Upcoming events

**The What about …? Webinars, 2018-2019**

Creative Arts and Materials Writing, 1st April 2019, LITSIG/MAWSIG PCE, IATEFL Liverpool

Most teachers who use texts taken from the arts – be they literary, visual or musical – create activities to accompany them, and many of these teachers create materials for publication, or would like to know more about how to do this. Similarly, professional materials writers often incorporate creative materials into their publications, or would like to explore how to do so. This joint event between LitSIG and MaWSIG is, therefore, a marvellous opportunity to share expertise and experience.

Our confirmed speakers and talks for the day are:

David Crystal
Language BLANK Literature: from Conjunction to Preposition

The study of language and the study of literature have long been separated and are often treated as if they were antagonistic domains, both in mother-tongue and in foreign-language teaching. This talk argues for the integration of the two domains, by focusing on the notion of linguistic creativity which underlies both, and providing performance illustrations from several literary genres.

Christina Klein Wolf and Eduardo Wolf
Shakespeare for language and literature students: choosing extracts, designing materials

We will briefly discuss the principles that underlie our approach to designing materials to teach Shakespeare to language and literature students. We will argue that a focus on contextualization, close reading, and independent study can provide a solid basis for the design of engaging materials for upper-intermediate and advanced learners which foster language awareness, critical thinking, and creativity. Participants will engage in a couple of hands-on activities and we will suggest some further reading.

Cheryl Palin
Taking a leaf out of the books of great writers

Which ELT materials writer does not love to read? Cheryl hasn’t met one yet. Whether our passion is for poetry or prose, we all delight in the written word. What, then, might we learn from the well-known writers we admire? Cheryl will explore the advice of great writers on their craft, highlighting ways that we might seek inspiration and nurture creativity, choose content and discover our niche, and develop the habits of our literary heroes.

Alan Pulverness
BritLit: Teachers doing it for themselves

The British Council’s BritLit project (2003-2013) aimed to engage learners as readers and teachers as materials writers. BritLit involved teachers from Portugal, Spain, Italy, India and Russia developing materials – not lesson plans, but ‘kits’ from which users can make appropriate selections. This talk will draw on examples from the wealth of material still available online, suggesting approaches for writing materials for bringing literature into the EFL classroom and sharing some of the work produced by the teachers inspired by BritLit.

Hania Krystyna Bociek
The art of it all…. Paintings to inspire your material

Taking a leaf out of Thornbury and Medding’s “unplugged” approach, this session will highlight how learner interaction with paintings can inspire the materials created for/used in your classroom, in both a f2f and digital/virtual environment. We shall consider a series of paintings and invite them to inspire the language we target and the emotions we wish to express. Creativity is in the eye of the beholder …

The workshop will provide practical ideas for both newcomers to English through art and those who are already inspired users. Referring to English Through Art (Helbling, 2011) it will also suggest to writers how art can be incorporated into their material.

Alice Savage & Walton Burns
Play with Language: Teaching Communication Skills with Theatre and Video Scripts

Scripts such as plays and videos are a natural resource for teaching speaking skills. Unlike textbook dialogues, often written to highlight vocabulary or grammar, scripts often use natural language and realistic contexts to teach the “hidden” language of pragmatics. Pragmatics refers to the tools we use to do things with words. It includes use of intonation, gesture, implicit meanings, and expressions that signal intentions or emotions. Participants will work with plays and videos and come away with lesson plan options and resources.

Helen Holwill & Nicola Prentis
How to write Graded Readers (a.k.a. Get paid to write fiction)

Have you used Graded Readers and ever wondered who writes them and if you could do it, too? Being a fan of literature and adapting classics is one way in, writing original fiction is another. But who do you contact and how do you write a successful proposal? We will explore how Readers are selected and produced, and give you invaluable insights about how to get your foot in the door.