Talks, presentations and workshops

We often present at ELT conferences and events. Just select the title below if you're looking for the handout or download from a talk or workshop you have attended.

Cultural Awareness Revisited: Updating for the 21st Century

Speaker: 
Event date: 
Sunday, March 26, 2006 - 17:15
Venue: 
TESOL-Spain
Location: 
Madrid
Extra info: 
Handouts and downloads
Cultural Awareness Revisited: Updating for the 21st Century

Cultural awareness seems to be making a re-appearance in the language teaching and learning literature. In this workshop we will focus on the ‘new look’ cultural awareness – intercultural competence (ICC). We will situate its growing importance and discuss what it entails. We will also take a look at a selection of classroom materials and briefly consider assessment of ICC.

Intercultural Competence: Changing European Classrooms

Speaker: 
Event date: 
Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 10:30
Venue: 
Universidad San Pablo CEU
Location: 
Madrid
Extra info: 
Plus downloads
 - hancockmcdonald.com/talks/speaker/2

With increased mobility in the European Higher Education Area, many teachers are now finding that they have students from different cultural backgrounds in their classrooms. Additionally, many English language teachers might be finding that they are now teaching students who are aiming to study a part of their degree, through the medium of English, in a different country.

10 Ways to Kill Speaking Skills

Speaker: 
Event date: 
Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 14:30
Venue: 
TESOL Thrace-Macedonia
Location: 
Thessaloniki
Extra info: 
Plus downloads
10 Ways to Kill Speaking Skills

If you want your students to be able to say ‘I can speak English’, they need speaking practice in class. But this often turns out to be difficult and messy, and many teachers avoid it. In this workshop, we will classify the practical problems of speaking practice activities into three kinds, relating to:

Making Bologna Work: The Common European Framework of Reference

Speaker: 
Event date: 
Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - 10:30
Venue: 
Universidad San Pablo CEU
Location: 
Madrid
Extra info: 
Plus downloads

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) is an indispensable tool for the realisation for the Bologna Process in the European Higher Education Area. It offers guidance for teaching, learning and assessment of languages for communication purposes.

How to Talk Like a Teacher

Speaker: 
Event date: 
Friday, April 30, 2004 - 14:45
Venue: 
APPI
Location: 
Povoa de Varzim, Portugal
Extra info: 
Includes handouts
How to Talk Like a Teacher

In this talk I will highlight some patterns in English language classroom talk. I will suggest how these patterns arise, and what their implications are for language learning. I will conclude that it may be better not to talk like a teacher sometimes.

(I have also presented this talk at TEA (Canary Islands) and as a plenary at CETA (Cordoba, Spain))

Writing is Communication Too

Speaker: 
Event date: 
Saturday, September 20, 2003 - 15:00
Venue: 
IATEFL Poland
Location: 
Wroclaw
Extra info: 
Plus downloads
Writing is Communication Too

Too often, we treat writing as mere grammar practice. But writing is communication too. In this workshop, we will look at classroom tasks which focus on meaning and content in writing, and not just form. Lot’s of imaginative and creative ideas to take away!

How to Get the Most from a Song

Speaker: 
Event date: 
Friday, January 29, 1999 - 19:30
Venue: 
Expolangue
Location: 
Paris
Extra info: 
Handouts and downloads
How to Get the Most from a Song

Songs have long been popular with language teachers. They demonstrate language in a memorable, motivating way. However, all too often, the exploitation is limited to gap filling. In this workshop, we will look at other ways in which they can be used in the classroom.

Video: A classroom demonstration

Speaker: 
Venue: 
You Tube
Location: 
Filmed at English in Chester
Extra info: 
Plus downloads
Video: A classroom demonstration - hancockmcdonald.com/node/613/edit

In this You Tube Video, Mark demonstrates a series of different classroom activities for presenting and practising the contrast between the vowel sounds in live and leave.

Pronunciation Games for Spain

Speaker: 
Venue: 
GRETA
Location: 
Granada
Extra info: 
Handouts and downloads
Pronunciation Games for Spain - hancockmcdonald.com/talks/pronunciation-games-spain-0

We looked at 8 features of pronunciation which are of particular relevance for Spanish speaking learners of English. These included vowels, spelling of vowels, consonants, consonant clusters, word stress, phrase stress patterns, tonic syllables and connected speech. Each feature was explained, contrasted with Spanish and demonstrated with an example game.

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