Brighton (recap conference day 2)

After yesterday, we've completely revised our planning somewhat. No more subjects that we've recently covered at school (which are quite a few). 


We started our day with the plenary about emergent language. That was really interesting! Emergent language is unplanned language that is needed or produced by learners during meaning-focused interactions. This language is then looked at through clarification, exploration, or reformulation, with support from the teacher. We've gotten some great tips on how to do this. Sophie & I also noticed that some of our teachers at Windesheim (consiously or unconsiously?) use these techniques in their lessons. 

The second session we attended was "Keeping it real: teaching teens". It was an entertaining session, but not really groundbreaking or new for us. We did get some insight into the difference of generation alpha to other generations and some nice tips on how to rethink assignments to make them more active, creative or collaborative. Like having students make a silent video to act out something they are learning, or a meme that uses a certain phrase. 

The third session we attended was about positive discipline. During the talk we realized that her students were probably way younger than our students are (which turned out to be the case indeed). Some universal takeaways: people like to win, nobody wants to be the loser, so try to think of things where everyone can be a winner. And: remember the 4 Cs: communication, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration. 

The fourth session was about What Women Leaders Wish. A lot of leading women in teaching were interviewed. Lo and behold! They are as human as we are, with the same insecurities. Many women suffer from imposter syndrome (Sophie & I will nor confirm nor deny any personal knowledge of this). 

The final session was about the power of role-modelling. Not just as a teacher, but more importantly by using role-models that inspire the learners in your lessons. This could be a sporter, an artist, but also a 'ordinary person doing something extraordinary'. Using real people, with real stories to engage your leaners (hello authentic materials!). 

After this long day, we decided we needed a bit of a break, so we went to the cinema and watched the Michael Jackson movie. After this we had a nice and quiet dinner and got some much needed sleep. 

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