Conference WhatsApp Sessions

• Please note that the capacity of the WhatsApp groups is limited, therefore attendance is on a first-come first-served basis.

1:30-2:30 PM GMT

Opening Session

Harry Kuchah Kuchah, Lecturer at Leeds University & Africa ELTA Advisor

Session Title: Fostering oral communication skills in the English language classroom

Traditional forms of English language assessment have mainly focused on written tests. As a result, while students might perform well in examinations, they find it difficult to express themselves fluently and confidently in communicative situations. In this session, I discuss and illustrate different ways in which we might engage our students in oral communication in the classroom.

3:00- 4:00 PM GMT

Elie Satingo Migan, EFL Teacher, Benin

Session Title: Ensuring effective communities of practice via social media

This session offers guidelines for teachers and teacher associations to successfully manage WhatsApp groups so as to build a strong community of practice in our African context.

4:00- 5:00 PM GMT

Fatoumata Dembélé, EFL Teacher and MATE President, Mali

Session Title: How can pedagogical committees help learners to improve?

The session is about the importance of English pedagogical committees in our schools. We will discuss about their mission and the activities teachers can do in the committees. We will discuss about the importance of the pedagogical committees for teachers and for learners. At the end, I will invite teachers to join the committees in their schools.

4:00- 5:00 PM GMT

Patrice Kane, Pedagogical advisor, Mali

Session Title: Global issues in secondary schools in Mali

This presentation shows how I teach English in my classroom through global issues, that is bringing real world into classroom. The topics I focus on are terrorism as this has been affecting Mali since 2012, protecting forest which is environmental issue and the gender equity.

5:00- 6:00 PM GMT

African Music Corner

Grab your favorite drink and join this corner to enjoy sharing and listening to African music!

8:00- 9:00 PM GMT

Game Contest by Jacques-Olivier, Benin

11:30-12:30 PM GMT

Linda Ruas, ESOL teacher / teacher trainer, IATEFL Global Issues SIG

Session Title: Creating change through teaching English: global issues in Africa

How can we help improve the world around us through teaching English? Teenage pregnancies, drugs, sexual harassment, malaria, climate change: how can we bring these into English classes or TA work? We’ll look at how many African teachers have worked on these topics and more, and hopefully get inspiration ourselves.

2:00-3:00 PM GMT

Pansau Tamba , EFL teacher, Guinea-Bissau

Session Title: Multilingualism and school education in Guinea-Bissau

Guinean society is made up of diverse groups of peoples. There are more than 30 ethnic groups in the country, where each one is identified by their language and customs. In a society like this, a monolingual school education (only Portuguese language) will always be a major obstacle in school education. Therefore, the objective of this session is to debate multilingualism in Bissau-Guinean education.

2:00- 3:00 PM GMT

Africa ELTA Affiliates Forum (Mali & Ghana)

Fatoumata Dembélé, EFL Teacher and MATE President, Mali

&

Isaiah Adzigodie, GATE President, Ghana

3:00- 4:00 PM GMT

Networking Session

This is a cultural exchange session where participants will be encouraged to share photos and information about their country/ culture.

5:00- 6:00 PM GMT

Khassoum Diop, EFL teacher, Senegal

Session Title: Building a successful community of practice using WhatsApp

This presentation first engages participants in an interactive discussion through questions and answers about the ways teachers are currently using WhatsApp. Then they will share their experiences based on their contexts. Finally, we will provide some tips and tricks to improve the participants’ usage of this social media in their quest for personal and professional growth.

7:00- 7:45 PM GMT

Game Contest by Jacques-Olivier, Benin