2014/11/28

Title: Where do new ideas come from?

Speaker: Alan Maley

Maley suggested five possible sources for new ideas. The first was Teacher Interaction such as teacher training, conferences, staffroom conversation and informal teacher circles. Including teachers from other disciplines is necessary to break down the walls that both protect and sequester. The second is Heuristics - basically simple ‘rules of thumb’, which, when applied inevitably change teaching interactions. Many new insights can be gained by trying new things and breaking from your normal teaching styles and methods. The third was Re-explorations of Traditional Techniques: wherein Maley introduced "old-fashioned" language teaching techniques which have been renovated; dictation, homework, vocabulary, reading and grammar. He also suggested some others ripe for re-development, such as repetition, questions, dialogues, drills and translation. In his fourth source, Borrowing from Feeder Fields he suggested the potential benefits to be had from considering areas outside education such as Neuroscience, the psychology of Consciousness, and Creativity theory itself. Maley's last, and most obvious source for new ideas was Information Technology and social networking services. In less than two hours, Maley gave attendees a hundred new roads to walk down to find new ideas. Most may lead to dead ends, but it is the search which is most important for the motivational and developmental progress of teachers and trainers.

With over 50 years experience in ELT, Alan Maley has published more than 40 books. He was the series editor for the classic OUP Resource Books for Teachers series and has written many best-selling graded readers. Alan is a leader in creative writing in ELT and extensive reading.

Location:

Maebashi Plaza Genki 21, 52会議室

Hon-machi 2-12-1

Maebashi, Gunma 371-0023

Time:

Friday, November 28, 2014

6:00PM to 7:30PM

Attendance:

Members, students and first time attendees: FREE

One-day Members: ¥1,000