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Conferences
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AzETA 1st ELT Conference
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 AzETA held its ever first ELT Conference in Baku Slavic University, Baku, Azerbaijan on 1-2 May 2004.
The event was supported and sponsored by the British Council – Baku, the US Embassy Public Affairs Office and Open Society Institute – Assistance Foundation (Soros Foundation).
The aim was to give an opportunity to English teachers in Azerbaijan to come together and discuss issues of interest, to feel a belonging to the ELT community, to unite with AzETA and to empower the organisation, as well as to be empowered as professionals.
It was ever first conference of the English teachers of Azerbaijan. By nature it was a national conference, but it was open to international participation as such there were English teachers from Turkey and Georgia among the Conference participants/presenters. This enabled all the participants to seek ways and possibilities of furthering the well-established regional/international co-operation. The Conference was vital as a common purpose and understanding was established by the ELT professionals involved in the Conference to combat problems in the field of ELT that are faced in the country.
Minister of Education of Azerbaijan, British and US Ambassadors to Azerbaijan attended the opening ceremony of the Conference, welcomed the participants at the opening ceremony and wished every success to the work of the Conference, as well as to AzETA in its future activities highlighting the importance of the Association as an educational NGO with strong potential as a valuable counterpart not only for the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan in its educational reforms but also for other organisations involved in professional development in education.
On both days the Conference started every day with a plenary session, then continued its work in the concurrent sessions (5 concurrent sessions at a time). In the course of concurrent sessions two special sessions were organised to discuss AzETA matters, its sustainability, action plan for the next one year and opportunities for establishing AzETA branches in more regions of Azerbaijan. These sessions were attended by the leaders of the Teachers’ Associations represented in the Conference to exchange opinions and experiences.
Concerning presenters, AzETA gave priority to local teachers encouraging teachers from the regions of Azerbaijan more as the main aim of the Conference was to empower local English teachers professionally, to help in the growth and development of AzETA, as well as English language instruction and learning in Azerbaijan. Around forty presentations on a wide range of topics were given both by Azerbaijan ELT teachers and educators and by overseas specialists. The plenary speakers were Michael Berman, a famous ELT specialist and author of more than 40 ELT books from the UK and Patricia Sullivan, Regional English Language Officer for the US Embassy in Kyev. After the Conference Michael Berman visited AzETA branches and AzETA target regions to give workshops to the teachers who could not join the Conference.
The Conference was the best sign of the rapidly increasing interest in ELT in the country. The Conference presented AzETA newly selected Standing Committee members. SIGs on Teacher Training, Young Learners, ESP, Adult Learning, Internet Projects, Materials Development, Civic Education were established. AzETA Action Plan for 2004 – 2007 was also presented at the Conference. |
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