The date: 21^st & 22^nd November 2003

The place:  the seminar room in the Corté Inglés bookshop in Santander.

The event: V JORNADAS DE TESOL-SPAIN en Cantabria

I’ve never had the pleasure (?) of being part of a live TV audience, so I’ve never been asked to laugh on demand.  Not until now that is.  Mark Hancock had us laughing in all the right places throughout his seminar Pronouncing Grammar. 

Teachers from many different backgrounds and teaching situations had come along to listen to and learn from Mark, author of several books on the theme of pronunciation, including the recently published English Pronunciation in Use (CUP).  Not only did we learn.  We chunked. We backchained.  We discriminated.  We stressed.  We didnt stress. ... And we laughed in all the right places.

The next morning, it was Annie McDonald’s turn.  The subject of her session was an area which will tremendously affect our present and future at all levels of studying and teaching languages:  the Common European Framework and the European Language Portfolio.

Annie’s session was both practical and informative.  An excellent first look at these two areas.  Next spring, Annie has promised to return to develop these themes further.  I for one have vowed to follow Annies advice and guidance to start to get to grips with the Framework.  We look forward to the next session.

Before I finish, I mustn’t forget to thank both Cambridge University Press and the Corté Inglés for collaborating in this event and of course, Blanca Diaz for her hard work and initiative.

Anne Robinson