EAQUALS International Conference,
Prague, April 2011
The National Technological Library,
venue for the 2011 EAQUALS Conference
by Danijela Veljković
EAQUALS 2011 International Conference was held in Prague on Friday 8th - Saturday 9th April. It was preceded by inspector training, a management training workshop for EAQUALS members, and the 20th Annual General Meeting of members. One hundred and forty participants from 23 countries attended the Conference.
Invited speakers included Peter Medgyes, George Pickering, and Pete Sharma.
The theme of the conference was ‘Enhancing Classroom Language Learning: the Challenges for Teachers, Trainers and Managers'.
The EAQUALS 2011 Conference was attended by Danijela Veljkovic, who represented YALS.
The main thematic questions included:
- What can teachers do to ensure that their teaching and their students' learning is both effective and rewarding, and that learners progress as fast as they can?
- What can school owners and managers do to provide the optimum infrastructure for language learning, and to generate the kind of student satisfaction that will lead to excellent word-of-mouth recommendations and growth in enrolments?
- How can the curriculum, teaching resources and assessment be organised to guide and support the effectiveness of teaching?
- What are the most useful and innovative resources available to learners to continue effective learning outside the classroom during and after their course?
- How can teachers, even the most experienced, best continue to develop professionally so as to enhance their own effectiveness?
In the Annual General meeting two new associate members were accepted into EAQUALS: Centre International d’Etudes Pedagogiques (CIEP), France and UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office – Language Policy and Standards Unit.
Universita per Stranieri di Perugia – Centro per la Valutazione e le Certificazioni Linguistiche (Italy), Zayed University (Dubai) and Istituto Tecnico Industriale Buonarroti, Trento (Italy) were accepted as project partners.
The following Board Members were elected:
- Brian North, Eurocentres Foundation – Vice Chair OF EAQUALS
- Ian Powney, International House London – Treasurer
- Axel Freudenfeld, Eurocentres Berlin – Board Member (governance)
The next EAQUALS meeting will be held in Trieste in November 2011.