Trendy English 8 Review

A huge international event for English teachers was held in Moscow from 30 November to 1 December 2019!
The Trendy English Conference is one of the most important ELT events in Russia with a long history and recognized authority. Each year, Trendy English becomes the largest venue for a meeting of English teachers and leaders of language centers, the exchange of best practices on a wide range of topics, presentations of relevant innovations and trends, as well as practical experience in teaching English.

by Olesya Khudyakova

More than 700 active participants from all over Russia and abroad, including the UK, USA, Spain, Netherlands, France and other countries! Among the speakers was Alex Warren – National Geographic Learning academic director, DELTA trained teacher trainer with over 15 years’ experience of working in ELT. In his session, he started by looking at the idea of role model education, then explored how exactly use them and their work as a context for English language learning, at the same time developing the skills, values and knowledge that they need to successfully navigate in the 21st century.

The conference had an incredible success. In just two days, the conference was attended by 858 participants. 62 speakers shared useful information. About 70 partners presented gifts to the participants and some lucky ones even got “EnglishMag” magazine! About 20 volunteers helped in organizing. And every year the number of participants is growing.

“EnglishMag” magazine had a great opportunity to have interviews with three first-class speakers: Tom Wiseman – the Director of Studies at English Connection in Saint-Petersburg, an ESL Consultant for Macmillan and a co-founder of the project Resource Education, Antoine Marcq – a Belgian EFL teacher and entrepreneur in Russia, Dirk Lagerwaard – a Ph.D. candidate at the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain) and an English teacher at both a secondary school and a language school.

How to motivate students to continue learning? What is a bare English minimum that students should have a day? How to organize notes? For all these questions and even more, Tom Wiseman answered after his presentation at Trendy English (video). He focused on developing strategies and materials that make planning more efficient and teaching more effective. All his tips cover strategies to help students prioritize English, move towards long-term goals and trust the teacher’s expertise along the way.
The topic of Antoine Marcq was dedicated to intercultural business English skills. In his speech, Antoine focused on 3 key aspects of business communication that students expect to develop: small talk, cultural understanding, and persuasion techniques. He showed main strategies and types of activities for each of these 3 key aspects.
The aim of Dirk’s Lagerwaard talk was to provide practical, informed teaching strategies that empower students through positive learning experiences to create and use their own understanding. He gives a crucial role to the teacher as only teachers can let students believe in themselves and foster the development of their self-expression in English.

The organizers invite everyone to join the Trendy English Events already in 2020. The conference will help to raise your professional level, give inspiration, give new knowledge and the opportunity to meet colleagues and exchange experiences!
You can see the full calendar at trendyenglish.ru