From 8th to 19th February 2021

We at Macmillan Education are proud to invite you to the first Advancing Learning Global Teachers’ Festival from 8th to 19th February 2021. With world-leading teacher training, live Q & A sessions, opportunities to meet other teachers and much more, we have plenty to help teachers around the world, no matter your context or location. All you need to do is register and enjoy the festival. And by the way, it’s completely free!

World-Leading Teacher Training: With such topics as Online Learning, Inclusion, Speaking skills & Visual Literacy, explored by such speakers as David Spencer, Carol Read, Roy Norris and Chia Suan Chong, to name a few!
“Beyond the Classroom” Sessions: From William Shakespeare to Global Citizenship Education, these sessions will be looking at ELT from a variety of different perspectives, from an opera singer to digital learning designers.

Live Q&A Sessions: Based on our 5 key themes, Students’ Global Skills, Inclusivity, Assessment, Digital Teaching and Teaching skills, this is your chance to ask any question to our experts on the given subject.

Meet the Community Events: Throughout the festival, you will have the chance to meet other teachers from around the world and discuss a variety of different subjects.

Day 1: 8th February 2021

Roy Norris – Vocabulary teaching at B2 First: criteria for selection: Frequency is clearly important when deciding which vocabulary to teach in preparation for the B2 First exam, and there are some useful tools available to help us. But a number of additional factors need to be taken into account, and we’ll consider these as well. I’ll be using examples from the new edition of Ready for B2 First to help explain why we teach what we teach.

Alex Tamulis – Q&A – Assessment for the Future: Join this Q&A to ask Alex Tamulis questions about Assessment for the future. You may want to know how to help students prepare for their exams remotely, or you might want to hear how they can develop their writing skills while learning online. The questions you ask are entirely are up to you!

REGISTER: 11:00-13:30 GMT+1
REGISTER: 16:00-18:30 GMT+1

Day 2: 9th February 2021

Vivienne Lambert – Stories at the heart of learning in the Primary classroom: Everybody loves a story! Stories have the power to uplift us, present us with new or familiar ideas and offer comfort and reassurance in these challenging times. Putting stories at the heart of your lessons can inspire imagination, creativity and learning. In this presentation we’ll look at using stories to teach language in the Primary ELT classroom, but also as a springboard to broader topics and life skills, including Critical Thinking, CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), and SEL (Social and Emotional Learning).

Ben Crystal – Successful storytelling and Shakespeare: An interactive masterclass on the art of good storytelling from the actor, author, and creative producer, Ben Crystal. What makes a good story? What makes a good storyteller? How did the the most famous English theatre maker Shakespeare write? And what can we learn about telling stories from the Bard’s practice?
Shakespeare’s plays are filled with plots that he ‘borrowed’, and it’s often said his own original stories aren’t the best. As ever, it’s not what you tell, it’s the way that you tell it. Great story telling is a craft that can be simply honed from the foundations of oracy and specific communication skills. Exploring body language, learning how to read the room, and the qualities we like in our storytellers, this session includes tips, tricks, and techniques to improve your storytelling skills.

REGISTER: 11:00-13:30 GMT+1
REGISTER: 16:00-18:30 GMT+1
REGISTER (Vivienne Lambert only): 22:00-23:00 GMT+1

Day 3: 10th February 2021

Jon Hird – Yeah but … No, but …The real language of opinions: The language of opinions is often central to a lot of speaking activities in the classroom. This session first explores the kinds of activities we can do to activate our students’ opinions and then looks at the language itself. First, we’ll recap on more traditional ELT approach and then take a look at the ‘real’ language of opinions and look at ways we can practise this in the classroom. The session will be illustrated with activities from Macmillan’s course book series Language Hub.

Simon Gfeller – An Opera Singer’s Guide to English Pronunciation: Opera singer turned accent management coach Simon Gfeller explains how he draws on techniques used by opera singers to help his clients become more assertive in their use of English. During this talk, Simon demonstrates how he repurposes operatic techniques to address four families of phonetic patterns. He also shares simple strategies and thinking tools that can lead to rapid surges of clarity and confidence in students of all levels.

REGISTER: 11:00-13:30 GMT+1
REGISTER: 16:00-18:30 GMT+1
REGISTER (Jon Hird only): 22:00-23:00 GMT+1

Day 4: 11th February 2021

Joanne Ramsden – Collaboration in a positive learning environment: Creating a positive learning environment is key to helping our pupils feel welcomed and supported on a daily basis. One of the best ways of achieving a positive atmosphere is through non-competitive collaboration and the use of cooperative learning. In this session we will look at practical ways of keeping students actively engaged and focused on collaborative tasks.

Nathan Waller – Q&A – Inclusivity: Join this Q&A session to ask Nathan Waller questions about Inclusivity and he will do his best to answer them! You might want to know how best to help young learners catch up after learning remotely, or you might want to hear how you can help your students develop an awareness of their role within the wider world, or how to teach collaborative learning? The questions you ask are entirely are up to you!

REGISTER: 11:00-13:30 GMT+1
REGISTER: 16:00-18:30 GMT+1

Day 5: 12th February 2021

David Spencer – Learning to think, Thinking to learn: In this webinar I will be looking at practical ways to develop Thinking Skills with teenagers. We will examine a number of simple classroom routines that can encourage our students to get into the habit of thinking critically, creatively and collaboratively, skills that are becoming ever more useful both in and outside the classroom. I will be sharing some example activities from the new Macmillan course for Secondary students, ‘Gateway to the World’.

Matt Hayes & Jonathan Hadley – Global Citizenship Education: What, why and how?: In this discussion, Matt Hayes and Jonathan Hadley, the authors of the new Macmillan Global Citizenship Education [GCE] framework will discuss what GCE is, why it has emerged in recent years and how it can be integrated into English language teaching. They will outline the benefits of GCE for a student’s development and offer practical advice for its implementation both inside and outside the classroom.

REGISTER: 11:00-13:30 GMT+1
REGISTER: 16:00-18:30 GMT+1
REGISTER (Matthew Hayes and Jonathan Hadley only): 22:00-23:00 GMT+1

Day 6: 15th February 2021

Rhona Snelling – Speaking skills for confident communication: What helps a student become a confident communicator? In this webinar, Rhona Snelling explores what sub-skills are involved in speaking and how teachers can approach speaking activities with their young adult and adult classes. This interactive webinar will cover techniques and points to remember, as well as some practical classroom activities to help your students develop their speaking skills and communicate with confidence.

John Cruft (11.30) and Steve Tulk (16.30) – Q&A – Students’ Global Skills: Join this Q&A session to ask questions about Students’ Global Skills. This topic covers anything from life skills, to global citizenship education. You may want to ask questions about how to integrate critical thinking skills into the course you are teaching, or what activities foster creativity, for example. The questions you ask are entirely are up to you!

REGISTER: 11:00-13:30 GMT+1
REGISTER: 16:00-18:30 GMT+1
REGISTER (Rhona Snelling only): 22:00-23:00 GMT+1

Day 7: 16th February 2021

Chia Suan Chong – Visual literacy: viewing as the 5th skill: Shouldn’t viewing images be the fifth skill we teach? In the age of smartphones and social media we are constantly surrounded by images. Students are not only consuming images, they are also constantly creating and sharing images! In this session, we will look at describing, interpreting and thinking more critically about images, whilst helping our students develop more awareness of the message their own images are sending.

Emma Reynolds – Finding Calm amid the Chaos: Have you ever had such a stressful day you decide you just need some time out to sit quietly and recoup? But when you finally get that moment, you discover your head is so full of problems to solve and things to do you can’t relax?
Do you find this sometimes keeps you awake at night- the same thoughts turning over and over?
Well, you’re not alone! But the good news is you can do something about it. In this session Mindfulness teacher Emma Reynolds will lead you through a variety of Mindfulness practices that address issues such as the busy mind, body tension, anxiety and stress so that you can learn how to really give yourself a break.
Practical, engaging and insightful we hope you’ll join us to find the calm amid the chaos.

REGISTER: 11:00-13:30 GMT+1
REGISTER: 16:00-18:30 GMT+1

Day 8: 17th February 2021

Carol Read – Fantasy and Reality in the Early Years: Is it fantasy or reality to say it’s possible to teach English to pre-school children effectively? In this webinar, we’ll explore issues relating to this key question. We’ll also discuss the role of fantasy and reality in Early Years’ English programmes and the benefits of including a balance of both. The main focus will be on sharing practical ideas, based on a variety of imaginary, real-world and blended contexts, which integrate children’s emerging linguistic abilities with their overall development in a holistic and engaging way. The session includes some examples from Macmillan’s new global pre-school course ‘The Wheels series’.

Alejandra Ottolina and Derek Spafford – Q&A – Teaching Skills: Join this Q&A session to ask Alejandra Ottolina and Derek Spafford questions about Teaching skills. This area covers anything you feel would develop you as a teaching practitioner. You might want to know how to manage a class of 40 teenage students, or you might want to ask how you can use stories to foster social emotional awareness, the questions are up to you!

REGISTER: 11:00-13:30 GMT+1
REGISTER: 16:00-18:30 GMT+1

Day 9: 18th February 2021

Nick Beare – How to create an inclusive classroom environment: Every one of our students is unique, with their own abilities, interests and backgrounds. It’s quite a challenge to plan activities and manage classes in a way that keeps all of them interested. Perhaps we can’t keep all our students 100% completely involved all the time, but we can get close to it. In this webinar we’re going to look at teaching techniques we can use to get maximum involvement from our students.

Laura Patsko and Jo Sayers – Let’s talk about inclusion in online learning: The global pandemic of 2020 led to an unprecedented rush to move courses online, which both highlighted and potentially exacerbated problems of access, equality and inclusion for many learners worldwide. In this session, we’ll share some of the insights, tips and surprises we’ve encountered as we’ve been learning about how teachers and course designers can not only ‘build back better’ after COVID-19 – but build back fairer.

REGISTER: 11:00-13:30 GMT+1
REGISTER: 16:00-18:30 GMT+1
REGISTER (Nick Beare only): 22:00-23:00 GMT+1

Day 10: 19th February 2021

Steve Taylor-Knowles & Malcolm Mann – Preparing teens remotely for exams: The last twelve months have seen enormous disruption to English language education in many countries. And yet in the midst of that, young people still need to prepare for the exams that are vital to their future success. As the authors of Optimise, the outstanding exam preparation series for teenagers from Macmillan, Steve and Malc are acutely aware of the need that many teachers and students have for reassurance and guidance in this area. This interactive webinar will give us all the opportunity to share our experiences, our insights and our practical tips.

Mark Arthur – Q&A – Digital Teaching Skills: Join this Q&A to ask Mark Arthur questions about Digital Teaching. You might want to ask questions such as: How can I make sure my students do their asynchronous learning tasks? Or what are some of the ways I can ensure my students are motivated when they are learning online? The questions you ask are entirely are up to you!

REGISTER: 11:00-13:30 GMT+1
REGISTER: 16:00-18:30 GMT+1