From the moment I heard the heavy guitar intro to ‘Whole Lotta Love’ it was obvious I was listening to something markedly different, a formidable rock band. But it wasn’t until many years later that I truly got into Led Zeppelin.
I don’t know why it took so long after those first notes, but my ears, indeed my soul, thanks me today for it. I listen to LZ now as if they are a new band. Such as it was for me at IATEFL 2018, because even though the conference is legendary, and despite my twenty-plus years in ELT, this year’s event was my first. I’m appreciative now that I hadn’t attended before as it was a ‘shot in the arm’ that revitalised my passion for education, and at times it felt like I was attending a live music festival.
This year OUP Turkey sent a team (including myself) over to Brighton for IATEFL 2018. Collectively we attended hundreds of sessions. In the evenings at dinner, and the following mornings at breakfast, conversations flowed fast and free about what we’d seen, and what the day’s coming plans were. Some of us ‘jig-sawed’ our schedules to cram as many of the seemingly endless selection of enticing sessions in as we could.
The presenters at IATEFL were great, I always left the room with a meaningful takeaway. In some cases, my own pedagogical paradigm shifted – that’s saying something for an ‘old dog’ like me. The SIGs were of special interest to me, and Monday’s tech group alone was worth the trip from Istanbul, providing those of us with a bird’s eye view (through Google Cardboard and Oculus Rift for example) into the future of education (which made clearer more than ever that the future is fast upon us). But to me, even technology could not reach as deeply to my educator’s core than the human value of the SIG SEN (Special Education Needs).
If you are like me, I would bet that within a few seconds of meeting its president Varinder Unlu you’d realise just how important this special group is. For example, on Tuesday I attended Marie Delaney’s presentation on Teaching Students with Behavioural Difficulties, when it was finished all I could mutter to myself was, “Wow”. We most certainly need more voices like theirs in education, and I hope future conferences will reflect this. In my job I work with teachers extensively and can unequivocally say there is a strong need and demand from them for expert assistance in ELT from groups such as the SIG SEN.
Other IATEFL sessions were also impactful. It’s doubtful anyone can dispute the plenaries generated meaningful discussions that lasted well beyond their presentation time. Also impressive was the Pecha Kucha performances, those too were a first for me. The presenters were fantastic but the show-stopper was Lexical Leo – he brought the house down!
From the welcoming receptions at the publishers’ booths to the freely provided glorious black fuel (coffee of course!), the support staff were A+. It was also my first time in Brighton and I hope it’s not my last. A big thank you goes out to the host city, the organisers of IATEFL, and to all of our new friends who made this feel, at least for me in some way, like I had been to a Led Zeppelin concert.
See you next year in Liverpool!
Christopher Sheen, Teacher Trainer and PD Coordinator, OUP Turkey
Christopher Sheen is a full-time Teacher Trainer and Coordinator with Oxford University Press, based in Istanbul. For more than 20 years he has engaged in all types of learner profiles in the ELT field, in North America, Asia, and since 2014 in Turkey. Before joining OUP Turkey he was the lead trainer in Japan’s largest language company in addition to being a full-time English instructor in the largest university in western Japan. He has a keen interest in class dynamics, student ownership and CPD programs.
