Freelance Swedish teacher with 11 years of experience, specialising in teaching adults. Methodologist who teaches how to work with authentic materials. Owner of a project ‘Sångskolan’ that helps students study Swedish with songs. Vocalist, lyricist and a creative dreamer.

Never stop your CPD - Cherishing Precious Dreams

We tend to know a lot about our students' dreams - we discuss them and help our students pursue them. But what about us? Don't you think it is vital for us to be dreamers too? What if I tell you that our dreams might not only be a guiding star for us, but also become the basis for a safer environment in our classroom? In my talk we will discuss why it is important for us to dream, and not only dream about professional achievements.

Katerina Stashevskaya is a teacher, teacher trainer, educational games designer, blogger, and a school owner. She runs a teaching community PRO English. Katerina collects picture books and loves watching films in her free time.

Dealing with mistakes: from hate to love

They drive you crazy. There are times when they make you seriously question your teaching abilities. But what if you look at mistakes at a different angle? In this session I will try to change your mind about mistakes and show how to use them to maximum advantage!

Nadezda Bukina has been a teacher of English for more than 15 years in private schools, centres and on her own, both  offline and online. The online groups for kids and teenagers have been her recent areas of focus.

Trust and be trusted – setting up groups that thrive

Why do many groups appear to be ineffective or even fall apart? One of the reasons is the absence of mutual trust. Join Nadezda Bukina, to learn from her experience of managing groups and to explore the concept of trust and its major impact on teaching English in groups. Find out how you can improve group dynamics and build long-term relations with students.

Natasha Belousova has been teaching and teacher-training for 20 years. After completing her Delta in 2010, she has been working with Cambridge ICELT, Distance Delta and TrinityCert trainees, and designing courses for teachers in Russia, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Slovakia.

Common sense (versus?) methodology in modern ELT

We are all living through an unprecedented period of change, which has affected ELT. Teachers adopt multiple roles operating in the world of postmodernism and denial of any fixed teaching method. How can a language teacher do a good job with this myriad of complications? What shall novice ELT professionals do to stay sane? In my talk, I explore our post-method reality and invite the participants to reflect on ways for language teachers to marry common sense with quality teaching.

Natalia has been working as a teacher of English for more than 20 years. Now she is responsible for CPD programs at the Trendy English Games community, and also works as a teacher trainer for the Teachers for Russia project in the Siberian Region. Takes part as a speaker in different ELT conferences in Russia.

Choice in your classroom: dream or reality

Choice is a motivational trigger. Students are more engaged and fulfil tasks better if there is an element of choice.  Why not allow your students to choose materials and tasks for your lessons? During my talk I will show some activities that give students a meaningful choice and motivate them, and share a technique to save your lesson preparation time by engaging students into the lesson planning process.

An independent teacher for adults, freelancer, co-author of webinars for teachers and a blog writer.

English: connecting people. Or how to turn your groups of adults into tiny communities

I believe that learning English in a group is beneficial for a learner: it provides stronger motivation and a sense of healthy competition. However, it's only possible if the atmosphere in the group is friendly and supportive. I will talk about my experience of running on-line groups of adults and give some ideas of how to make a team out of people who had never met each other before. I will also share some practical life-hacks on building your own classroom communities.

A practising state school teacher and a methodologist, a teacher trainer, Teachers Teach Teachers programme coordinator, the winner of the Lexical Lab scholarship for lexically-oriented teachers (IATEFL).

From Vocabulary Builders to Vocabulary Enjoyers

How can we encourage our students to learn the vocabulary from the lesson? What can we do to get them to start using it and avoid so-called 'lexical teddy bears'? In my talk, I'm going to introduce several ways of maintaining personalised vocabulary builders and explore ways of bolstering students' confidence when using the new vocabulary in their speech.

Natalie is a devoted teacher with 18 years of experience, a CELTA holder. Primary areas of interest are teaching General English without L1, teaching teens, young adults and adults at high levels. Natalie specialises in teaching students with different learning abilities.

Far and Beyond the Classroom

In my talk, I will share my experience of organising out of classroom activities in English. We will take a look at:
 • how and why out of class activities boost language acquisition;
 • 5 types of activities that can be held outside the classroom;
 • how to organise  such events. I’ll share my personal list of dos and don’ts for out of class activities. 

The talk is meant to be an incentive and a source of inspiration for all kinds of language teachers.

Teacher of English with 15 years of work experience. Academic Director at Journey School, Novosibirsk. Teacher Trainer. Conference Speaker. Author of language courses and marathons for teens and adults, and practical seminars for teachers “Use of resources for language teaching”.

Excursions around your city as a way to boost customer  loyalty

We will be talking about what it takes to prepare and organize an excursion around your city: things we do during and after the excursion, places we choose to visit and why. We’ll take a look at how we can make our students use English naturally. As a result, students improve their level of spoken English and broaden their horizons.

Anita Modestova is a CELTA qualified teacher, psychologist and business trainer. She specialises in teaching general English to adults, and manages her own school for language teachers - Teachers Teach Teachers.  

Teach the student, not the book, and even not the language

Having trained teachers for 4 years, I noticed that teachers learn a lot about linguistics and methodology. However, lots of ideas which sound great on paper, and are backed by research, fail in class. Why? Because we teach human beings, and we are human ourselves. I’d like to explore the ‘feelings and relationships’ side of the teaching process, and put our learners as humans, not learning machines, in the centre of our class.

I have been teaching English for 13 years. I am the co-owner of the English studio in my town. Passed CAE ,TKT, followed the course Train the trainer. I have given seminars for teachers as a teacher trainer.

Computer games are not our enemy, they are tools!

In my talk I am going to share my own methodology of using computer games in English class and at home for learning English. Teachers will get some ready-made lesson plans. Moreover, they will also learn how to use computer games for learning and revising grammar and vocabulary. Basically, any computer game can be used for the purposes of language learning and teaching. We just need to see this potential. I am ready to teach how!

I am a Cambridge certified teacher and teacher trainer with CELTA, Delta M2 and Train the Trainer qualifications and a lot of experience in teaching, training and mentoring. In my job, I am particularly interested in new trends, material adaptation and energy- and time-saving lesson preparation.

How to develop students' mediation skills: some practical ideas and tools

Teaching a language  develops core competencies including language awareness and language skills as well as soft skills. However, it is not enough. In the multicultural world learners should be able to mediate concepts, text and communication.In my practical talk, I will share some ideas, tools and activities which aim to help develop your students' mediation skills.

Linguist, teacher of English, pianist and researcher of music, PhD in Arts. Degrees in teaching English and piano, CELTA (A), CPE (A). 15 years of teaching experience (including 9 years at the Grammar Department in MSLU). Currently teaching English and History of music at Moscow State Institute of Music.

Teaching grammar to promote soft skills

The talk is based on the idea that grammar is a powerful means of developing critical thinking skills if it is viewed not as a set of rules but rather a system of thinking. Given the role of “thinkers” and even decision-makers, students learn the skills of interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, and explanation through meaningful grammar practice. It is based on cognitive and creative problem-solving activities aimed at discovering grammar concepts. In this context learning hard skills – grammar –leads to developing soft skills – critical thinking.

Katerina is a professor and a teacher trainer at Moscow State Pedagogical University. She is a full Delta and MA TESOL holder. Katerina experiments with stress-reducing techniques and brain-friendly methods of teaching.

The neuroscience of stress in the ESL classroom

In my workshop, we will look closer at stress factors in the classroom and analyse their impact on our students’ engagement and productivity. You might be surprised, but almost every situation in the class can be a cause of stress and, as a result, cognitive overload of your students. Let’s see what we can do to prevent this stress or at least turn it into our friend.

A self-employed methodologist, a teacher trainer and an educational mentor with 7 years of ELT experience. A TKT (1-3), CELTA holder and an MA in Linguistics. Getting psychological education and helping teachers to be closer connected to themselves and others.

Brain-friendly teaching techniques

Why do your students struggle with understanding your seemingly clear instructions? Why don’t they do their homework? What makes a person be highly motivated today but be almost unable to put himself together tomorrow? These and other questions can be answered with the help of neuroscience. I am eager to share the results of the most recent neuroscientific research to shed some light on learners’ challenges.

Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages for Humanities, Demidov Yaroslavl State University.

How to inspire students to set sail for the coasts of writing and to help them keep motivation killers at bay?

As David Mitchell put it, “Knowledge exists only when it is given. And so does love.” Being enchanted by writing in the English language, this year I have launched a course tailored to spark students` interest in writing and enhance their mediation competence. Based on a theoretical framework, the talk shines a spotlight on different teaching materials and resources aimed to enhance students` writing, cognitive and communicative skills and, most importantly, foster their love of the process.

Irina Lutsenko is a dynamic English teacher with 18 years of experience, IELTS 9, CPE A, and Fulbright FLTA under her belt. Irina's passion is writing - she writes and inspires students to follow suit.

Chat GPT: The death of writing?

No. I don’t think ChatGPT will kill writing, but it will certainly change it. ChatGPD is an AI tool that can write impressive, impeccable texts that are indistinguishable from those written by humans. What effect will it have on us, humans who have to or want to write? More importantly, how should we, teachers, adapt to this new reality? How should we teach writing in the age of AI?

Ekaterina Konon is an EFL teacher, teacher trainer, founder of "Teacher-Switcher" English Teaching Community , CEO of UcanEnglish Language Centre, creator of "The school we love" community. Author of children’s books and creator of different props for teaching.

Motivating your students through the use of new technologies and neural networks

During our session we will discuss how neural networks can have a role in motivating students to learn and improve different skills, such as writing (including creative writing), listening and speaking. After the session you will have a clear list of possible and easy-to-use activities to use with different ages and levels.

Certified Teacher Trainer, Teacher of high levels (most students are teacher-learners) and Methodologist at the School of Tatiana Fanshtein with 20 years of experience in teaching adults, holding TESOL certificate (USA) and MA in Linguistics (USA).

Metacognitive Tools That Work: Reflection Strategies

Metacognition is slowly becoming one of the key components of a successful course. If you still know nothing of metacognitive tools, it's time to learn! We will look closely at several reflection strategies that help not only bring metacognition into your class, but also pave the way for your students' successful development, both as learners and individuals.

Driven English teacher with 15+ years of experience, co-founder of MeEnglish School, former Moscow State University teacher, PhD, CELTA

The benefits of low teacher control

The talk is built around the speaker’s personal story: the story of a control freak teacher who has recently discovered the true benefits of letting go of control in her own classroom. These include increasing learner autonomy, significantly reducing preparation time, improving self-confidence and many more. The speaker draws heavily on her personal experiences as well as existing research in the area. Moreover, she gives practical tips on lowering teacher control that can come in handy in any classroom.

Svetlana Savelyeva is a freelance teacher, a teacher-trainer and a speaker. She holds TKT M1-3, TKT YL. She has a 13-year experience in teaching English to students of all ages. Her primary areas of interest are phonetics and phonology.

The Physical Aspect of Speaking

There are tons of exercises to build learners' vocabulary and grammar. Yet, the sound system is underestimated and the fact that speaking is a physical process is often neglected. I will share four simple yet effective exercises which prepare your articulators to produce certain sounds as well as train learners to recognize peculiar features of connected speech. They aim at helping learners develop their listening skills and overcome the so-called psychological barrier by turning unfamiliar into habitual and, thus, natural.

Iuliia is a teacher specialising in teaching to advanced EFL learners through CLIL. She is the author and host of The Endless Reading Club. Iuliia holds a specialist’s degree in Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, CELTA and CAE.

How to create unique reading lessons every time

Do you feel like your reading lessons are all the same? Are you looking for low-prep activities to squeeze the most out of coursebook texts? I have prepared 25+ meetings for my reading club and almost never repeated the same activity. In my YarTalk, I am going to share the secret of my success.

I’m a freelance teacher with 13 years of experience. My main focus currently is teaching higher levels and IELTS preparation. I’m also a passionate reader and put my love of reading into running speaking and reading clubs.

How a book club can keep you afloat in a period of personal turmoil

ELT is interconnected with current affairs, emotional and psychological well-being of students and teachers. I’ll share my experience of using speaking and reading clubs to help students maintain their motivation and find a moment of respite. Such clubs can become a safe haven for those struggling with personal issues like changing jobs or relocation. We’ll discuss how to mitigate psychological pressure during turbulent times, how to choose the materials and find ways to boost students' attendance and commitment to learning.

Oksana Tazova is a teacher of English at the Dmitry Nikitin school in Yaroslavl where she runs a Reading Club for young learners and pre-teens.

Enjoy the adventure of reading with a reading club

In my presentation I'm going to talk about my own experience of reading club organisation, the objectives that a teacher should keep in mind when organising a club. I will speak about the principles of book selection, different activities and additional material that can help to make club meetings more interesting and dynamic. We'll talk about the difference in club organisation between different age-groups. Finally, I will touch upon what should be done to maintain further interest in club attendance.

A freelance English teacher with over 12 years of experience (corporate groups). MSLU, Minsk (hons); a M.A. in Philology. Worked at the Institute for Advanced Studies and Retraining (MSLU). International courses: ‘ESP, Best Practices’ (University of Oregon, E-Teacher Scholarship), CELTA.

Working effectively across cultures: developing students’ CQ

Have your students ever struggled to communicate with someone from a different cultural background, even though they spoke the language fluently? We all have heard about IQ and EQ, but what does CQ mean and how is it relevant to language teaching? At the workshop I will offer some insight into the history of the term and demonstrate resources and activities to help students navigate the cultural context in which the language is used and become more effective global communicators.

Avelina is a third generation language teacher. In 2001 she co-founded a language school in Smolensk and is still its CEO. She is the author of a book about learning how to use English tenses.

How to use memes as units of cultural information to teach English

Learning grammar is reported to be one of the hardest aspects of studying a foreign language for teens and grown-ups. But it doesn’t have to be. Memes as units of the cultural DNA are a powerful tool to help students build a solid link between structure and meaning. Memes encourage learners to search for support in their experience and lead to discoveries in grammar and consequently better accuracy and confidence.