THE ‘WISH-IT-HAD-BEEN-LIVE’ CONFERENCE…. (Your views)….

Question 4 on the questionnaire posed the question: ‘What are the biggest advantages of attending IATEFL Conferences for you?’  Here are a few selected answers:

**”For me, it felt like a battery charge. It reminded me of how much I love being a teacher. I know it all sounds corny, but this was genuinely my feeling after attending the conference. I found many sessions inspiring, with lots of practical ideas. I also appreciated the sense of strong affirmation of my own beliefs and ideas about teaching, which I received from some speakers.”

**“Keeping up with new trends, learning new things (methods and resources), brushing up on the older stuff, and being in touch with normal, proper teaching and people, is very important in these crazy times – where people are more important than tables and statistics.”

(from a newcomer)**”I loved the diversity and the moments when there were breaks, and the key members were having discussions, and giving comments, - I felt it was like a TV studio. All the sessions I attended were precious and well-prepared!!!  I didn’t waste my time, and gained a lot of fresh ideas. It was my first time (attending an IATEFL Poland conference), but I liked the atmosphere – I will definitely attend next year!!!”  (The atmosphere is a major plus with live conferences, so this delegate will really enjoy next year’s conference. Ed.)

Question 5 asked: “What do you expect from next year’s conference?”

Here are some of the answers:

**”To be closer to Lublin.”  (Poznań hardly fits that bill, Ed.)

**”That it is NOT on-line.”

**”I would like to have more practical issues like a review of interesting communicative tasks, and writing exercises, - I love effective exercises.”

**”I would like to “re-charge” my diminishing enthusiasm for teaching.”

**” ’Face-to-face’ option rather than on-line, though I wouldn’t resign from an on-line option for those who cannot attend a stationary event. It also allows us to see more sessions. I always wished I could attend more sessions, but had to choose only one.  Besides, it’s great to be able to come back to some presentations to complete notes, hear some things once again, and sleep on them.”

Question 6 concerned itself with ‘additional comments’. Here are some:

**“You’ve done a great job, very important for keeping us alive in these difficult times.”

**”I appreciate the possibility of having access to it (conference recordings), for 60 days.”

Finally, some negative comments….

**”It’s not that polite to have speeches in Polish, whilst there’s part of the audience that doesn’t know any words in Polish.” (Totally agree, Ed.).

**”It was very unprofessional that participants could hear private conversations during the breaks (in between sessions). Sometimes, the time limits were not kept.”  (This complaint about the breaks was the major one. Ed.).

Evening entertainments: Both events, the Play and the Mastermind Quiz, scored very highly, so that was very pleasing.  If anyone would like a copy of the quiz questions and answers…..contact me at: newsletter@iatefl.org.pl  Rob Howard’s music knowledge ensured that he would clinch the title of ‘IATEFL Poland’s Brain-box of the year’.

AGM, ELECTIONS, AND A CHANGE OF STATUTE:

The AGM was particularly eventful, as there were elections held for executive posts. Marta Bujakowska, stood down from her position as International Liaison Officer, after many years of devoted service to IATEFL Poland, and will be sadly missed. She will be replaced by Magdalena Kaźmierkiewicz, who is noted for her blogs on the main website. The other post that involved a resignation was that of Secretary. Ela Jarosz has held the post for many years, and clearly wanted a rest from her massive stack of duties. However, she was keen to continue her close involvement with IATEFL, and was elected onto the Review Committee. Joanna Leszkiewicz replaced Ela as Secretary. Joanna’s former role, National Contacts Co-ordinator, a supportive post to the Executive, not elected, was filled by Urszula Kropaczewska. So, overall, there are two fresh faces on the Executive Committee.

A change of statute meant a return to former times, when the President stood in the role for two years, not three. The Executive Committee felt that 3 years was too long a period, and limited the amount of changes that could be made.

‘A SHORT HISTORY of IATEFL POLAND….THE FORMATIVE YEARS’

In previous editions of the E-Bulletin, we have celebrated IATEFL Poland’s history, and the key people involved in it. As the year of our 30^th Anniversary draws to a close, I thought it would be a good idea to take a factual look at the Association’s developments, so that you are armed with a full set of facts, and can begin to really appreciate what goes into running such an organisation, staffed largely by volunteers, who have remained ever-faithful to the cause over the years. So, read on for an account of the major events in IATEFL Poland’s history and development.

March 1991 - IATEFL conference in Exeter - Alan Maley, IATEFL’s Chair, inspires two Polish delegates, Ania Gwardyś and  Ela Jarosz, to set up an IATEFL branch in Poland.

May 1991 - IATEFL Poland officially set up and registered in Kraków.

**The first IATEFL Poland meeting is held at the British Studies Centre in Warsaw, and attended by EFL teachers from Kraków, Rabka, Koszalin, Słupsk, Lublin, Poznań, and Warsaw. The initial aim of the Association was duly formulated: “to stimulate and develop contact between people interested in English language teaching and sharing ideas about English language teaching methods and materials.”

**First elections: Jan Rusiecki – the first President (since November, 1998, Honorary President of the Association), Maria Birkenmajer – Vice-President, Anna Kolbuszewska - the Secretary. The first regional branches were established, and local representatives appointed: Ela Jarosz in Kraków, Malgorzata Filipowicz in Warsaw, Grażyna Soszyńska in Poznań, Wioletta Morszczynin in Szczecin, and Tatiana Rozbicka in Słupsk.

October 1991 - The first series of IATEFL Poland workshops were held in Warsaw, Kraków, and Poznań, with Alan Maley as the main speaker: IATEFL Poland acquires 80 members.

April 1992 – IATEFL Poland’s first Conference was held in Karniowice near Kraków: organised by Ela Jarosz, the Head of the Organising Committee, and John Held, the Conference Manager, both based at the English Language Centre at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. The Conference attracted over 400 participants from 13 countries.

1991-1998 – The IATEFL Poland Newsletter, published by Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne WSiP, was free of charge, in hard copy form.  Ewa Niezgoda was the first Editor, followed by Maria Birkenmajer. Rosie Tanner was the first Newsletter Co-ordinator. Always full of practical teaching ideas, the Newsletter was nominated ‘the best looking’ newsletter in the IATEFL Associates’ world.

1999 -  IATEFL Poland’s web page was set up by Ania Gwardyś.

1991-2000 – The British Council in Warsaw – was the main sponsor of our Conferences and scholarships for our members. We have continued our successful relationship, up to, and including, the present times.

Another generous and supportive organisation, the Institute of Applied Language Studies at the University of Edinburgh offered summer grants to our members, during this fertile time.

Since the first Annual Conference in 1992 – Local and international publishers, such as: Pearson Education (Longman), Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Macmillan, Heinemann, Express Publishing, Nowa Era, and Wydawnictwo Szkolne i Pedagogicze WSIP, and many others, have sponsored renowned speakers.

1999 - IATEFL Poland was one of the first national organisations to pilot the Wider Membership Scheme (WMS).

1999 -  IATEFL members were invited to the first ‘e-list’, IATEFL-PAL list, a forum set up by IATEFL UK for partners and associates to keep in touch with each other, and IATEFL UK Committee Members.

2000 – WMS was introduced into IATEFL World; and since then, IATEFL Poland members have benefitted from Reduced Basic Membership.

As you can see, major developments took place, primarily, in our first decade of existence.

Since IATEFL Poland began its activities in 1991, we have been provided with guidance and information from the main headquarters at IATEFL UK. The representatives from Britain have been present at all our national conferences, and we have been invited to many major IATEFL events in Britain.

The aims of IATEFL Poland have always been to stimulate and develop contact between people interested in English language teaching methods and materials, as well as to provide members with an opportunity for professional growth and social interchange.

***Many thanks go to Ela Jarosz, for providing me with much of the source material for this article.

WEBINAR PROGRAMME:

Lucyna Wilinkiewicz-Górniak and Marcin Stanowski have been busy setting up a regular weekly programme for the entire year, starting from September, 2021. As I write this, Geoff Tranterpresented a webinar: ‘Beware the Comfort Zone’.

Next week, on the 20^th of October, Rob Howard, the Mastermind quiz winner, and Joint Co-ordinator of IATEFL BESIG, will present: ‘Classroom to Boardroom: Preparing Learners for the Workplace’, which deals largely with the issue of teachers switching their focus to Business English teaching, despite a lack of training/preparation.

On the 27^th of October, there will be a truly global webinar, from Australia, as Philip Dawson will address the issue of cheating – deterrence and detection – as well as ID confirmation, which has been a growing problem in this time of on-line testing. The webinar, titled: ‘Structuring and Designing Assessment for Security’, will begin at 9.00 am and finish at 10.00, but check the world clock for your time.

That’s all for now, folks…………..hope you enjoyed this edition of the E-Bulletin.

Peter Whiley….(Editor – Journals and E-Bulletins)…contact: newsletter@iatefl.org.pl