ETAI Winter Conference

Abbreviation Key

8:30 - 9:35 Registration

GREETINGS:

Mr. Abdallah Khatib , Acting Director-General of Arab Education
Prof. Najeeb Nabwani, Director of the Academic Arab College for Education in Haifa  
Dr. Susan Holzman, ETAI Chairperson

10:00 - 10:30 PLENARY

Dr. Judy Steiner
Chief Inspector for English Language Education
From Concern to Aspiration: How Do We Get There?
We will be discussing several concerns about learning English as a foreign language in Israel and what can be done in order to improve the situation.

10:30 - 11:15 PLENARY

Dr. Lily Orland-Barak
Senior Lecturer Haifa University, Department of Teaching
Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Israel: Local Concerns to Global Aspirations
Drawing on recent debate of what constitutes effective language teaching practice in an era of globalization and standardization, I will focus on key concerns and challenges that shape the work of EFL teachers in the local context of teaching English in Israel.

11:15 - 11:45 Break and Book Exhibition

11:45 - 13:15- PARALLEL SESSIONS
Session 1a - 11:45 - 13:15: Longer workshops and lectures

Susan Griss
WORDS THAT MOVE US: Using Movement to Teach English
Children love to move! This participatory workshop introduces movement strategies to teach vocabulary, punctuation, comprehension and classroom management techniques, using the poem Life Doesn't Frighten Me. Kinesthetic teaching is highly effective, nurturing creativity and cooperative learning. Author/educator Susan Griss is an experienced movement specialist who teaches in the U.S.

G E

223

Barry Silverberg
The Reason Behind the "KNEEZ'N": Enriching our Classrooms with Children's Songs
Recall why language learned through songs remains in the brain. Discover where to access wonderful Kids Songs. Join in demonstrations of how we can use and adapt them. We'll even stick in a bit of Brain Gym and maybe preview my latest comic article. Whee!

G E

222

Nellie Deutsch
Integrating Technology into the ESL Classroom
Teachers face an ongoing challenge of integrating computer technology into their teaching instructions and student learning. The Internet not only provides new modes of communication, easy access to vast information and multi-media resources, but it also allows teachers and students to become instant publishers. The purpose of this presentation is to help ESL teachers explore some of these technology tools and apply them in instruction and learning.

G E

221

Gunther Volk
Studying the Holocaust via Anglo-Jewish Drama, Film and Documentaries
Two plays by Ronald Harwood, Taking Sides and The Handyman, as well as Arthur Miller's Broken Glass are at the centre of this workshop. The characters in the plays find themselves in dilemmas which trigger off feelings of empathy or dismay, compassion or anger, certainty or doubt. Besides offering plenty of opportunities for lively discussion and debate, the study of the plays is accompanied by working with historical sources, documentaries and the Internet.

G JH HS

21

Aviva Shapira
English Coordinators: Creative and effective strategies to make your job easier
This workshop will present ideas on how coordinators can better manage their English staff and accomplish what needs to be done. I will discuss ways to organize your time in order toorder to lighten your workload and we'll share and come up with even more ways to meet our everyday challenges.

HS

20

Muzna Bishara
Designing an English Day
How to design and English day: plans, objectives, material and management. This talk will include a video presentation of two English that took place in my school.

JH HS

19

Session 1b: 11:45 - 12:25 Shorter workshops and talks

Naomi Roffman
Unleashing the Power of Reading
We learn to read so we can read to learn. Yet far too many pupils finish elementary school unable to decode efficiently and become "non-readers".This situation can be reversed if teachers change their approach and methods of teaching reading. A short film will demonstrate how to do this.

E TT

Mini Auditorium

Joan Orkin and Sharon Fayerberger
MORE INSPIRATION LESS PERSPIRATION Enabling skills for bagrut writing
We will introduce a step by step approach of enabling skills to facilitate writing for Modules F and G. They will discuss skills such as investigating the question, varying sentence contstruction, paragraphing, tenses, connectors and register. These skills help students gain competence and confidence.

HS TT

105

Suzanne Sapir, Rafi Rothman, May Abdo, Valerie S. Jakar
TETEC Comes to Haifa
Participants in "Teaching English through Experiencing Cultures" are from diverse communities in the Jerusalem region. They learn about each other's cultures, then they apply their knowledge to their own class activities. Resulting projects, (e.g. on UNICEF) for grades 10 & 11, will be presented by Jewish and Arab members of the TETEC group.

HS

105

Ruthie Zimberg
Jolly Phonics - A Multi-Sensory Approach to Phonics
Students world-wide now learn how to read and write using Jolly Phonics. Jolly Phonics teaches faster and more effectively than either whole language or other phonics-based methods. JP is excellent for whole classes, small groups and individual instruction. Adaptable for EFL and all ages of beginners.

C E

108

Session 1c 12:35 - 13:15 Shorter workshops and talks

Orly Sela
Making the Most of Our Coursebooks
We all use coursebooks, but do we all make the best possible use of them? This lecture will discuss how to choose a coursebook for a particular class and how to make the most of it once you have chosen it.

G

Mini Auditorium

Taghreed Abdel Al
The Art of Reading
Teaching reading to weak learners is one of the major problems facing the English teachers these days. In my lecture I'll focus on this problem and offer a special program for solving it. The program is called "The Art of Reading". My program has achieved great success at an elementary school in Akko called Almanara.

E JH

110

Neri Seveneir
When Hell Freezes Over: Teaching Idiomatic Expressions
Idiomatic Expressions are tricky to identify, understand, use and translate, because they defy lexical meaning and require cultural knowledge and linguistic finesse. The bilingual Thesaurus of Idioms and Phrases, English-Hebrew-English will be briefly presented, then used to show some insights into the nature of idioms and how to teach them.

C HS G

108

Lunch break: 13.15 – 14:00

14.00 – 14.40 Parellel Sessions

Session 2: 14.00 - 14.40:

Dr. Avi Tsur
A deeper look into the "Concerns and Aspirations" of the Educator and the Student
Ensuring all students envision and pursue their highest aspirations requires teachers that inspire in every child a passion to excel with confidence and hope, a curriculum which allows for choice and flexibility, and an educational system that supports each student.

G

Mini Auditorium

Ruthie Zimberg
Sing-a-lesson Teaching vocabulary though Songs
Walk out of the workshop and into your classroom singing fun songs that teach the vocabulary you need! A hands-on program that tells you why to teach songs, what to teach and just how to do-it. A-A-Apple CD/Songbook is featured.

TT C

20

Ann Shlapobersky
Student's Can Right If You Give Them a Chance
In language classrooms today learning to write is essential. As tasks and projects have become a vital part of the curriculum this is not always a painless task for teachers or students. I will discuss the necessity to provide progressive writing opportunities reflected in the students' language level and ability.

E JH

222

Yael Bejarano and Keren Shenhar
Teaching English to Young Learners: From Homeroom to English Teacher
The Ministry's policy of teaching English in 1st grade has caused many schools to involve their homeroom teachers in the teaching of English. Since the initial stage of learning a foreign language is aural/oral based, it was assumed that homeroom teachers could provide pupils with this initial exposure given the appropriate training and materials.

E

105

Raya Sidi
"Start English" - a new approved book for foundation level
This book provides solid training in reading and writing skills. It teaches the alphabet step by step in order and uses the phonic system. It engages the learner in multisensory activities. It uses dialogues, games, stories, songs, verses and illustrations and encourages communicating in English.

C E

19

Julie Yosefyan
Learning Styles and Heterogeneous Classes
This presentation will give an overview of the different learning styles. We will talk about incorporating learning styles in out teaching. It will also address heterogeneity in the upper levels of primary school and how to adapt materials.

E

108

Sarah Adar
Who cares if I'm a native speaker??
What is a native speaker anyway? And what exactly is the difference between a non-native teacher and me? We probably have the same interests for our students and we probably work as hard to achieve our goal. So, why is the issue of ns/nns still such a hot issue? Why is it still an issue at all?

G

223

Ari Kernerman
More tips about teaching dictionary use
For those who have already tried, and for those who have not yet tried, here are more ideas on how to make dictionary use effortless, efficient and rewarding.

C JH HS

21

Mdalale Azzam and Sina Shahbari
The League of Friends- Towards Understanding Between Israeli and British Pupils
A group of young pupils from Israel and the UK who participated in a project called Playing For Success. The participants created a website which includes information about their comunities, religions, cultures and traditions. They also exchanged presents and attended video conferences.

JH

221

Final Plenary: 14:45 – 15:45 (Sports Hall)

Prof. Penny Ur
What can we learn from the research?
Not all academic research in our field is interesting or relevant to our work; and even if it is, most teachers simply do not have the time to keep up with it. In this session I'll be talking about a few studies I've read recently that I found interesting, thought-provoking, sometimes surprising and that I feel ETAI members would enjoy hearing about.