Upcoming workshops and webinars

New school year, new opportunities for professional development. There are new workshops, seminars and webinars on the horizon, and all of them free of charge! I'm planning to attend most of these:

• English Language Teachers Day Celebration (webinar, Sep 21)

• Predstavitvene delavnice za pouk angleščine v 1. triletju (Sep 22)

• MOOC! Shaping the Way We Teach English (webinar, starts Sep 28)

• Letters from Lili and Bine (Oct 12/Oct 22)

• OUP  Conference Slovenia (Dec 4)

Reading badge

Even though reading is just one of the four language skills, learners who read a lot improve their language abilities in general. Reading badge is a good way to promote reading among your students. There are two popular English reading badge competitions in Slovenia that you probably know, EPI Reading Badge and Bookworms. I do encourage my students to participate in these competitions, but at the same time we have our own "reading badge" projects. The problem with commercial reading badge projects is that they require students and schools to buy (or borrow) new books every year as they frequently change their reading lists. I have therefore decided to allow my students to choose their own book titles. What they have to do is read four to five level-appropriate readers of their choosing and do an activity for each od the books. Here are the activities they can choose among:

• A mind map. It should include the title, the author, the characters, three to five new English words and an illustration (suitable for younger learners).
  
• A comic. It should summarise the story from the book.
• A handwritten summary.

Students who successfully present the required number of books then get a diploma at the end of a school year. I know it sounds like a lot of work but I'm happy to say most of my students decide to participate in my reading badge projects. :)

Welcome back!

I hope you had a great holiday, you're well-rested and your first day back in school wasn't too difficult. ;) Full speed ahead!