I speak on a range of ELT (English Language Teaching) topics at conferences and webinars several times a year. I have spoken at local conferences in Italy and Spain. I have also given talks at international events, such as IATEFL in the UK, IP Exhibition in Greece, and British Council TeachingEnglish webinars.
In 2022 and 2024, I was sponsored by International House World Organisation through their Speak for IH grant award.
I always aim to strike a balance between theory and practice in my talks so that teachers can leave with practical ideas that they can readily apply in their English lessons.
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April 2025
Reflections on incorporating educational technology in language classrooms
IATEFL Conference (in-person)
IATEFL | Edinburgh, UK
In
this talk, I reflected on my experiences of using digital games,
artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, and virtual reality (VR). The overarching theme of my discussion was the value of educational technology for language learning. When evaluating the three types of technology, I suggested three broad
principles which teachers can use to decide whether they should
incorporate technology in their English lessons: learner motivation and engagement, practicality, and evidence of learning.
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March 2025
Practical classroom ideas for developing learners' exam strategies
Macmillan Education Live 2025 webinar (online)
Macmillan Education Italy - Mondadori Education
In
this webinar, I shared some tested and tried but less frequently discussed teaching different exam tasks. The audience and I explored strategies and techniques for multiple-choice listening questions and matching paragraph headings in reading, as well as giving feedback on writing and targeted preparation of speaking tasks. These cover the four language skills assessed in language proficiency exams.
The webinar recording is available here or on YouTube.
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January 2025
Integrating Social-Emotional Learning into language teaching and learning
IATEFL Monthly Webinar (online)
IATEFL
In
this webinar, I reflected on my teaching experience and suggested how
teachers can integrate Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) into their
current teaching practice. For each of the five SEL competencies, or
learning objectives, I illustrated how they can be developed among
language learners with examples of lesson activities and teaching
techniques. I also mentioned an end-of-week lesson project that simultaneously targets multiple SEL competencies. I argued that SEL, as a method, should not require any
fundamental changes to teachers' classroom practice.
The recording of my webinar is available here.
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December 2024
Bringing intercultural awareness into the classroom
TESOL Italy 49th Convention (in-person)
TESOL Italy | Rome, Italy
Thank you to
International House World Organisation for sponsoring my talk through their
Speak for IH grant award.
You can read my post-talk summary here: IH World News and Blog.
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October 2024
Reflections on educational technology in language classrooms
Annual ELT Conference (in-person)
International House Milan and San Donato | Milan, Italy
In
this talk, I reflected on my experiences of using digital games,
artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, and virtual reality (VR). The
overarching theme of my discussion was the value of educational
technology for language learning. When evaluating the three types of
technology, I suggested three broad
principles which teachers can use to decide whether they should
incorporate technology in their English lessons: learner motivation and
engagement, practicality, and evidence of learning.
Bringing intercultural awareness into the classroom
TeachingEnglish: World Teachers' Day 2024 (online)
British Council
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September 2024
Integrating Social-Emotional Learning into language classrooms
Developing speaking skills for exams through listening
International Publishers Exhibitions (in-person)
Athens, Greece
sponsored by Andrew Betsis ELT and Macmillan Education
In
the first talk, I reflected on my teaching experience and suggested how teachers can integrate Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) into their current teaching practice. For each of the five SEL competencies, or learning objectives, I illustrated how they can be developed among language learners with examples of lesson activities and teaching techniques. I argued that SEL, as a method, should not require any fundamental changes to teachers' classroom practice.
In the second talk, I focused on three common types of speaking exam tasks: discussion, long turn, and question and answer. I illustrated how teachers can use listening activities to develop learners' speaking skills. I also addressed the notion of intelligible pronunciation by exploring the implications of Received Pronunciation (RP) and Jennifer Jenkins' Lingua Franca Core (LFC) for learners in exam preparation classes.
(Credit: Andreas Betsis)
May 2024
Language practice without textbooks?
TeachingEnglish webinar series: panel discussion (online)
British Council
If I don't use a textbook, what can I use?
In
this panel discussion as part of the Managing Resources mini-event, Alegra Nikolova-Ristovska, Nnenne Ben-Ekechukwu and I gave short webinar talks before we answered the audience's questions. I shared one of my materials-free teaching ideas, which is an interactive sentence construction task for practising grammar. Subsequently, I demonstrated how this activity can be used under three different lesson frameworks.
Thank you to Melissa Thomson, British Council trainer, for mentoring me and other webinar speakers in this panel discussion.
You can find the information about this mini-event and its recording
here.
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April 2024
Bringing intercultural awareness into the classroom
IATEFL Conference (in-person)
IATEFL | Brighton, UK
In
this talk, I identified different levels of intercultural awareness
from basic knowledge to real-world communication. The audience and I
then explored five classroom activities that teachers can adapt,
depending on the context of learning and teaching. To this end, I
propose that implicit teaching is one of the most efficient ways of
raising intercultural awareness.
Thank you to International House World Organisation for sponsoring my talk through their Speak for IH grant award.
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October 2023
Inquiry-based Learning: Curiosity 'didn't kill' the cat
Annual ELT Conference (in-person)
International House Milan and San Donato | Milan, Italy
In this talk, I reflected on one of my lessons with a class of 22 older teenagers during their week-long English immersion course. Moving from practice to theory, I retraced the stages of a mini-project to demonstrate an example of IBL lessons. The audience and I also explored the following aspects of planning and teaching IBL lessons: learning materials, classroom roles and assessment of learners.
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October 2022
Bringing intercultural awareness into the classroom
Annual ELT Conference (in-person)
International House Milan and San Donato | Milan, Italy
In
this talk, I identified different levels of intercultural awareness from basic knowledge to real-world communication. The audience and I then explored five classroom activities that teachers can adapt, depending on the context of learning and teaching. To this end, I propose that implicit teaching is one of the most efficient ways of raising intercultural awareness.
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October 2022
Reflections on synchronous and asynchronous learning
InnovateELT Conference (in-person)
Oxford TEFL | Barcelona, Spain
In
this talk, I reflected on my personal observations of planning and teaching against the backdrop of synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities. In order to maximise language learning in the classroom, the audience and I explored five self-defined principles and their implications for lesson planning and choice of activities.
Thank you to International House World Organisation for sponsoring my talk through their Speak for IH grant award.
(Credit: Jessica MacKay)
You can read my post-talk summary here:
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October 2021
Reflections on synchronous and asynchronous learning
Annual ELT Conference (online)
International House Milan and San Donato, Italy
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October 2020
Five materials-light language practice for online classroom
Annual ELT Conference (online)
International House Milan and San Donato, Italy
In this talk, the audience and I explored five ideas for language practice that adhere to the principle of materials-light teaching. We explored how these classroom ideas can be transferred to the online context.
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