Gary Barkhuizen (pronounced Bark-hazen) is a Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of language teacher education, teacher and learner identity, study abroad and narrative inquiry. His most recent books include Language Teacher Educator Identity (2021, Cambridge) and Language Teachers Studying Abroad (2022, Multilngual Matters).

Theme of the presentation: Teachers studying abroad online: Disruptions, benefits and emotions 

George Randolph Rueckert is an Assistant Professor for English and Translation at KIMEP College of Humanities and Education. Dr. George Rueckert grew up in the US Foreign Service, in Washington DC and on both sides of the Cold War Iron Curtain. He earned his BA and MA degrees in English and his PhD in Comparative Literature, specializing in Russian and German. He worked for the European Union Center at the University of Washington in Seattle USA and later taught English at the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany. In 2011, he came to KIMEP University in Almaty, where he founded the Bachelor in Translation Studies (BATS) program in what is now the College of Humanities and Education. 

With nearly 20 years of TESOL experience, Dr. Rueckert teaches all levels of English, German, and translation, as well as literature and cultural studies. His scholarly interests include translation history and theory, verse translation and poetics, and 19th and 20th century literature and culture, particularly the Russian Romantic and Symbolist Periods and the Cold War Period. He is a working practical translator, married, with two young children.

Theme of the presentation: Teaching Translation Online

Richard Harrison is an author, publisher and teacher-trainer based in the Uk and also Oman. He studied at King’s College (University of London), Manchester University and Reading University where he obtained his MA in Applied Linguistics. Since then has taught at universities throughout the Middle East region for more than 25 years. He also lived in Moscow for three years working for the British Council as the ESP consultant for the Russian Federation. Richard is the founder of Canford Publishing which is based in London and Muscat. His main academic interests are the teaching of writing, English for Academic Purposes, language change and also critical thinking. Richard has more than 30 ELT publications to his name including: Framework: Academic Writing and Critical Thinking (Canford Publishing). He is also a co-author of the popular OUP series Headway Academic Skills.

Theme of the presentation: Teaching academic writing though critical thinking

Kara Fleming is Associate Professor and Research Director at KIMEP University in Almaty. She is a sociolinguist whose work focuses on the connections between language ideology and social structures, particularly categories of nation and ethnicity. Her coauthored book with Umberto Ansaldo, Revivals, nationalism, and linguistic discrimination: Threatening languages, was published in 2020 by Routledge, and her work has also recently appeared in Applied Linguistics Review and edited volumes from Routledge, Springer, and Multilingual Matters.

Theme of the presentation: Language learning and ideology: How do speaker beliefs affect the learning process? 

Yuliana Ramanenka is an experienced English teacher with a passion for language education. She obtained her Bachelor's degree from Minsk State Linguistic University in 2014 and has been actively teaching English since 2013, accumulating over 12,000 classroom hours.

In 2016, Yuliana achieved the prestigious CELTA certification from Cambridge English Language Assessment, attaining a Level 5 Certificate in English Language Teaching to Speakers of Other Languages. Building upon her expertise, she became a Teacher Trainer in 2017, dedicating over 500 hours to training, observation, and providing valuable feedback to fellow educators.

In 2019, Yuliana further enhanced her teaching qualifications by completing the DELTA Module 2 program from Cambridge Assessment English, earning a Level 7 Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Her commitment to professional growth is evident through additional certifications such as the International House Certificate in Teaching Young Learners and Teenagers (2017), International House Certificate in Advanced Methodology (2018), International House Teacher Trainer Certificate (2020), and International House Young Learner Centre Management (2023).

Yuliana's teaching experience extends beyond English as she also taught Russian as a Foreign Language at Belarusian State Medical University from 2014 to 2016, accumulating over 1,200 contact hours. During this time, she worked with students from diverse backgrounds including Iran, Syria, Nigeria, Lebanon, China, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Israel, and Korea.

Theme of the presentation: Platform, application and course design for teaching foreign languages