Welcome everyone to yet another edition of IATEFL Poland’s e-bulletins. This is the one which reflects on the Conference just finished, and reveals via statistics, what you thought about the event. This is important as IATEFL Poland wants to learn from your feedback and ensure that its future conferences are better and better. So, read further about the conference and enjoy a new innovation – the citing of some of your comments, critical as well as positive. Some are fascinating and very detailed, with some worthy ideas mentioned.

 

First, some Conference stats:

Using the Conference Website: Again, high scores were achieved here, with 78% expressing major satisfaction.

Access to the Exhibition Stands: This also drew very impressive scores, with 87% finding it easy or very easy, which is how it should be!

Conference Venue: 75% voted ‘very good’, and nearly all the remaining votes were for ‘good’. It was a highly impressive venue in a buzzing, prosperous -looking city, with the sea nearby!

Evening Entertainment: A category which often attracts mixed reviews, 82% of respondents thought the 2019 package on offer was very good or good. Only 7% considered it to be poor. I personally felt the Shakespeare trip was a novel idea, and the speech delivered there by Professor Limon, was pleasing to all, as was the guided tour.

Most Interesting Foreign Presenter: The winner by a massive margin was the ever-popular Hugh Dellar, who garnered 57% of the vote. I was at his ‘Magic’ presentation, and the warmth for him was clearly apparent. Christina Latham-Koenig, came second with 10%, and John Hughes, third with 6%.

Most Interesting Polish Speaker: This set of results was markedly different from the foreign presenters, with six speakers getting into double figures, and the winner only 1% clear of the runner-up. Marek Kaczmarek came top of the poll with 15% of the vote. Magdalena Kania was in second place with 14%. She was one of seven women in the top 10. Marta Rosińska and Wojciech Glac tied for third place with 12% each.

 

Feedback comments:

Here is a selection of the feedback comments and some replies from Peter Whiley.

“As usual, the conference was SUPERB!”

“Great atmosphere! Friendly, open participants and speakers.”

“I am afraid there is too much paper wasted on unnecessary catalogues, leaflets, etc., put into our conference packs. Also, it all weighs a lot. As there are materials available online, I suggest encouraging the sponsors/publishers, etc., to limit the amount of printed materials to an absolute minimum, if only to save trees (not to mention our backs). It is a different matter with free textbooks as they are really useful in our work.”

Too many interesting presentations being held at the same time.”

(That’s the beauty or agony of conferences).

“Workshops and presentations after 6pm make no sense – as people are really tired and some of them have a long way to commute to their hotels.”

(Some people are tired, true, but many want the fullest programme to follow, so we have to try to cater for everyone’s needs).

“Variety of workshops – all participants could find something for themselves”.
“Very good location, accessible by public transport and on foot”.
“The Conference schedule was so busy that we didn’t have almost any free time to examine the exhibition stands. So, it might be a good idea to plan an hour, for example, per each conference day, just for walking around and studying books”.

(We have ‘Happy Hour’ on the Saturday afternoon for you to study the books on the stands).

“Great idea to meet so many interesting people and teachers in one place”.

Yes, one of the major positives about conferences.
“Wonderful evening event on Saturday :))))”

“I really enjoyed the very high quality of all the lectures delivered”.

There are speakers who never disappoint – the Łagun and Kinski duet, Hugh Dellar, Magda Kania, and Bartek Janiak – they’re my inspiration for this school year.

Another highlight (even though there was no performance) was the evening entertainment. Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre visit, Professor Jerzy Limon’s presence, and his famously delivered speech, as well as the guided tour - I’ll cherish that for a long time”.

 

‘Kahoots’:

At the conference, the Kahoots quiz evening was a pleasant event, enjoyed by those who attended, which is backed up by the feedback figures. A couple of people did complain to me, though, that we used too many Polish references/words!

Now a short article from Ula Majdańska-Wachowicz, about her section on Ponglish, and how she analyses it. She certainly takes it seriously. Click on the link

We want to let you know how the Kahoots idea developed, and how Asia has used it at her school. Read her short article to learn more about the benefits of Kahoots. Click on the link

 

‘TESTING TIMES’

‘BREXIT – The ‘final’ frontier?’ Who knows? It seems to be an eternal process. Catch up with recent developments by reading Geoff Tranter’s latest ‘Testing Times’……a very funny version. Superbly based upon parallels to ‘Alice in Wonderland’……Here it is titled: ‘Alice in Blunderland!’ Click on the link

TWO REPORTS:

Here are two contrasting reports from our intrepid travellers in 2019. Marta Bujakowska, IATEFL’s International Liaison Officer, enjoyed a conference at Macedonia-Thrace, in Northern Greece, whilst Daniel Starski, went to IATEFL Slovenia’s Conference, held in the same venue for the last 12 years! Marta’s report is largely visual, whilst Daniel’s has no photos at all, but is equally lively and absorbing.
Marta’s report: Macedonia-Thrace, Click on the link
Daniel’s report: Slovenia………….Click on the link

Peter Whiley
E-Bulletins and Post-Conference Journal Editor

NOTE

You can view glimpses of the conference at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeLWIMushXg

 

Come to the IATEFL Łódź 2020 Conference

More at: https://iatefl.org.pl/conference/