Lisa Phillips has been teaching English for 24 years in a number of countries.  She is Director of Studies for Teen and Adult Courses at IH British School Reggio Calabria, a CELTA trainer and tutor on the IH OTTI site.  She is currently studying A2 Italian and doing a decompression 50-metre diving course. Email: lisajphillips@hotmail.com

A brief summary of the talk

I’ve been annoyed by ELT’s insistence of hanging on to outdated VAK learning styles for a very long time but have really enjoyed experimenting by using different senses, especially having moved online.  With fewer events to demarcate the passing days and the two-dimensionality of our screens, I was looking for a way to take all of our minds away from the pressure of our daily lives, have a bit of fun and relish in the rich language to be explored.  I read something about how at the moment, it’s Maslow before Bloom and this empathy for what our students are going through right now is for me what’s close to and from the heart.

What your feelings were during the talk itself

I’ve been working online for a number of years now and much prefer online to face-to-face.  That way, I can imagine my audience smiling and nodding and thinking how clever I am!

I did realise that I got mixed up between aubergines and courgettes while chatting with the moderator before the talk began...Oh well, these things happen.  I like to think of such presentations or workshops like a regular class.  Sometimes they go better than others and it’s not really worth beating yourself up over silly little things.

Post-conference reflections

The day after the conference I was talking to a non-native teacher at my school and she was telling me how she often felt inadequate teaching vocabulary because of this.  I told her about the conference day and how I was having one of my “can’t string a sentence together” days, especially evident when programmed between two incredibly eloquent and proficient English as a Second Language professionals!

I loved the variety of different topics and voices being given a platform to share their unique perspectives.  I had thought I might only stay for a session of two but was there for the whole conference, and am already looking forward to the next one.  Congratulations and thank you

Please check the Creating a Motivating Environment course at Pilgrims website.

Please check the The Art and Skills of the Humanistic Teacher Trainer course at Pilgrims website.