Jon Hird is a teacher, teacher trainer and ELT materials writer based in Oxford, UK. He teaches grammar, professional and diplomatic English and EAP at the University of Oxford and frequently gives talks and workshops in the UK and overseas. He has written and contributed to a number of ELT publications for a range of ELT publishers, including grammar, course book and other resource material.

Keynote:  What’s It Mean, It’s Different Spoken Grammar?

The grammar of spoken English is in a number of ways different from the ‘tidy’ grammar that learners are generally taught. Through the analysis of an authentic dialogue, we will take an overview of some key features of spoken grammar and explore how we can, should we wish to, introduce this into our teaching to help our learners better understand and use it.

Workshop:  Bringing Spoken Grammar into the Classroom

This practical session follows on from the Keynote and looks at some further aspects of spoken grammar. As a starting point, we will listen to and analyse an authentic dialogue and then consider some of its spoken grammar features in more detail and explore how we can incorporate these into our teaching.

Liam has been involved in the ELT landscape since 2014, teaching everyone from curious young learners to ambitious university students. Holding a CELTA, PGCE in Language and Literacy, and an MA in Educational Technology, he’s on a mission to transform teacher training with fresh ideas and practical solutions that make a real difference in the classroom. As the ELT Manager for the UK and Ireland at Express Publishing, Liam brings energy, expertise, and a passion for raising teaching standards.

Taming Technostress: Thriving in the Digital ELT Classroom

Feeling overwhelmed by A!, the endless stream of apps, tools, and tech demands? Together, we will explore the causes of ‘technostress’ and offer practical strategies to manage it effectively. Learn how to choose effective digital content, identify your causes of stress, and foster wellbeing for you and your learners. Walk away with actionable tips and a personal plan to thrive in today’s tech-driven ELT landscape.

Andrej graduated from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Bratislava and the Institute of Management in London. In addition to teaching English supported by CAELT teacher certification, University of British Columbia, Canada, he also works for the international law firm Squire Patton Boggs and as a court translator registered in the list of experts, interpreters, and translators of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. Andrej is professional in his demeanour, appearance, as well as his performance. At the Bridge he teaches courses focusing on legal English, such as courses on Policies and Directives, Anti-Money Laundering, Company law, Arbitration, and Slovak laws in English. He regularly participates in professional conferences organized by AmCham and the Slovak Bar Association. In his free time, he enjoys exercising, reading professional literature, and further education.

From Novice to Niche: Harnessing English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the Classroom

Join me for this 60-minute workshop, where we’ll explore the transformative power of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching. Drawing from my personal experiences, I’ll share my journey of becoming an ESP teacher of Legal English. We’ll examine various ESP fields available to you today and consider your potential future in ESP. Together, we’ll delve into the concept of ESP and discuss what it takes to transform your career into that of a full-fledged ESP professional. While we may not have all the time in the world to become ESP experts, we must act like one. Together, we will discover how.

Kamila studied both English and German, has been a teacher for almost 20 years and is also a certified yoga instructor and ayurveda lifestyle trainer. Her biggest interest is what she calls the poetry of life. She writes poems, takes pictures, wanders around the town, travels and is excited about opera, visits galleries, museums or concerts. She forgets the time reading books and drinking coffee on her balcony or in her favourite cafés and takes care of her herbs. She feels the best when life just spontaneously flows. She is the person with a map in her hands, rather than following the satnav. Thanks to her extrovert personality, she connects with people easily and enjoys inter-cultural exchange. With big joy she teaches courses of creative writing and since last year, she has been in charge of marketing and social media at The Bridge as well as Kogneo.

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.

Barbara K. Horváth is an EFL teacher with more than 20 years experience. She received her BA degree as a teacher of English Language and Literature and a Communication Specialist. She got a postgraduate degree in Assessment of Reading Comprehension at the University of Szeged and then completed her MA at the University of Pannonia. Having finished her PhD studies in the English Language Pedagogy Program at Eötvös Loránd University, she is now a part-time lecturer at the Department of English Language Pedagogy there. Her research interest focuses on cultural and multicultural issues, such as diversity, segregation, integration, inclusion, and experiential pedagogy in ELT. She is an alumna of the International Visitor Leadership Program of the US Embassy and the grant coordinator of TESOL-Hungary.

Exploring The Pedagogical Benefits of Scavenger Hunts in ELT

Join me for an engaging session that delves into the innovative use of scavenger hunts in English language teaching. This dynamic approach not only makes learning more interactive and enjoyable but also fosters language acquisition through real-world context and collaboration. Discover how scavenger hunts can enhance vocabulary, improve communication skills, and motivate students of all ages. This workshop will cover practical strategies for designing effective scavenger hunts online and offline, aligning them with curriculum goals, and assessing their impact on student learning. Whether you are a seasoned educator or new to the field, this workshop will provide valuable insights and ready-to-use tools to transform your language classroom.

Andrea is currently the Learning and Development Manager at The Bridge. She holds a Trinity TESOL Diploma and is an accredited EMCC coaching practitioner. With a wealth of experience in English language education and teacher support, she has been working as a teacher trainer and a mentor for over 15 years. She has also presented at several conferences in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal, and more. Her work focuses on empowering teachers to excel in their roles and create impactful learning experiences. Andrea firmly believes that teachers have the power to make a meaningful impact on their students’ lives and that they can have a positive influence on students that resonates beyond the classroom.

School-Based Mentoring

In this workshop, we’ll explore the dual benefits of school-based mentoring as a tool for both teacher development and student achievement. We’ll discuss how mentoring programmes can enhance teachers’ professional growth, provide support for novice teachers, and ultimately improve student learning outcomes. Participants will learn about the structure and impact of our own mentoring programme, gaining insights into the benefits it brings to both teachers and students. Our approach is grounded in EMCC mentoring principles, combining expert guidance with effective coaching tools.
Additionally, we’ll engage in hands-on practice with practical coaching tools designed to help mentors and their mentees.

Jon Hird is a teacher, teacher trainer and ELT materials writer based in Oxford, UK. He teaches grammar, professional and diplomatic English and EAP at the University of Oxford and frequently gives talks and workshops in the UK and overseas. He has written and contributed to a number of ELT publications for a range of ELT publishers, including grammar, course book and other resource material.

Keynote:  What’s It Mean, It’s Different Spoken Grammar?

The grammar of spoken English is in a number of ways different from the ‘tidy’ grammar that learners are generally taught. Through the analysis of an authentic dialogue, we will take an overview of some key features of spoken grammar and explore how we can, should we wish to, introduce this into our teaching to help our learners better understand and use it.

Workshop:  Bringing Spoken Grammar into the Classroom

This practical session follows on from the Keynote and looks at some further aspects of spoken grammar. As a starting point, we will listen to and analyse an authentic dialogue and then consider some of its spoken grammar features in more detail and explore how we can incorporate these into our teaching.

Barbora is a project manager covering Erasmus programme of international projects, inhouse projects in teacher training and CSR activities at The Bridge English Language Centre. 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.

Ondrej has been teaching all levels of adult learners since 2011 for university and private language education. During his time at university and through his CPD he went through an Erasmus Internship in London, scholarship in Rzeszow University and a course in Schio, Italy among others. He’s been involved in the HLT.digital project almost since its beginning, as it connects the ideas of his home Bridge school and the older humanistic ideas and people close to his heart.

Erasmus+ programme in our school

In this session, we will introduce the Erasmus+ programme and share the activities we carried out in 2024. We’ll discuss the outcomes of these projects and reflect on how they supported the professional and personal development of our teams. You’ll learn how participating in Erasmus+ helped us strengthen our expertise, improve teamwork, and grow as individuals. This session is aimed at offering insights and inspiration for language teachers interested in similar opportunities.

Sam is a passionate educator and Career/Business Coach with a diverse background. She holds a degree in Business Administration from India and certifications in TEFL, TESOL, TEYL, and CELTA. Since joining The Bridge in 2019, Sam has been committed to helping students of all ages and backgrounds reach their full potential. She views teaching as a privilege that allows her to continuously learn and grow alongside her students. Known for her warm, welcoming nature and excellent communication skills, Sam creates an engaging and supportive environment where students feel confident to explore and develop their abilities. In addition to her work as a teacher, Sam is also a Career/Business Coach, helping clients navigate career transitions, enhance leadership skills, and achieve professional growth. She believes in empowering individuals to recognize their strengths and take meaningful steps toward their goals. Sam’s coaching philosophy focuses on helping clients build confidence, improve their mindset, and unlock new opportunities.

Enhancing Learner Proficiency

This is designed for educational managers, teacher trainers, and ESL instructors who want to use coaching tools to enhance student motivation, engagement, and performance in the classroom. Participants will learn about the 4Fs Reflection structure, which helps students reflect on their progress and improve their approaches, and the Stepping Stones structure, which helps students set realistic, achievable goals. These resources offer a methodical but adaptable way to encourage student independence and responsibility. This session will show how coaching tools may be easily included into language training to help students become self-directed learners through interesting discussions and real-world situations. Participants will leave the event with useful knowledge and resources to establish a classroom culture that values introspection and goal setting so that students are able to take charge of their education.

Alan Pulverness is a Director of TransformELT and a Senior Consultant for NILE. Alan has worked as a teacher and trainer in Algeria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the UK. He has been a consultant for the British Council on curriculum renewal, syllabus design, materials development and reader development projects in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Russia and the UK. He is co-author of a number of coursebooks, including the award-winning Macmillan Short Course Programme and The TKT Course (CUP). His specialist interests are drama and literature in ELT, and intercultural awareness. From 2000 to 2004 he edited IATEFL Conference Selections and from 2002 to 2006 he co-chaired the British Council Oxford Conference on the Teaching of Literature.

Walking the Talk: Putting HLT Digital into Practice

HLT Digital (2022-2024) is the output of a transnational Erasmus Plus project, led by The Bridge School and dedicated to preserving and disseminating the history of Humanistic Language Teaching (HLT). The materials, compiled and edited by the project team, comprise an online repository – https://hlt.digital – of profiles and contemporary interviews with practitioners, and archival material from Mario Rinvolucri, together forming a rich resource for researchers investigating the impact and abiding influence of HLT. However, this workshop is designed to explore the practical application to classroom teaching of some of the principles discussed in HLT Digital. We will consider its potential to inform our ways of doing as well as our ways of being as teachers.

Emma is a friend we all wish we had. Chill, empathetic and deeply invested in others, with a brilliant sense of humour. She has a master’s degree in literature from Queen Mary’s College, University of London, and a CELTA diploma from the International House London. As one of the first to complete The Bridge’s EMCC accredited Coaching Practitioner course, she’s been mentoring and coaching students and colleagues, in addition to teaching, for the last 2 years. Furthermore, she has presented at several conferences in Slovakia, as well as at IATEFL Hungary and Slovenia. What she values the most about teaching is “getting to know many inspiring students and helping them get better at English”. She is talkative and enjoys meeting new people. At the same time, she is also very structured and goal-oriented. Her students like her for her sense of humour and friendly nature. Emma comes from the southwest of England. She enjoys reading and travelling, while cooking and trying new recipes are her passions.

Let’s Get Reading

When was the last time your students picked up a book simply for the enjoyment of reading and not because they had to answer questions about the material? Why and how does extensive/extended reading impact students’ knowledge of English and other language related skills? What are other benefits of extended reading? And what about resources? This workshop aims to address all of these points as well as ideas for fun and creative activities for learners to engage with their reading material without it being assessment based.

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 textbook for teenagers “Zoom In”. He was co-ordinator of the IATEFL Hungary Culture and Literature SIG 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 as a teacher trainer.

Student = a human being

If you treat your students as people first, learners second and learners of English third then maybe something might get learnt. If you make it your primary goal to establish good rapport with a new group, then the teaching will both feel and be so much easier. You don’t have to be an actor or an entertainer to be a good teacher, in fact you can be a good teacher if you are a fairly quiet reserved person. Crucial though is that students know and feel that you care for them both as people and as learners and as learners of English. In this workshop we will explore practical ways in which teachers can be the kind of teacher that students with different personalities can feel comfortable with. We will also look at what it means to treat students as if they are serious about learning even though they might not seem to be and how giving students a say in decision making can also be a key part of student interest and participation in class.

David is the founder and director of The Bear Educational Theatre in Prague, the longest-running English theatre in the region. He has worked as an English teacher and teacher-trainer. He is also a professional actor with over fifty professional theatre and film credits. David specializes in taking practices from the world of entertainment and applying them to classroom teaching. He believes that teaching is more effective if it is entertaining.

Emotions in the classroom

This workshop introduces activities which work with emotions. Engaging emotions usually makes students especially excited and engaged in what they are doing. It also has the welcome side-effect of making lessons more memorable. There are powerful reasons for engaging student’s emotions in the classroom, this workshop will show you some practical ways of going about it.

Klaudia Bednárová graduated from the Faculty of Arts in Nitra with a major in English Language and Literature and Pedagogy. In 2009, she founded The Bridge English Language Centre, which went on to become a founding member of the Slovak Association of Language Schools in 2010 and achieved international accreditation as an EAQUALS language school in 2020. Klaudia is actively engaged in adult education and teacher development. She serves as a member of the presidency of AIVD, played a key role in establishing the Slovak Chamber of English Teachers, and is dedicated to advancing teacher education. In 2020, she founded KOGNEO, a civic association focused on adult education. Her contributions have been recognized with the TREND Businesswoman of the Year Award in 2022, and in 2023, The Bridge Language School was honoured with the “Best Educational Programme of the Year” award.

Developing Cognitive Skills in English Classes
This workshop focuses on linking knowledge of brain function and cognitive skills in the process of learning a foreign language. We will talk about techniques that help develop memory and concentration. We will talk and discuss the impact of stress on learning, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and the importance of students’ emotional well-being. The goal of the workshop is to provide teachers with both information and practical tools to make their lessons effective, fun, and tailored to the needs of their students.