Welcome, everyone, to yet another edition of IATEFL Poland’s E-Bulletins. This comes at a bizarre time for us all.  We’ve seemingly got through winter without having one, and bears and other animals are coming out of hibernation earlier than usual. So, let’s hope that we don’t suddenly get a late blitz of wintry weather, which is always possible in Poland.  The ‘enduring spring’ weather may have left a dent in the size of our heating bills, but there’s been a major impact on our society, caused by ‘COVID-19’or Coronavirus, as it was originally called.  It’s been a ‘fingers-crossed’ time, as Poland has recorded the lowest number of victims in Europe. We have to hope that it stays that way.

Teachers have been dramatically affected, as schools have closed indefinitely, but a switch to on-line teaching has been required. Teachers are suddenly expected to make the leap from 19th Century teaching to 21st Century teaching, without equipment and fast internet provided. Not so easy for schools to do that!  Another question is: will Matura exams be put at risk?  Students can revise for them at home, and the exams are now, not till June, so, we can reasonably hope that the Pandemic crisis will be under some control by then. In Wuhan, China, the locational source of the virus, all is better now, and that indicates that Coronavirus is not as long-lasting as first thought. Yes, fingers-crossed that my optimism is justified!

Meanwhile, what does this edition offer you?  Another sample of Geoff Tranter’s humour, via his ‘Testing Times’ – this time, a Christmas special, with a new version of the ‘12 days of Christmas’, Brexit-style.  Reports from a couple of SIG/Regional workshop days; the latest news about other IATEFL Poland events, and the havoc caused to our schedule by COVID-19; a special Poland feature edition of HLT magazine, with IATEFL Poland’s input;  Grzegorz Śpiewak’s colourful report on TESOL Greece’s ‘cosy’ conference in Thessaloniki, and an up-date on whether this year’s September Conference will go ahead, or be conducted on-line.

GDAŃSK Region Workshop:

Eighteen teachers from Pomerania were served a delightful treat on the 24th of February, with a live lesson on modal verbs, followed by a workshop on using mobile devices, and introducing  elements of a flipped classroom into teaching. The presenter was Ania Orłowska, who kindly brought along with her, a group of her students from the 3rd High School in Gdańsk. It was a substantial and enjoyable event, full of inspiring ideas, and showed, once again, the value of live lessons.  For a visual narrative of the session, please click on the link…

WARSAW Teachers’ Development Day:

This memorable event, held on the 11th of January, marked Joanna Perkowska-Whiley’s – (Warsaw’s new regional co-ordinator) – first organised workshop day for IATEFL Poland, and was held in a new venue.  Three presenters were involved –  Monika Izbaner, David Fisher, and Marcin Stanowski, and they gave absorbing presentations on a variety of topics. Monika demonstrated, with the help of video material, the art of debating Oxford-style; David, of Bear Theatre fame, shared some techniques for how to improve the atmosphere in our classrooms, whilst Marcin, outlined the importance of critical thinking, and showed a few examples/ways, in which teachers could encourage students to think critically. A particularly poignant picture was of forest trees inside chairs. How did they get there? Students would be asked to discuss the possibilities of this, and tell the story. A welcome homework would require the students to find out what really happened via the internet.

Monika went into detail about the procedure followed in Oxford debates, and what roles are  performed by various team members. The key to a good debate was the usage of a statement, rather than a question, in the motion, so, for example, ‘teachers shouldn’t smile until Christmas’, or ‘passion is a threat to society’, would be ideal.

Overall, it was a valuable day enjoyed by those who attended.

7th LUBLIN ESP-SIG CONFERENCE:

Usually held in January, this year the event was switched to March, as the usual hosting institute was not available.  However, COVID-19 had set in by then, and with a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people, the conference had to be postponed. It is hoped to hold the event later this year.

TORUŃ, WROCŁAW, and ŁÓDŻ SPRING TOUR:

This year’s Spring Tour of Poland by a major guest speaker, was planned to involve Susan Holden in delivering quality workshops in Torun, Wroclaw, and Łódź. Sadly, these had to be postponed, but it is hoped to hold them later in the year. They will be well worth the wait.

HLT – (Humanising Language Teaching) Magazine – POLISH FEATURE:

In April, HLT magazine, a leading journal in the market, edited by Hanna Kryszewska, will present a special feature on ELT in Poland.  Hanna was very impressed with the Gdańsk Conference, and especially the feedback on it, which was published in the post-conference e-bulletin.  So, she has written an article about IATEFL, the Conference, the feedback, and what the organisation stands for. The feature about Poland will also include:  Amelia Kędziora’s speech in the National Speaking Contest Grand Final, which illustrates what young people ideally want their education to be like; an article from Peter Whiley (me) about quizzes, titled: ‘An A-Z Guide to Quizzes: A memorable way to learn’, and what factors to consider when hosting/planning  them, along with a few tips; and finally, a promotion for the ‘face-to-face’ project, from my wife, Asia Perkowska-Whiley, who outlines how this online link, with many countries around the world, has developed in Warsaw schools.  Asia’s students have sessions with schools in the Cameroon, and she explains the joys of such links in her article: ‘Face-to-face with the World: Education that changes the World’.

It also transpires that several IATEFL members have contributed to the HLT feature on Poland, including IATEFL Poland’s Vice-President, no less. Małgorzata Bukowska-Ulatowska wrote an article titled: ‘Thanksgiving lessons with deeper meaning’: a fascinating read, so do find it, and judge for yourselves. Grzegorz Śpiewak, with his article,produced one of the longest titles you will ever see: ‘Foreign Language Less Foreign for the Big and Small: An (extended) Exercise in Cross-generational Functional-bilingual Education’.

Marta Rosińska, often a writing partner for Grzegorz, has provided a classic article, very visual, titled: ‘Golden Classics’ – well worth a view.

Magda Zawadzka of ‘Culture Lane’ fame, wrote: ‘Picture This, Picture That: How to use the Potential of Art in Language teaching’.  There’s a title that speaks for itself! Lucyna Wilinkiewicz-Górniak, associated nowadays, with IATEFL’s webinar programme, tried to match Grzegorz for length of title, with her: ‘The Value of Positive Feedback and Ongoing Needs Analysis in the Process of Formative Assessment’. There’s few people more positive than Lucyna!

Anna Przybyło produced two articles, one obviously inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet: ‘To be or not to be a Bilingual Teacher? Summer Reflections on My Last Year in a Bilingual School!’ Her second text was: ‘Four steps – Teaching Young Learners’. Monika Bigaj-Kisała’s contribution is colourfully titled: ‘Role Playing Teaching: Dungeons, Dragons, and EFL classes’.

For a very detailed approach to feedback, Magdalena Kaźmierkiewicz, IATEFL’s Teacher Development SIG Co-ordinator, has written: ‘The Three-step Approach to Feedback as a Stress-reduction tool during the Class observation Process’. Her article is to be found in the Positivity section, not the IATEFL Section.

For those of you interested in teaching ‘Seniors’ as they are called, look no further than Małgorzata Szwaj’s ‘Silver Learners – Teaching 50+’. I guess that she might surprise most of us!

Alicja Gałązka, a noted Psychologist within IATEFL’s ranks, wrote: ‘Positive Education and Well-being in the ELT classroom’. However, her positivity is probably matched by Katarzyna Warszyńska, in her: ‘Let’s make Bingo great again!  Teaching Lexis and Functional Language has never been easier’. 

Sylwia Zabor-Żakowska, a regular contributor to IATEFL’s Post-Conference Journals, typically provides two poems for the HLT feature, but also writes in prose with: ‘Global Goals Creatively: Animals – Our Friends’. Joanna Czeredys also displays her creativity with‘The power of visualisation’.

What an exhaustive list! Apologies, if I have missed anyone out. Finally, the Editor, Hanna Kryszewska deserves a mention for her two articles– one about IATEFL as an organisation, and feedback from the Gdańsk Conference; and the other, ‘Spotlight on English’, Sopot 2020. The 1st English Language competition for Secondary Schools: A 21st Century competition with linguistic mediation at heart’.

Try to get hold of an online copy: https://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr20/ ………..or you can contact Hanna at:  HaniaKryszewska@pilgrims.co.uk  A brilliant read, with IATEFL’s members providing massive input, along with PASE colleagues, too. Not to be missed!

****One recent piece of news from HLT’s employers, Pilgrims, is that they have appointed a new Director of Education, Chaz Pugliese, who is well-known now, to IATEFL members,

Report from TESOL Greece,Thessaloniki:

The intrepid Grzegorz Śpiewak, represented IATEFL Poland at this year’s Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, having been invited to be one of the main presenters there.  His report is a balanced mix of text and visuals, as he indicates what a delightful and ‘cosy’ event it was. Read on to find out more. Click on the link……..

ŁÓDŹ  CONFERENCE:  – Yes, it will be hosted on-line!

Hot off the presses! The Executive Committee met a couple of days ago, and concluded that the wise decision to make regarding the Conference in September would be host it on-line. Ironically, as the Committee discussed the issue, it was announced that the Polish government were likely to relax quarantine sanctions/regulations this weekend. However, it would be a case of ‘too little, too late’.  The uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and its possible return in later months, shows that the Committee had little realistic hope of hosting a traditional conference. The risks would have been too great. As teachers are becoming more adept in their usage of on-line lessons, to hold an on-line conference in 2020, should not be so daunting a task, as it would have seemed a couple of months back.

Please regularly visit the main website for further information and updates, especially within the next few weeks.

‘TESTING TIMES’ (CHRISTMAS EDITION):

A good place to inject some humour!  Geoff Tranter can always be relied upon to offer us a few nuggets of golden humour, and he doesn’t let us down with this edition. ‘The 12 days of Christmas’ takes on a new life of its own! How many times does the word, ‘Brexit’ crop up in the overall text? Yes, many times, you were right. I’m amazed at how high the pound has soared under Brexit, but such developments are generally being buried by coronavirus news. So, in a time of gloom and doom, read Geoff’s latest edition of ‘Testing Times’, and have a good laugh.  Click on the link…….

‘The Use of Polish Challenge’:

In the last e-bulletin, I challenged everyone to come up with some reasons justifying the use of Polish in international conferences, by speakers, who can speak English perfectly well. I never hear a good reason for this, and I still haven’t heard any!  Nobody responded to my challenge, so does this mean that I was right, in that it is an unnecessary act, which unfairly excludes many foreigners from the talk/lecture, when it could easily have been in English? It certainly looks to be the case.

‘Webinars’:

The programme is up-and-running in a good flow, and I think the most recent webinar was the 15th one. So, congratulations to Lucyna and Marcin for organising such a useful, monthly  addition to our calendars. Webinars are not so easy to devastate, unlike conferences, or workshops – and at a time where on-line teaching grows in importance, webinars are increasingly relevant. Maybe the next webinar could be on on-line teaching? If you have any specific requests, subject-wise, or you would like to hold a webinar, let me know, or alternatively, Lucyna or Marcin. Please take a look below for some of the recent webinars:

Final message from IATEFL Poland:

We would like to record our best wishes to all our members, and express our sorrow at those who have recently departed, or been very ill. How many of you have known someone who has been a victim of COVID-19? It’s pleasing that one can regularly read about some noteworthy communal acts, and the ELT community is certainly a well-bonded one, therefore, we must always remember those who have done the educational world proud.  Let us know about any moving stories, and we could include them in a tribute event, maybe at this year’s conference, if we have one.

Contact me at: newsletter@iatefl.org.pl  Stay well, and in touch with friends and family alike.

Peter Whiley –  E-Bulletins and Journals Officer