Pecha Kucha session at IATEFL

The first ever IATEFL Pecha Kucha session in Exeter live online.

If you‘re wandering what Pecha Kucha means, I‘ve only recently learned that it is a special kind of presentation. The word derives from Japanese and means something like „chit chat“. It‘s about keeping Powerpoint presentations snappy. The rules are:

1. Only 20 slides allowed
2. Slides change every 20 seconds and the presenter has no control over that.

The presenters were all very well-known names in the TEFL (Teaching English as a Second Language) community (Susan Barduhn, Margit Szesztay, Gavin Dudeney, Jenny Johnson, Scott Thornbury, Rose Senior, Adrian Tennant and Jeremy Harmer)  Lindsay Clansfield was the host.

I tremendously enjoyed this session, which was funny and informative at the same time. It was also interesting to see these well-known personalities in a different light after having read many of their books and articles for so long.

I watched the Pecha Kucha together with friend-colleague in Mexico (thanks to internet technology!). Being able to watch it with someone and commenting on it life in voice felt much more like being really present. 

I have signed up for IATEFL 2008 as an online participant (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language). There are 17 courses for ESL/EFL teachers to take — all very interesting. I will have to make some difficult decisions. My priorities are:

• Learning Technologies
• Materials Development
• Learner autonomy
• Testing, Evaluation & Assessment
• Business English

Weekly meeting with the Webheads, an international dynamic group of teachers using technology in the classroom. We meet regulary every Sunday in TappedIn. These meetings are very valuable to me as they are not only fun but also very informative. Especially but no only for online teachers, such online communities of practise are very important for exchanging ideas, talking about new developments in teaching and technology, and finding partners for collaborations. I have my virtual office in Tappedin, where I can receive colleagues and students. 

I attended a presentation by Jeremy Harmer, the popular ESL writer and teacher trainer, in Second Life. It took place in EduNation. He talked about how teachers can keep themselves motivated. One important point he made was to leave your comfort zone and learn and try out new things. I think this is not only true for teachers but for all professions. With his first presentation in SL, Harmer led by example.

Today, I went to an ELT (English Language Teaching) seminar, which was organised by several publishing houses (Cambridge, Oxford, Longman, Macmillan, etc.). The venue was the private primary school ?lkbahar ?lkö?retim Koleji. The presentations were interesting and lunch was great. 

The most interesting presentation for me was the one about IWB software (interactive whiteboard). It was the first time for me to see the software life. But I was more interested in the tool used during the presentation. It was not a regular IWB but a much less expensive and portable tool. This tool can be taken anywhere and any white surface can be used as the screen. There are many such portable “IWBs”. The one used for this presentation) was e-beam.

I had been thinking of buying one for my off-line classes but wasn’t sure whether they really worked well. The presenter had no problems during the life event except in cases where he had to reach the top of the screen. In these cases he had to walk back to the laptop. This “problem” is due to the fact that, contrary to the fixed-size IWBs, the portable ones have the advantage that there is no limit to the size of the “screen”

I have booked my classroom in Second Life on Kip Yellowjacket‘s “Second Life English“ SIM. It‘s called “Launchroom“ because it will mainly be used as a starting point for the lessons in Second Life.