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ISSUE
2
JANUARY, 2015
This issue
Editor’s m essage, The U.S. embassy invites you to this year’s first Language and Literacy PD
Workshop Event for local teachers. The event will take place on Saturday, January
10th at Qatar University, Women’s Engineering Building, Auditorium (Building C07
Room 0175) from 8:00am to 12:00pm. The workshop will focus on preparing English
language learners for tertiary education, but also include break-out sessions that will
benefit teachers of all grade levels. Here are the event details:
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Our f irst s uccessful w orkshop, How t o e ncourage s tudents t o l earn E nglish Upcoming e vents, w ebinars, The 2014- 2015
Officers are:
1-Tertiary Education in Qatar by David Moran
2-Constructivist Education by Elizabeth Estudillo-Chaffee
3-Differentiation in the Language Classroom by Meredith Hedrick
4-Activities to Make Reading a Little More Stimulating by Justin Kernot
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Like all of our workshops, this event will be free of charge and certificates will be handed
out to those who participate at the end of the last session. No preregistration is required.
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*Please pre-register for this FREE event by filling in the form at www.qatartesol.org and send your
registration to [email protected]
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2015
January 29-31: 35th Annual Thai TESOL Conference, Bangkok, Thailand.
February 12-14: 2nd International Tunisia TESOL Conference, Tunis, Tunisia.
February 20-21: 11th Annual Qatar TESOL Conference, Qatar University, Doha.
February 26-28: 5th Annual Sudan TESOL International Conference, Khartoum, Sudan.
February 28- March 1: 11th Annual CamTESOL Conference, Phnom Pheh, Cambodia.
March 4-7: 2nd International Conference on Applied Linguistics, Cappadocia, Turkey.
March 12-14: 21st TESOL Arabia International Conference, Dubai, UAE.
March 25-28: Annual TESOL Convention & English Language Expo, Toronto, Canada
April, 11-14: 49th Annual IATEFL Conference and Exhibition, Manchester, UK
You can enroll in IATEFL YLTSIG free bi-monthly webinars. Just click on the following
link: http://www.wiziq.com/course/75751-webinars-for-iatefl-ylt-sig to join the webinar area.
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Qatar TESOL Community of Practice (CoP)
A Community of Practice (CoP) is an organic grouping of like-minded professionals who
strive to share practical knowledge and useful strategies that result in hands-on application in
the classroom. In Qatar TESOL’s CoP, participants will share learning to benefit teaching
practice. Any level of experience teacher can participate. Be a part of the first CoP gathering at
the upcoming Qatar TESOL conference in February.
Convener, Marla Becking
[email protected]
President:
Dr. Okon Effiong
Vice-President:
Dr. Salah El Kholi
Executive Secretary:
Ms. Patti Tatum
Treasurer:
Mr. Islam Mohammed
Membership Director:
Mr. Emad EldinHamdi
Conference Co-Chair:
Mr. Ahmad Hazratzad
Public Relations
Director:
Mrs. Nada El Daouk
P. D. Coordinator:
Mrs. Amany Kamel
Website Editor:
Mr. Ismail Fayed
Newsletter Editor:
Mrs.Tamar Awadikian
Some n ews, Check t he v acant Q atar T ESOL b oard p ositions Editor’s Note
Happy New Year and welcome to
another exciting issue of Qatar TESOL
newsletter! I would like to take this
opportunity to introduce myself as the
newsletter editor. I am a qualified
teacher with an ESL background who
has been working with students for five
years, and I am recently working on my
MA thesis on teaching to meet students’
needs and interests.
I joined Qatar TESOL with the aim of
sharing resources and information about
teaching English to various kinds of
learners. Please feel free to send me any
article or teaching tips you would like to
share by sending an email to
[email protected]
Moreover, do not forget to participate
in the competition of “Are you a creative
teacher?” to attend Qatar TESOL’s 11th
annual conference for FREE! Check
page 3 for more information.
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Helping Learners in Sudan
“Education is the most powerful
weapon which you can use to
change the world” Nelson
Mandela.
Qatar TESOL has decided to draw
beautiful smiles on unfortunate
children’s faces in Sudan by
donating various books.
On the conference day, there will
be boxes for you to drop unwanted
(good condition) learning and
teaching books. We appreciate and
admire your cooperation in
supporting this initiative.
Get ready to attend Qatar TESOL’s
11th Annual Conference that will take
place in Qatar University on the 20th
and the 21st of February, 2015.
Check our website for more information.
http://qatartesol.org/q/
Tamar Awadikian
Qatar TESOL Issue 2 December, 2014
Let’s help them shape their world.
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Qatar TESOL is
Qatar TESOL Issue 1 September, 2014
Our First Successful Workshop!
On Saturday, October 18, the first 2014-15 Qatar TESOL Professional
Development session was held at Mohamad Bin Abdul Wahab Independent
Secondary School. Nearly 150 EFL professionals gathered to hear two speakers.
The first speaker, Dr. Gwen Lavert who is the content specialist of the Supreme
Education Council spoke on “Comprehension: The Heart of Reading”. Dr. Gwen
explained that the two processes to understanding text are chunking and making
connections. After a reception sponsored by the school, the second speaker Mr.
Islam Mohammed who is an English Lecturer in Qatar Air Academy addressed
the teachers on “Why is vocabulary learning so important?” Mr. Islam shared
some of the best practices in the field of teaching vocabulary. The session was
How to encourage students to learn
English?
Teaching English to second language learners might be boring to some, hence to
motivate these students to learn effectively, Stipek (2008) suggested taking into
account the following points:
! Create a safe environment in which failure is not something to be feared.
! Build a community of learners where everyone is learning and everyone is
making mistakes.
! Allow students to make choices in the classroom and pass on some of the
responsibilities for them to have control over their learning.
! Praise students continuously but do mention the reason for this.
Stipek (2008). Creating an effective classroom learning environment: Classroom
management through effective student motivation. Baltimore, MD: Laureate
Education, Inc.
loaded with practical activities, links to fantastic websites, and sharing of ideas
and tools.
Please fill in the form at
www.qatartesol.org
and send your proposals
to
[email protected]
Guidelines for
proposals:
AT TEN TIO N !!!! The hand-outs for both presentations are available on our website
planning to offer periodic
PD events throughout the
2014-2015 year. These
are done in addition to
the yearly conference
which will be held in
February 2015.
We are looking to the
Qatar TESOL
community for workshop
presentations. Attendees
can take away some
useful ideas for their
classrooms.
1) Must be practical. It
can draw on research but
this is not an opportunity
to present your research
findings.
2) Must be related to the
classroom.
3) Presentations are
maximum 2 hours in
length.
4) Please specify any
technology requirements
such as (projector,
computer, etc)
Share your CREATIVE strategies for teaching English language by
taking pictures or videotaping (in compliance with your school
rules) along with a short explanation to participate in a
competition. Send your clips to [email protected]
The winner will attend the conference that will take place in
February for FREE!!
www.qatartesol.org
Looking forward for your participating in the 2nd PD session that is coming
soon in January 2015.
Amany Kamel
BEST OF LUCK :)
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Shaping the Way We Teach English Webinar Course 15 americanenglish.state.gov * shapingenglish.ning.com The Office of English Language Programs is pleased to offer our 15th webinar course entitled Shaping the Way We Teach English. The 6 online seminars of the course cover a variety of topics and are intended for teachers of English or future teachers of English around the world. Participants who attend 4 out of the 6 webinars will receive e-­‐certificates. Participants are encouraged to join the associated Ning (http://www.shapingenglish.ning.com) to participate in discussions, view or download video and other materials from the sessions, and access recordings of the webinars. The series will take place from January 14 to March 25, 2015. Each 90-­‐minute webinar will be held every other Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. in Washington, D.C. (check http://timeanddate.com for the time in your region). Please Note! To take part in the webinars, please email [email protected] with the following information: •
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First name, last name, email address, and country If you are interested in hosting a viewing session, please indicate that as well **A few days before each webinar, you will receive a reminder email with the link to the webinar. Please select “Enter as a guest” and login with your FIRST NAME ONLY and country (example: Jenny USA). Your computer must have Adobe Flash Player, which comes pre-­‐installed on most computers worldwide. If prompted to do so, you may download the free player at http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ Lesson Planning 101: Mapping Activities for a Clear Path to Learning Wednesday January 14, 2015 Presenter: Katie Bain 8:00-­‐9:30am EST To Err Is to Learn: Error Treatment in the Language Classroom Wednesday January 28, 2015 Presenter: Russell Barczyk and Roger Cohen 8:00-­‐9:30am EST Integrating Pronunciation across the Curriculum Wednesday February 11, 2015 Presenter: Char Heitman 8:00-­‐9:30am EST Content and Language Integrated Teaching Wednesday February 25, 2015 Presenter: Heidi Howland 8:00-­‐9:30am EST Networking: Making Connections that Last Wednesday March 11, 2015 Presenter: Amy Pascucci 8:00-­‐9:30am EDT Reciprocal Teaching Reading Strategies Wednesday, March 25, 2015 Presenter: Rob Danin 8:00-­‐9:30am EDT Vacant Qatar TESOL Board
Position
New
Launched
Website services have dramatically changed
over the past two decades. With the introduction of
easier and user-friendly platforms and social media
elements, modern websites have changed the way
people access information or share knowledge with
one another. In our continued efforts to offer better
services for our community, Qatar TESOL has
launched its new website with new features, widgets
and other social elements. The concept is to
encourage all educators and colleagues to share
teaching practices and trends in the English Language
Teaching field through networking with colleagues
using the new virtual interest groups. This community
of practice approach has proven to be very effective
in different parts of the world. Similar to other
professional networks, the new website allows
members to create their own profiles, add their
avatars, connect to other members, and check our
social networks and news in a streamed fashion. We
look forward to everyone’s contribution to the new
platform!
For more information, please contact Qatar TESOL
Website Editor: Ismail Fayed
[email protected]
The following positions in the Executive Board of
Qatar TESOL are open for election during the 2015
Conference:
1. President,
2. Executive Secretary,
3. Membership Director
4. Public Relations Director.
5. Publications Chair (appointed).
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All positions are retained for a period of two
years.
Executive board members receive no
remuneration or associated financial benefits
from any position held; all positions are taken
on a voluntary basis.
All nominees must be residents in Qatar.
As a member of the Executive Board, you will
be expected to attend regular meetings, assist
in the preparation of the annual conference,
and contribute to the progress of Qatar
TESOL.
Those interested in Executive Board positions are
asked to complete the nomination by cutting and
pasting the link below into your browser.
http://is.gd/Mh2x2x
Information about the Executive Board can also be
found in the Constitution:
http://qatartesol.org/q/about-us-2/constitution/
Any interested member of Qatar TESOL is invited to
self-nominate. Having completed the self-nomination
form, please send your photo to the Vice-President
[email protected] Dr Salah El-Kholi
by Thursday, January 14, 2015.
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