BIO

Judit Fehér is a freelance teacher, teacher trainer and materials writer. She has extensive teaching experience ranging from pre-school to post-graduate including many specialist areas such as business, medicine and the arts.

As a teacher trainer, Judit has worked for Pilgrims, British Study Centres and Konzervum, running courses mainly in the UK and Hungary, and also giving talks and workshops at international conferences and events. Her main interests are CLIL, PBL, materials writing, creativity and the arts.

Most of the teaching materials Judit has written target secondary students. These are textbooks, workbooks, resource books and online materials. Her other publications include Creative Resources with Bonnie Tsai (IAL, Atlanta), a chapter in Creativity in the English language classroom (British Council) and some articles on the British Council Learn English website as well as in professional magazines, such as the English Teaching Professional, Modern English Teacher, Humanising Language Teaching and The Teacher Trainer.

Workshop: The benefits of not knowing II.

This workshop continues to explore the benefits of not knowing we started in the morning workshop. The two workshops are related to, but independent of each other, so you can join the second part without having participated in the first part.

Part two will largely be about problem solving and creativity, so the focus will shift to the scientific, the artistic and the literary within the context of education.

Should you ask me if you will be able to take any activity from the workshop straight to your classroom next Monday … well, will you?

BIO

Judit Fehér is a freelance teacher, teacher trainer and materials writer. She has extensive teaching experience ranging from pre-school to post-graduate including many specialist areas such as business, medicine and the arts.

As a teacher trainer, Judit has worked for Pilgrims, British Study Centres and Konzervum, running courses mainly in the UK and Hungary, and also giving talks and workshops at international conferences and events. Her main interests are CLIL, PBL, materials writing, creativity and the arts.

Most of the teaching materials Judit has written target secondary students. These are textbooks, workbooks, resource books and online materials. Her other publications include Creative Resources with Bonnie Tsai (IAL, Atlanta), a chapter in Creativity in the English language classroom (British Council) and some articles on the British Council Learn English website as well as in professional magazines, such as the English Teaching Professional, Modern English Teacher, Humanising Language Teaching and The Teacher Trainer.

Workshop: Benefits of now knowing I.

We live in a culture where people often feel they can’t say they don’t know something. Schools as well typically focus on passing on what we know and are certain about to the next generation. While this is an important mission, on its own it does not foster the development of an inquisitive mind that continuously wants to find out more and find out what is true; or a creative mind that decisively needs to leave behind what is already known and what is certain to come up with something new. We need to venture into the unknown and tolerate uncertainty for that.

In these two related, yet self-contained workshops, we will explore this complex topic from a personal, an educational, a social, a linguistic, a scientific, an artistic and a literary angle through quotations, reflections, discussions and lots of activities.

Part one will mainly focus on the personal, the educational, the social and the linguistic aspects of the topic. You do not need to take part in both workshops as they are related to, but independent of each other.

Should you ask me if you will be able to take any activity from the workshop straight to your classroom next Monday … well, I don’t know.

BIO

Michaela Hroteková is passionate about foreign languages. She graduated with a degree in English Language and Culture for Specialized Communication from University of Trnava and then went to El Salvador, Latin America, where she taught English for almost six years.

After returning to Slovakia, she taught English and Spanish in various language schools and privately. She teaches general and specialized English and Spanish to various age groups, including children. She is currently a third year PhD student in linguistics at Comenius University in Bratislava.

Workshop: Social media slang in education

Simp, sus, TL;DR, adulting, and similar expressions, do they belong in English classes? Should we include slang and recently emerged words in our lesson plans? This session will look at how to work with contemporary Internet slang and trending social media expressions in (English) lessons as well as how to keep your vocabulary fresh and connect with your students.

BIO

Andrea Zahumenska is currently the Director of Studies at the Bridge English Language Centre in Bratislava, Slovakia.  She has presented at a number of ELT conferences and delivered a range of external training sessions to English teachers.

Andrea holds a Trinity TESOL Diploma and has recently gained EMCC coaching accreditation. She believes that teachers can and do make a real difference to students‘ lives and that they can have a positive influence on students that resonates beyond the classroom.

She also believes that teaching is a dynamic and evolving profession and that the best teachers believe in lifelong learning and continually strive for personal development.

Workshop: Teaching vs coaching

We interact with teachers, mentors, and coaches throughout our lives, and these are the people who play the greatest roles in shaping who we are. But what is the difference between teaching, coaching, and mentoring? How can we become teachers, coaches and mentors?

In this session not only will we look for answers to these questions but you’ll also get tips to give your teaching a coaching twist.

BIO

Luis is a passionate teacher putting all his heart and soul into it, able to tune in his students to a positive vibe even after a tough day. He has a degree in theatre studies and art, and a CELTA diploma.

He has worked as an English teacher in Brazil and Slovakia, teaching adults, teenagers, and children. Luis comes from Brazil and has Polish-Ukrainian-Portuguese-Spanish-Indian-African roots.

What he values the most about teaching is “being able to share my knowledge with my students, that is what fulfils me. Building relationships, teaching, constantly learning and growing, sharing the joy and the good with the world”.

Workshop: Voice care – how to keep your main instrument healthy

Do you take care of your voice? Do you know how to? If the answer is no, join us and learn some tricks and techniques actor and singers usually do to use this extremely important tool in a healthy way. Learn how to add more quality to your voice! If the answer is yes, join us and share your tips with the group. Sharing is caring!

BIO

Mark Andrews worked as a teacher trainer at Eötvös Loránd University Budapest Hungary for 15 years in the Department of English Applied Linguistics, before that he taught in the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.

He has been living and working in Central/Eastern Europe for 40 years now, 12 of which were as an ELT methodology teacher and advisor with the British Council. For six years he was involved in a language and culture project with Secondary School teachers in Hungary which resulted in a text book for teenagers “Zoom In”.

He was co-ordinator of the IATEFL Hungary Culture and Literature Special Interest Group for 5 years and is a big supporter of teacher associations in the Central and Eastern European region. He worked for SOL (Sharing One Language) for 10 years both in Devon and in this region as a teacher trainer, teacher on student courses and course and materials developer.

He now works freelance and in the last year has been teaching week long courses for teenagers in Austrian schools for “English in Action”. He enjoys coming to Slovakia a lot and co-ran four summer camps in Čadca, Stará Turá and Šamorin on a boat on the Danube

BIO

Mark Andrews worked as a teacher trainer at Eötvös Loránd University Budapest Hungary for 15 years in the Department of English Applied Linguistics, before that he taught in the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.

He has been living and working in Central/Eastern Europe for 40 years now, 12 of which were as an ELT methodology teacher and advisor with the British Council. For six years he was involved in a language and culture project with Secondary School teachers in Hungary which resulted in a text book for teenagers “Zoom In”.

He was co-ordinator of the IATEFL Hungary Culture and Literature Special Interest Group for 5 years and is a big supporter of teacher associations in the Central and Eastern European region. He worked for SOL (Sharing One Language) for 10 years both in Devon and in this region as a teacher trainer, teacher on student courses and course and materials developer.

He now works freelance and in the last year has been teaching week long courses for teenagers in Austrian schools for “English in Action”. He enjoys coming to Slovakia a lot and co-ran four summer camps in Čadca, Stará Turá and Šamorin on a boat on the Danube.

BIO

Kamila Jančíková studied both English and German and has been a language teacher since then. She loves her job and enjoys interacting with people. She is a very communicative person who is curious about people´s stories. Kamila is punctual and organized but also flexible.

She is a passionate yogini (and a certified yoga instructor), a certified ayurveda lifestyle coach, and her biggest interest is what she calls the poetry of life. She writes and photographs her poetry, loves fresh and empty morning slopes, cycles around Bratislava, and lets her heart melt in theatres, concerts and galleries. Furthermore, she is a bookworm too. She enjoys travelling around Europe, solo or with friends, as well as taking care of her herbs and plants. One of her favourite activities is networking and inter-cultural exchange.

Worskhop: Creative writing

Creative writing is a wonderful way how to connect with your intuition and grab everything out of that fascinating thing called the brain. There are many ways how to boost your creativity and the only precondition is: your ACTIVITY. With a little help in the beginning, you will just sit down and write. Without any limits.

In the workshop, we will explain the basics, look at how we can use creative writing in our classes and the main part will include: your own WRITING.

And why should you attend? Because it´s fun and it opens new horizons. Playing with words, turning them upside down, linking your ideas with them and observing what is arising from this game.

Looking forward to seeing you… write.

BIO

Barbora Gecseová is a project manager covering Erasmus programme of international projects, inhouse projects in teacher training and CSR activities at The Bridge English Language Center. She has background in linguistic and translation studies with both professional and volunteering experience of project management in various fields supporting education and diversity. As a project manager with a passion for connecting people and cultures she merges her experience in the latest and unique project dedicated to the community of teachers using humanistic approaches in their profession – Hlt.digital.

Workshop: Hlt.digital as a path to self-development

In this session we will explore ways how an Erasmus project can become a tool for your self-development. We will share our teachers´ experience with Hlt.digital project and information how to get involved in it. Our aim is to create an open space for exchanging best practices and ideas for independent development.

Ben Gwillim served for 25 years in the British military before becoming a teacher.  Having completed his CELTA, he moved to Bratislava in 2014 and has been teaching at the Bridge English Language Centre ever since.  He completed the Teaching Advanced Learners Course at Pilgrims under the tutelage of Hanna Kryszewska in 2018 and the Lexical Teaching course at the Lexical lab in 2019 under Hugh Dellar and Andrew Walkley.  He currently teaches a range of courses both face-to-face and online and has specialised in teaching advanced students (C1 and above) over the last 5 years.  He also teaches presentations skills to corporate clients and has worked extensively with early-stage start-up companies, helping to improve their pitches and presentations.  He has also delivered workshops at conferences in central Europe focusing on the use of authentic materials and provides regular input to the school’s in-house training programme.