major factor to why a school might or might not be successful.

Speaker: David Harkin

11:50am - 12:15pm

12:15pm - 12:45pm

Revised ECPE Honors

Revised ECPE Honors, the best preparation course for the Michigan ECPE, is now fully up-to-date with the new specifications. Great new features include a brand new writing syllabus and documentary videos for each unit. It is accompanied by free interactive webbooks to support online and autonomous learning.

Speaker: Sophia Goundi, Senior Teacher Trainer, Burlington Books

12:45pm - 1:10pm

Corpora and Data-driven Learning Activities: Embracing Versatility in the EFL Classroom

Over the last decade, using corpora in language classrooms has proven to be an effective tool in teaching authentic language use to EFL learners. However, many EFL teachers find integrating corpus-based activities in their classrooms a challenging teaching practice, while others might avoid using corpora because they think that designing corpus-based activities is an overwhelming task.

In this presentation, we will go through a range of easy to design and implement corpus-based activities suitable for EFL learners at different levels of language proficiency. Activities will aim at developing students’ overall communicative competence while creating a more dynamic learning environment that can increase EFL learners’ engagement and motivation by boosting them into acting as “language detectives” discovering facts about the language they are learning by themselves through their exposure to authentic real-life examples.

Speaker: Dr Jenny Liontou

12:45pm - 1:10pm

1:10pm - 1:35pm

How to Master Reading Comprehension

One of the most crucial segments of ELT examinations is without a doubt that of Reading Comprehension, which represents the culmination of a well-rounded education in Language Learning. Although Reading Comprehension is in many cases considered the most devious to tackle, in reality it is more than feasible to administer an effective way of approaching and successfully handling it. Join us as we will examine techniques and strategies which will assist students in mastering reading comprehension like never before!

Speaker: Katherine Reilly

 

1:35pm - 2:00pm

The journey of the EAN Project: Present and future paths

According to the new educational policy in Greece, the introduction of English in pre-primary schools is prioritized and this is in line with plurilingualism and the multicultural aspects of the classrooms. As of September 2021, EFL is introduced in all Greek pre-primary schools through a funded innovative project called EAN.

In this presentation we will discuss the process and phases of the first year’s official implementation of the EAN project and discuss aspects of: (a) the systematic designing, monitoring and supervising of the project, (b) developing training courses for both EFL and pre-primary teachers and (c) developing materials and scenarios for children.

Speaker: Dr Thomai Alexiou

 

1:35pm - 2:00pm

Sunday 13 February 2022

10:25am

Welcome Speech

Welcome Speech by Anastasia Spyropoulou

10:25am

10:30am - 10:55am

1-2-1 Interview: An interview with Luke Prodromou

Cliff Parry, Academic Manager, British Council, in a live interview with Dr Luke Prodromou. They will talk about teaching and learning, building teacher/student rapport, Luke’s long career in ELT, the use of drama in ELT…and lots more.

10:55am - 11:25am

Revised ECPE Honors

Revised ECPE Honors, the best preparation course for the Michigan ECPE, is now fully up-to-date with the new specifications. Great new features include a brand new writing syllabus and documentary videos for each unit. It is accompanied by free interactive webbooks to support online and autonomous learning.

Speaker: Anne Leventeris, Seminar Department Manager, Burlington Books

10:55am - 11:25am

11:25am - 11:55am

Hashtag English: Assisting Flexibility, Maximising Learning!

#English is a newly created, exciting course for A-C classes with engaging, fun content, designed to motivate students, promote inclusivity and meet the new, emerging educational needs. #English offers an effective combination of print and digital resources, allowing for flexible teaching (in-class, Blended or Flipped learning), enhancing student autonomy and boosting the development of real-life skills.

Speaker: Katerina Mantadaki, Senior Educational ELT Consultant, Express Publishing

11:55am - 12:20pm

Why diversity leads to a culture of innovation

In an ever-changing world we are constantly being challenged with the way we think and how we see our everyday lives. What role does diversity play in this? How can having a diverse team lead to greater organisational progress? Join me to find out more about why diversity leads to a culture of innovation.

11:55am - 12:20pm

12:20pm - 12:50pm

Burlington Luke & Myla

Burlington Luke & Myla, our exciting new three-part coursebook series for A-C classes, is packed with exciting adventure stories with 3D animation, real world information and multimodal learning opportunities. It is accompanied by free interactive webbooks for use online when the need arises.

Speaker: Anne Leventeris, Seminar Department Manager, Burlington Books

12:50pm - 1:15pm

The Place of Readers in Language Learning

Enabling children to read books in a language they are learning is a lifelong gift which teachers can give to their classes. It helps learners to be autonomous and acquire language in their own time and at their own pace.

It also develops self awareness and humour and awakens interest in other cultures and realities.

But to get pleasure from books we need to be good readers. This talk will look at practical ideas on how teachers can help children to choose their books and how they can guide them to enjoying and getting the most out of reading.

Speaker: Jane Cadwallader

 

12:50pm - 1:15pm

1:15pm - 1:40pm

Help me find my voice!

Speaking is a productive skill which can be only mastered with constant practice, devotion and of course the ability to convey thoughts into verbal form. Students often feel disappointed as they find this skill difficult or even unfeasible to utilize. What many fail to realize is that speaking is also a social skill; thus, fear of failure, being misunderstood or making a mistake will in many cases deter them from excelling in this field. Join us as we discuss techniques which will encourage and assist them in their control of the target spoken elements, achieving their goal of adopting the language as their own.

Speaker: Katherine Reilly

 

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