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With a programme focusing on the reality of the Common
European Framework, TESOL-SPAIN Local Coordinators for Vizcaya, Olga
Fernández and Teba Urquijo continued the cycle of regional events in
Euskadi that was initiated two years ago in San Sebastian, and which continued
last year in Vitoria.
Three speakers took the audience around and into the
complexity of the CEF, with Michael King, the Director of the British Council
in Bilbao getting the ball rolling. Giving his talk a split focus, Michael
first led us on a guided tour of the British Council web site, a veritable
treasure trove of resources for the English Language Teacher. He then went on
to describe some of the key terms in the dense language (at times!) of the
majority of the CEF documents.
An early coffee break gave participants time to mull over
what Michael had said, as well as to browse around the stands set up by
Cambridge University Press, Richmond, Thomson-Heinle, Longman and the British
Council. The second speaker, Alito Rodgers, then gave a highly personal vision
of the Framework. This he based on his experience from 1984 to 1996 in a
Madrid-based research project which followed a group of students from
Kindergarten to High School.
As she always does, Katherine Bilsborough brought our feet
very much back to the ground by sharing her classroom experience with us.
Highlighting the positive value of the CEF ‘can-do’ statements,
Katherine reached the parts of the audience that less gifted speakers sometimes
can’t. We wrote poems, we psycho-analysed each other, and we saw just how
hard spelling is in English. And for all these activities we wrote our very own
‘can-do’ statements, and discovered not just how well we had been
doing, but also just how enormously valuable these statements are when used as
imaginatively as Katherine suggested.
With more than 70 people attending the event, and more than
50 of these new members of TESOL-SPAIN, the teachers of Basque Country have
demonstrated once again their deep concern for development in ELT.
Congratulations, then, to all those who attended the event, Congratulations
also to the organisers, Olga and Teba, and to their helpers, both locally and
elsewhere in the TESOL-SPAIN network. A very sincere thank you to the
Universidad de Deusto for the use of the Auditorio of the Instituto de Idiomas,
and thanks also to the technical support team of the University, who were on
hand whenever they were needed, and who had answers to all the problems we
created for them.
A special thank you must go to Mª Luz
Suárez Castiñeira Director of El Instituto de Idiomas at
Deusto, for all of her help in the months and weeks leading up to the event.
And last, but by no means least, our thanks as always to all of the publishers
who supported this regional TESOL-SPAIN event:
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The British Council for sponsoring Michael
King
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Longman-Pearson for bringing Alito Rodgers from
Madrid.
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Oxford University Press for sponsoring Katherine
Bilsborough
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Cambridge University Press for sponsoring the coffee
break
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Thomson-Heinle, Express Publishing and the British Council
for helping with the lunch.
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Richmond for helping with the mailing.
Robin Walker, Regional Officer
Local coordinators for Vizcaya, Olga and Teba, manage a smile
after the event.
Once again, the major publishers supported the work of
TESOL-SPAIN
An attentive audience discover the value of the CEF
‘Can-do’ statements |
