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Report of the VI International & 42nd Annual ELT@I Conference on Teacher Development

Report of  the VI International & 42nd Annual ELT@I Conference on Teacher DevelopmentVIT University, Vellore, 16-18 June 2011

Inaugural Function

The Conference  hosted by VIT, Vellore  commenced with the Inaugural session  in the Dr.M.Channa Reddy Auditorium  on 16th June around 10o’clock with a recitation of Sri Shankarachaya’s Guru Stotram. The three-day mega event with Plenary sessions, Workshops and  Paper Presentations by experts and scholars from around  the world, said the Director of the School of Social Sciences & Languages, Dr. C. Annadurai, ” is a confluence of knowledge and talent of the East, the West and the Middle East”. Following the lighting of the lamp, the Secretary of ELT@I, Dr. K. Elango, presented the Annual Report. In the report, he expressed happiness at the  entry of the 46th year of publication of  the Journal of English Language Teaching , the flagship of ELT@I. He also pointed out that the membership has risen to four thousand. He concluded his report by affirming  the need for a comprehensive policy on English.

While offering felicitations, the Vice Chancellor of VIT, Dr. V.Raju, referred to the comparatively low number of scientific publications in English in India and the difficult challenge teachers of English face in India while attempting to develop writing skills.

During the function, the CD’s of abstracts and the special copy of  the ELT@I Journal was released. The Resources Exhibition was also inaugurated.

The founder Chancellor of VIT, Dr. G.Viswanathan, declared the Conference open. Ms. Joell Uzarski, the  Director, Regional English Language Office (RELO), New Delhi,  the Guest of honour at the function, admitted that teachers of English in India, like their counterparts around the world face many challenges which included among others, less motivated students, demanding schedules and the large number of students. In his address, the Chief Guest, Mr. Paul Sellers, Director, British Council, South India informed of the proposed mobile Road Show of the British Council,  focussing on teacher training and development. This  was followed by the offering of felicitation by the Pro-Vice Chancellor,                       Dr. S.Narayanan. Dr. Dawood Shah, the Joint Secretary of ELT@I, offered the vote of thanks.

Following  a light refreshment,  when the participants reassembled, Rev. Fr. Dr. Peter Francis  asked some ‘soul searching’ questions  to the delegates to set the agenda for the Conference.

The sessions during the Conference:

Day I Thursday, 16 June 2011

• Plenary I : Dr. A.K.Singh of Indira Gandhi National Open University on the topic Teaching in the 21st century: New teacher & New students
• Panel Discussion  on Continuing Professional Development
• Plenary II  : Talk entitled A Thali for ELT@I by Adrian Tenant, a special invitee of British Council
• Ten Workshops by  Resource Persons and six  Featured Speakers as Parallel Sessions

Day II  Friday,17 June 2011

• Paper Presentation I (Parallel)
• Plenary III on  the topic Condemned Without Crime: Grammar Translation Method by        Dr. Shreesh Chaudhary of IIT, Madras
• Paper Presentation II (Parallel)
• Symposium I by Cambridge ESOL, India  The moderator was Dr. Padma Ravindran of Ebek Technologies
• Online Special Lecture by Dr.Nellie Deutsch the founder : Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learning (IT4ALL) Canada
• Plenary IV on the topic Learning 2together to achieve the aha! moment
• Symposium II on Teacher Development in the Digital Age. The Moderator was       Dr. Kalyan Chatopadya of  B.S. College, Calcutta and the Presenters were Dr. Dilip Barad of Bhavanagar University, Gujarat and Mr. Kalyan Sarkar of WizIQ.com, Calcutta
• Ten Workshops by  Resource Persons and six  Featured Speakers as Parallel Sessions

Day III  Friday, 18 June 2011

• Paper Presentation III (Parallel)
• Plenary V on the topic Materials Design: From the back of an envelope to full-fledged unit by Dr.Numa Markee of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Panel Discussion  on Changing Perceptions of Teaching and Teachers. The moderator  was Dr. P.N.Ramani, a Quality Assurance Specialist, working in the Sultanate of Oman
• Plenary VI : Talk on the topic Teacher Power by Prof. R.Raja Govindasamy, Director, Manna Tirumalai Naicker College, Madurai
• Online Special Lecture by Mrs. Claire Bradin Siskin, Director, and Excelsior College, USA
• Writers Forum – Topic : Classroom: Inspiring Creativity. The moderator was Mrs.Usha Jesudasan, a Creative Writer

Valedictory Session

The function commenced  in  Dr. A Channa Reddy Auditorium at 3.45PM.                           Dr. G.A.Ghanshyam,  an executive member of ELT@I, welcomed the gathering. Felicitations were offered by the Vice Chancellor,  of VIT, Dr. V.Raju.

In his Presidential Address, Mr. Andrew Simkin, the Consulate General, American Consulate, expressed his happiness at the  positive exchange of ideas during  the Conference. He also  provided information regarding the various programmes successfully carried out by RELO of New Delhi. In his Valedictory Address, Prof. Mohammed  Akhtar Siddiqui, Chairperson, NCTE, New Delhi, spoke about the significance of teacher development programmes.

Prizes were given for the school toppers  in English for Standard X and XII. Prizes were also distributed for three Best Paper Presenters of the  Conference. The programme concluded with the vote of thanks by the Director of the School of Languages, VIT , Dr.C. Annadurai.

The Conference was indeed a confluence which brought  together over eight hundred delegates. The ‘connect’ the meeting  has given  to,  many hoped,  would be  long lasting.

For notes prepared by the author during the Conference please view:

http://eltnotes.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/20-notes-from-elt-conference-on-teacher-development/

About the Author

For more articles by the author, please view

http://cpraveenpublications.blogspot.com/

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