|
|
Archive
|
|
AzETA PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT ATTENDED IATEFL 41st ANNUAL CONFERENCE
|
by Hijran Huseynova, AzETA Vice-President
AzETA is an Associate member of IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language).
As an Associate, AzETA has the below benefits:
Receives IATEFL VOICES six times a year.
Has an opportunity to publish brief accounts of what AzETA does on the ASSOCIATES’ PAGES of Issues.
Has a chance to attend and contribute to the ASSOCIATE’S DAY at IATEFL annual Conference.
Has a chance to publicize AzETA events in IATEFL newsletter, IATEFL E-list, and on IATEFL website.
Has a chance to get help in forming PARTNERSHIPS with other teacher associations.
Has a chance to become eligible for IATEFL WIDER MEMBERSHIP SCHEME.
As mentioned in the list of the benefits above, as an Associate AzETA gets a chance to attend Associates' Day and IATEFL Annual Conferences.
AzETA President Ragsana Mammadova, ELT Projects Manager of the British Council Gulshan Huseynova and I attended IATEFL Associates’ Day, as well as 41st IATEFL International Conference held in Aberdeen Scotland on 18-22 April.
This year’s Associate Day was held on 18 April. It was special as at the end of the Day Working Groups were established to carry out the work offline, i.e. after returning home. AzETA joined the Working Group on Democratic Structures in IATEFL and Associates. The aim is to share best practices of TAs in achieving democratic management where all members’ voices are heard. The Group will develop a questionnaire and collect data from the TAs on the principles of democracy they apply to their respective TAs and share it with wider audience through IATEFL website.
There were TA representatives from about 50 countries that are IATEFL associate members. AzETA is the Associate member of IATEFL since October 2005. Thanks to the financial support of the British Council Azerbaijan, AzETA also has an institutional membership with IATEFL which enables 4-5 AzETA members to join IATEFL Conferences at the member rate.
The Conference started on 19 April. The day started with the welcoming notes of the IATEFL outgoing President Dr Theresa Woodward followed by plenary talk of Guy Cook, famous ELT celebrity.
There were about 1,700 participants in the Conference including about 300 presenters. Ragsana Mammadova was among the presenters and she gave a presentation on 20 April titled: The Role of Teachers Associations: Lessons Learned from an International Forum.
Ragsana shared achievements of the Forum held on 7 September 2007 in Sheki, Azerbaijan where representatives of TAs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Turkey as well as ELT
professionals from Bangladesh, Iran, US attended. The audience showed great interest in the presentation, as well as AzETA’s achievements asking lots of questions about the “secrets” of these achievements. Ragsana’a participation at the Conference was funded by the British Council managed Hornby Trust.
Gulshan Huseynova, British Council ELT Projects Manager also gave poster presentation of the British Council INSETT Project.
Apart from professional experience, IATEFL Conferences create an opportunity for the participants to make contacts, to meet old friends in different social activities.
City Mayor of Aberdeen hosted a reception in his office where he also briefed the guests on the history of the building.
The British Council Aberdeen office hosted a reception at the Aberdeen Marine Museum.
British Council London office hosted a reception for the Hornby Scholars and Alumni, and British Council staff which also created an opportunity for sharing and caring.
The Conference, in general, was an opportunity for us to reflect on the work we have been doing so far and to identify next steps. |
|
 |
|
|
