Highlights of the Umbrella-7 Conference "Building Networks for Change" Ryazan, September 17-19, 2008

Greetings ELT friends!

This September English Language Fellows, Fellow counterparts, teachers of English, and teacher association presidents gathered to participate in a 3-day teacher training which was met with great success. The event was one of the year’s terrific highlights of our growing ELT community! The training presented new teaching methods as well as showcased best practices from various ELT programs. The first day of the event, held in historic Ryazan, included over 100 local English language teachers, instructors and students from the host institution, Ryazan State University, as well as secondary school teachers from the area. The enthusiastic participants chose from among 25 different sessions, most which focused on teaching American-Russian cross-cultural studies, assessment in the U.S. and Russia, and materials developed by the U.S. Embassy’s English Language Office (ELO). Plenaries were made by two of Russia’s top linguists, Svetlana Ter-Minasova, from Moscow State University, and Elena Solovova; by the rector of the host institution, Irina Sheina; and by the U.S. Embassy’s English Language Officer, David Fay. Three Senior Fellows contrasted Russian and American English language teaching practices and cultural issues, including discussions on slang and terminology used in the U.S. Elections.

The second day of the conference was highlighted by an interesting mock U.S. presidential election debate with speakers Ann Stone and Allan Lichtman. Each pretended to be top advisors to the two presidential candidates and responded to questions from the conference participants that touched upon U.S.-Russian relations, education and the death penalty. When asked about the troubling prospects with the economy and its effect on the rest of the world, a fire alarm suddenly rang in the conference hall with a recorded voice that announced, “Beware of a fire!” The teachers appreciated the timing of the announcement, hoping that the economic problems were equally a false alarm.

On the last day of the conference, the participants broke into small groups to focus on different issues and generate ideas about how to better serve English-language students and teachers in Russia.This team-building, cooperative process resulted in each group presenting a list of action points, deadlines and partners responsible for each point. Goals include building websites for teachers’ associations, conducting training with new student-generated material in select cities, and supporting English Language Fellow programming in more rural areas. The 50 conference participants made up of trainers, association officers and Access coordinators (Access is an English-language program sponsored by the ELO focusing on disadvantaged children) came from all across Russia to take part in the annual Umbrella Conference and to ensure plans and projects for the upcoming year were run in close conjunction with those of the English Language Office.

Participants also celebrated the English Language Office’s 15 years by sharing powerpoint presentations showcasing a long and fruitful history of cooperation between the U.S. Embassy and the various programming partners.

Posted below under "Весь текст" are some of the terrific ideas that came out of this meeting of ELT professionals. You will find suggestions on:

• building new Teacher Associations
• working with English-language Fellows
• how to arrange Teacher Association conferences
• arranging special programs and teaching underprivileged children

Additionally, you may find more information about Fellows and Access programs for underprivileged children under "Programs". We hope these ideas will be of use to you in teaching and in your process of making connections and building associations.

Welcome to YUGRAELTA

English Teachers Break Ice with New Teachers Association
Over a period of three days in mid-January 2010, 120 English language instructors in the northern Siberian city of Khanti-Mansisk actively participated in a teacher training conference entitled "Breaking the Ice: Innovations in English Language Teaching" that culminated in the birth of a new teachers association.

From January 22 to 24, teachers from as far away as Nizhnevartovsk and from towns as remote as Beloyarsky, which is only reachable by plane or via the frozen Ob river in the winter, traveled an average of 6 hours to take part in a unique program that focused on equipping teachers with a range of new student-centered techniques and information technology skills that addressed the critically important topics of assessment and American studies, among others. Twelve local teachers and trainers joined with representatives of the American Embassy in Moscow and Consulate in Yekaterinburg to present over twenty different plenary presentations and workshops.
The highlight of the conference was the formation of a new teachers association representing English teachers in the Yugra region, an area proud of its culturally rich indigenous populations and known for its reindeer herds, fish industry and, more recently, oil and gas production.  A strong team representing instructors from universities and high schools from seven different cities teamed up with a Ministry of Education In-service training coordinator to shepherd the group through a range of possible next steps, including participation in the upcoming National Association of Teachers of English conference, participation in TEA and FLTA exchange programs, and a follow-on visit by Senior Fellow Reardon in the spring.
Said Olga Simonova of Surgut, "Thank you I feel like you have woken a sleeping bear and that we are now ready to begin a new era of work as English teachers". Despite the minus thirty Celsius temperatures, all concluded that collectively they had broken the ice.

Comments by participants: "We are writing this letter to express our warm gratitute to you for the wonderful conference we've been to. The feelings of happiness are still ovewhelming us. We have gained the great experience in sharing the ideas which we are going to put into practice.

Best wishes,
Inna, Olga and Larisa from Surgut:)"
"The conference appeared highly inspiring for us, as usual. We came away full of ideas and plans to offer new electives to our students and bring in changes into teaching English to better satisfy our students’ needs as would-be teachers" Nadezhda Perelgut, Tatiana Lyutaya, Nizhnevartovsk