Feature Article Networking
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50 Years of IATEFL Birmingham, UK Amr Elzarka
I was one of those lucky people who attended the 50th IATEFL conference in Birmingham. Being part of the Golden Jubilee was definitely a unique experience as well as being part of history. Fellow TESOL Arabia attendees Sufian Abu Rmaileh, Naziha Ali, and I gathered for the first time at the associates’ meeting one day before the conference. It was nice to have their company there.
Interactive Language Fair, where the facilitator gave a brief introduction and then delegates went to different presenters’ tables for more detailed discussion about their interests, and the Tribute Session to remember colleagues who had passed away since the last conference. The ICC venue was ideal.You could find almost you needed there either inside or immediately outside its door, including a small supermarket, restaurants and coffee shops. Just stepping outside the ICC door you immediately have a Venice-like view. In fact, it was announced in the conference that Birmingham has more canals than Venice!
The first thing that impresses you at your arrival is that you just scan your tag to have your attendance certificate printed on the spot. Ushers wearing special T-shirts with the conference logo were around the whole place to guide and help the attendees. They were also equipped with walkie-talkies for effective communication. There was a multi-counter registration desk with IATEFL staff facilitating issues and prompting the event. I really admired two services there: the cloakroom, where you can leave your items for only £1 per piece, and the medical service, which can get you a doctor if necessary.
Having a tour round the exhibition area, one could discover that many exhibitors are regular guests at the TESOL Arabia International Conference and Exhibition.Yet a few of them had never visited our conference before. I invited some of them to attempt to participate in TACON next year, and they were curious about it. I had some successful negotiations with big speakers such as David Crystal, Scott Thornbury and Ken Wilson, hoping to persuade some of them to come to Dubai. They expressed their keen wish to do so, and I referred their cases to the conference committee to decide. Finally, it is always a good opportunity to visit other countries and see how other people in sister organization do things from a different perspective.
The first day was overwhelming, and the audience numbered about 3000 attendees. The first plenary speaker was David Crystal, whose talk about language change over the years and its sociolinguistic connotation was impressive. He had a big round of applause and a long queue of fans for photographs. There were also popular speeches by other renowned speakers such as Silvana Richardson, Scott Thornbury, Jan Blake and Diane Larsen-Freeman. Some other distinguished speeches and presentations included Ken Wilson’s “How To Help Students Who Find English Scary” and Daniel Xerri’s “Promoting Creativity through Teacher Education and Development,” to mention only a couple of examples. The International Convention Centre (ICC) was like a hive busy with a variety of activities for five days. Two of the activities I favoured were the
TESOL Arabia representatives arrived in Birmingham in good spirits. Volume 24
No. 2
June 2016
Amr enjoyed being part of the huge crowd at the conference.
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org