Memories from IATEFL: Cardiff in Spring and My Drama Ideas

Elena Kashina, Russia

Elena Kashina is professor of English from the Samara State University, Russia. Recently a regular contributor to HLT. E-mail: e_kashina@mail.ru

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Just the beginning
Arrival in Cardiff
The Conference ‘First Day’
The presentation itself
Bright presentations
All that matters is love and work

Just the beginning

It was last September that I made the final decision to send the proposal form to the annual IATEFL conference. I had done it several times before (4 or 5), but every time I got a polite refusal with the words that “my summary was interesting, but too many applicants, it was very difficult to choose the best, probably, next time”… And I made a decision that if I failed , never again should I try.

It was a very difficult period in my life – at the end of September I was going to a hospital in Germany to be operated on the hip joint. And it was already when I was back to Samara and was slowly recovering after the operation, learning to walk again, that I got the letter from the organizers of the conference that my summary had been accepted. I was on cloud nine, really, on the one hand, and on the other hand, I understood that it was a challenge for me to make a presentation at such an important conference.
I had been thinking what topic to choose to make it sound really interesting. Our regional library became my second home for some time: old books and journals with yellow leaves and uncut pages. I was really surprised to find the information that is really very up-to-date now: theatre techniques, motivation, the importance of interest in everything you are engaged in.

The topic of the presentation was: “OLD RUSSIAN FOLK GAMES IN ELT CLASSROOM .” I got detailed instructions from the organizing committee how to give a presentation at an international conference. They are very up-to-date and really help to make your presentation interesting for those who have come to attend it. “The beginning is very important. Plan it last. Jokes, anecdotes, challenge, topical reference, striking visual… al least a very clear statement of why your work is significant. The end is very important, too: at least they must have a cue for applause.” I know all these things perfectly well, but for first presenters it is really of vital importance. I experienced all these at international conferences in Australia (Sydney), New Zealand, Italy. These recommendations used to be strange and unacceptable in Russia as very often they are now. “Old habits die hard”, said one of the plenary speakers at the international conference in Moscow State University at the end of the previous century and still these old habits are strong and alive – they don’t want to die and blockade creativity and novelty.

All my students and some of the colleagues helped me in any way they could: made two hundred copies of games and the story illustrating the life of Russian peasants at that time (19-th century) to be given to those who will attend the presentation, brought some souvenirs, encouraged me in any way they could.. Our local Theatre for Young Spectators gave me a beautiful national Russian costume of that period to illustrate my presentation and to inspire the listeners.

Arrival in Cardiff

Feeling happy, excited and nervous at the same time I arrived in London, took a bus and three and a half hours later I arrived in Cardiff. The hotel was rather far from the city centre (30 minutes on foot), so I quickly unpacked the suitcase and went to see where the City Hall was. That Monday evening the weather was warm and quiet. It wasn’t easy to find the way because it looked as though the whole of Cardiff was being reconstructed. Building sites, roadworks, notes forbidding to go this or that way. I was surprised to see quite a lot of tipsy people walking unsteadily along the streets. But those lonely walks in a strange city always give me a special feeling of being completely isolated from my home country, of being somewhere nobody at home could think me possible to be. I got to the City Hall at last and was surprised to see another lonely stranger and as birds of a feather we turned to each other and I asked that bearded English gentleman with white hair and pleasant manners if he knew where the City Hall was. He didn’t as he had come to the conference as well and was also looking for the City Hall. We got acquainted and he showed me a very nice pub where I could have good fish and chips. He accompanied me there and we had a quiet talk. He lived in Germany with his second wife who was German. Unfortunately I do not remember his name now, but he attended my presentation and told me later that he had really enjoyed it.

The Conference ‘First Day’

Next day at 9.30 I was at the City Hall. After the registration I attended the pre-conference event. It was “ Global Issues and Teacher Development or That wouldn’t work for me, would it? “ It was a day long workshop, we discussed a lot of techniques and practiced them at the same time. One of the tasks suggested by the leaders of the workshop was to listen to 4 sentences and try to guess which two were wrong. It was not easy because the leader tried to mislead us defending all the statements enthusiastically. We bombarded him with questions and statements trying to find out the truth. It was fun, but the teacher from Arab Emirates protested saying that in their culture the student never knows anything about the teacher and can’t ask personal questions about his or her life. It was so surprising because in our culture we are on friendly terms with students and they often visit us at home, we have tea and discuss a lot of things with them. Consequently they know a lot about us and it’s a pleasure to answer all their questions.

The presentation itself

The 1-st of April, the day of my own presentation – excitement, butterflies in the stomach and the “images” of an empty room , where I was going to speak about Old Russian folk games in teaching English. Why empty? Because of so many “ stars” attending the conference, trainers well-known all over the world, and I supposed there might be few people who would like come to listen to Elena Kashina from Samara State University, from the city situated on the left bank of the great Russian river Volga where it deviates to the East forming the Samara bend. 423 years ago a fortress was built in the place because the routs from Siberia and Asia crisscrossed here. Now it is the city with the population of more than 1 mln. people.

But before that in the morning there was plenary session with Mark Prensky. It was like the bolt from the blue! I had been thinking about what I had heard at the session for many years and had been trying to implement it into the process of teaching English at our University, but was severely criticized by the head of our chair and her like-minded colleagues. The presenter advised us to face the 21-st century. The key, says Prensky is not curriculum, testing or rather engagement. Today’s students are in need of new motivation and 21 st century skills. Let them use all the devices they have at their disposal – mobile phones, personal computers and what not. We, teachers, really lack behind sometimes and it’s not good. The students shouldn’t look back at what is behind them, though it is very familiar and convenient for teachers. They must look ahead having new technologies at their finger-tips and modern-minded teachers. What I heard and saw at the presentation was new , revolting and even revolutionary.

Then I attended the presentation made by the teacher-trainer and presenter I really appreciate, Mario Rinvolucri. We got acquainted at the conference in Sorrento. I was an unknown teacher from Russia, but had enough courage to ask somebody to introduce me to him. He “decoded” me at once, just “read” my like an open book and we became friends. That feeling of mutual understanding often helps me to overcome difficulties, live and teach in that cruel and unjust “educational environment” in Samara, although I think that Samara is not the exception. Here in Russia it is very difficult to achieve a certain professional status and prove that your methodology deserves approval because of conservatism and sometimes narrow-mindedness of educational bureaucrats . We have to overcome a lot of difficulties, because new and bright ideas are suppressed and the teachers who implement them have no future. I’ve been using new creative methods and techniques for the last 15 years and all these years I’ve been trying to “break through the walls”, trying to prove that the students in my group are not poor language learners (if they are not memorizing long and dull texts and reproduce long boring topics), that they are ready to participate in creative activities, theatre technologies make them very sociable, motivated and bright, they become a team. It is not easy to teach them, because they become demanding, “hungry” for new ideas and techniques. And because of that I am always criticized for being “different”.

Bright presentations

Another very bright presentation on April,1 - “Ten reasons to love lists” by Lindsay Clandfield. He began his presentation with the explanation that he is always taken for a woman because of his name, but it doesn’t matter. He is a man, a very skillful teacher-trainer and everybody sees it. What I admired most of all is his charisma, his skills to communicate successfully with a large audience, to get everybody involved. Lists, lists, lists… What do they have to do with language teaching? Quite a lot. They help to memorize words and make the whole process of language acquisition interesting and motivating. We make lists when we go shopping, when we have to remember the things that are to be done, the lists of irregular verbs, the high frequency word lists and what not.

All that matters is love and work

Then it was time for my own presentation. An hour before it I went to the lady’s room to put on a very bright and authentic Russian costume of the 19-th century. All the teachers there were staggered by its beauty and originality. And when I went out and started walking to the room where my presentation was to take place people looked at me in amazement, asked to stop for a moment to take pictures. When I reached the room it was empty except for two people sitting and waiting for the beginning of the presentation. My heart sank. I was sure no one would come. Then Mario Rinvolucri appeared and said there was no reason for being so upset because five minutes were left before the beginning of the workshop. And really, soon the room was full. I recognized the people in the room: they were famous trainers, the editor-in-chief of the on-line magazine “Humanizing Language Teaching” Hania Kryszewska and many others. I began speaking about the games that seemed to me very interesting. I bounced the ball, threw it up trying to show as many games as I could and it was a mistake because people who were present wanted to practice them, to play the games with me. The games interested them but they also wanted to get involved. I introduced 14 games, though in reality 4 were quite enough. Twenty-five minutes were soon over. Then applause, questions and many thanks. I was exhausted and felt like a bit of a wet blanket. Later Mario Rinvolucri said it was OK and told me that I shouldn’t have been so keen on practicing as many games as possible. Clash of cultures again because here in Russia the more information we give to our listeners at various presentations – the better. Later I tried to attend some presentations but was too overwhelmed with excitement and went back to the hotel to reflex and relax.

April the 2-d was also very interesting. I attended the discussion group run by Mario Rinvolucri. We reflected on what we had experienced the previous day, discussed Mario’s letter written to all those who wanted to exchange opinions and share experience. It was very new and very useful, so the people didn’t object to getting up early in the morning to be ready to discuss what they had heard and appreciated the previous day. We were really delighted to do it. Later I went to the “wrong” plenary session. Fauzia Shamim spoke very enthusiastically about the problem of teaching large classes. It was of great importance for the countries where English has to be taught to plenty of students sitting in one classroom. It was new and very surprising for me to learn about that problem of teaching 200 students at the same time, the teachers have to be very skillful, well-trained and have the courage to teach.

The next workshop was exactly about the things that help me to teach English even better. “Managing Conflict in Language Teaching Organizations.” I have achieved a lot and it’s only because I have a constant, disturbing, “armed” conflict with the head of our chair. Andy Hockley writes that “conflict is a natural disagreement resulting from individuals or groups that differ in attitudes, beliefs, values or needs”. I absolutely agree with A. Hockley that conflict has possible advantages: identification of issues of importance to others, resolution of underlying problems, learning about self and others, avoidance of “groupthink”, etc. And I have experienced all positive outcomes:

• Better ideas produced. I have introduced Russian Theatre techniques in teaching English, old Russian folk games, creativity is the brand of all my classes, my students write letters “ a spoon to a plate” and it becomes a fascinating story with lots of details that astonish and inspire.
• People forced to search for new approaches. I look forward to getting the patent for my own technology “theatre-communicative method”.
• Clarification of individual views. Now I know what I want to achieve in teaching English. And I never look back to know what my enemies think of all my innovations. Let them grumble. I know that I face the future.
• Stimulation of interest and creativity. The result is the constant desire to improve, to surprise and to move ahead.
• A chance for people to test their capacities. I travel a lot and participate in different conferences, for me it’s a challenge, a good opportunity to know more and experience more.

And I always feel negative outcomes: a climate of mistrust and suspicion developed, individuals and groups concentrated on their own narrow interests, resistance developed rather than teamwork, etc. But the person who creates the conflict is happy because “divided we fall, united we stand”. It’s much easier to rule and suppress, to punish and spare. It’s harmful when one and the same person heads the chair for thirty – two years. We lag behind the world and do not achieve good results because it’s forbidden to be better and brighter, more creative and successful than the “old head”. Thank you, dear Andy, for your workshop.

Ann then of course splendid Penny Urr with the presentation “Creating Interesting Exercises and Making Boring Exercises Interesting”. She knows how to make the audience involved, how to interest us all : the teachers and the students. We had game-like challenge, enjoyed participation and success.

Jeremy Harmer, the methodologist whom I know and appreciate reading and rereading his books and who writes in one of the last editions of the book “How to Teach English” that “people have been doing it successfully for two thousand years or more, and some aspects of teaching in the past have probably not changed that much. But other things have, and continue to change” and we, teachers and teacher-trainers should know about it. His work shop was about “ How to Get the Most Out of Observing Teachers”. We had a very interesting discussion and I absolutely agree with Jeremy that the first words the teacher should hear at the end of observation from the observer are: “You are great” and then the words of criticism if necessary. Jeremy writes: “Thanks heavens for new developments, new technologies and new interpretations. They keep us alive; they make us better teachers… but even if we do end up back where we started, the journey is all.”

I can’t help writing about the evening event on April,3 “A Portrait of Wales” with David, Hilary and Ben Crystal. They presented light-hearted extracts from some of the best writers in Wales, talking about their country, its people and their language. It was done with a good sense of humor, jolly and with great love to that wild and beautiful land. I talked to David and he remembered the time when he came to the conference in Moscow State University and the way he was treated by very hospitable Russian people one day after the conference, he remembered huge bags with bottles that rattled all the way to the place where the evening event was to take place, too much food and lots of toasts with “bottoms up” all the time and then he got to himself on the soft fragrant grass outside the house and with great relief he felt he was not alone – somebody was peacefully sleeping near by. One should be great and wise and cross-culturally minded to speak about it in his presentation the next day.

And final plenary session by Claudia Ferradas. A beautiful slender woman with night black hair and a rich and strong voice. She spoke and sang and danced, telling us about a famous tango composed in 1948 “Cafetin de Buenos Aires”, about a young boy who found himself, looking in the window of an old restaurant, wishing he could enter that forbidden world, that longed-for space he carved to belong to. It was about how learners could profit from enriching experience of coming into contact with otherness by reflecting on their own values and on the construction of their self-image. It was great. At the end there was a storm of applause. Claudia’s presentation was similar to a short and bright performance and it was like a delicious dessert at the end of a great dinner.

Please check the Drama course at Pilgrims website.