MEDIATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING, TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
08:00–08:45   REGISTRATION
08:45–09:00   OPENING
09:00–10:00   Session 1. Maria Stathopoulou, ECML, Council of Europe
10:00–11:00   Session 2. Dave Spencer, Macmillan Education
11:00–11:30   BREAK
11:30–12:30   Session 3. Ania Kolbuszewska, Pearson Education
12:30–13:30   Session 4. Dave Spencer, Macmillan  Education
13:30–14:00   BREAK
14:00–15:00   Session 5. Ania Kolbuszewska, Pearson Education
15:00–16:00   Session 6. Beata Valungevičienė,  LAKMA (in Lithuanian)
16:00–16:15   CLOSING

CONFERENCE FEES
15 EUR for LAKMA 2021 members / 30 EUR for non-members
NO FEE for student members 2021 (registration compulsory) / 5 EUR for student non-members

Registration and payment by 20 October, Wednesday.
Advance payment invoices issued upon request. Letters of guarantee accepted.
LAKMA bank account: SEB LT97 7044 0600 0457 8304
Bank address: Gedimino pr. 12, Vilnius, Lithuania. SWIFT code: CBVILT2X

REGISTRATION FORM https://cutt.ly/OEtVou7 
Zoom link will be sent one day before the event.

CERTIFICATES  will be issued by LAKMA in cooperation with UAB “Šviesa” mokymo centras.
The Conference programme is accredited by UAB “Šviesa” mokymo centras.

More information: admin@lakmaonline.lt

CONFERENCE SPEAKERS AND ABSTRACTS

Dr. Maria Stathopoulou is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Hellenic Open University and at the National Technical University of Athens. In 2014–2017, she was a member of the authoring group of experts of the Council of Europe for the update of the CEFR. Currently, her project “Mediation in Τeaching, Learning and Αssessment” (ME.T.L.A.) is being funded by the European Centre for Modern Languages (2020–2023). Her book “Cross-Language Mediation in Foreign Language Teaching and Testing” (2015) has been published by Multilingual Matters.

Demystifying mediation in language education: approaches, challenges and perspectives. This presentation deals with the notion of mediation in the field of language didactics. It defines the notion as it appears in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) of the Council of Europe (2001) and in the new CEFR Companion Volume (2020), makes a distinction between cross-linguistic and intralinguistic mediation and explains the role of mediator when acting as a go-between in a communicative encounter which requires linguistic intervention so that understanding between all parties involved is possible. The presentation uses concrete examples of mediation tasks from the ME.T.L.A project (“Mediation in Teaching, Learning and Assessment”), a European project which is being currently carried out within the framework of the new programme of the European Centre of Modern Languages (ECML) (2020-2023).

After studying languages at Oxford University, David Spencer trained to be a Secondary School teacher. He then moved to Spain where he has been living and teaching ever since. He continues to teach teenage students in a school near Madrid, or online from his home 😉. Dave began writing Secondary courses for Macmillan in 1994 and is the author of the best-selling ‘Gateway’ series. Dave has given talks to teachers in twenty-eight countries. He is active on social media at www.facebook.com/macmillangateway

Stronger together: Learning to collaborate and collaborating to learn. In the CEFR Mediation descriptors, there is significant emphasis on collaboration, something I have always considered as a key element for success in ELT Secondary classrooms, and as a key factor for developing effective communication strategies. In this session we will look at a number of practical classroom activities that can encourage our students in two specific areas of mediation: ‘facilitating collaborative interaction with peers’ and ‘collaborating to construct meaning’. I believe that these are not just skills for the ELT classroom but true Life Skills that can lead our teenage students to success in the 21st Century.

In my shoes: Developing empathy through mediation. In these difficult times, educators are paying more and more attention to Social and Emotional Learning, trying to help students to manage their own emotions and to understand others’ emotions better, encouraging greater empathy and interaction with peers. This coincides with attention in the CEFR Mediation descriptors paid to facilitating communication in delicate situations and disagreements, and also to facilitating a positive interactive environment for successful communication between people of different cultural backgrounds. There will be many practical examples of how to do this in the classroom, above all encouraging students to see things from other points of view.

Ania Kolbuszewska has worked internationally as a language teacher, trainer, manager and consultant at all education levels. Ania is also a mediator with a keen interest in conflict management (check out Ania’s youtube channel https://cutt.ly/dk5vBAy ). A former Director of Eaquals Accreditation and Consultancy Services, she continues to work as an auditor for this organisation. She is the author of the “Eaquals Self-help Guide to Teacher Development” and co-author of Eaquals management competency framework. Together with Andrzej Stęsik she has written Use of English materials for Pearson. Ania is a founder member of IATEFL Poland and a member of Leadership and Management SIG of IATEFL. 

Mediation: the what and the why. To communicate successfully in any language, we need to develop the speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. But we mustn’t forget that communication is a collaborative experience where language is a tool, an experience in which we consciously adapt what we say or write to ensure that the person we communicate with understands us better. This is precisely what we do in presentations, in team work, in providing explanations, and in a whole range of other types of communication. And the way we adapt our use of language to our listener or reader is nothing else but mediation. In this presentation we will look at what exactly mediation entails, why it’s so important and why it should become an integral part of our approach to teaching English. 

Mediation: the how. In this session, which follows on from the session on “Mediation: the what and the why”, we will look at what integrating mediation into teaching means for our everyday classroom work. We will explore how integrating mediation impacts our lesson planning and assessment, what activities promote effective mediation, and how to ensure that students appreciate the importance of this skill for effective communication in the classroom and, more importantly, beyond it.

Beata Valungevičienė has been working as a teacher and teacher educator for over 20 years. Every year, she delivers over thirty courses, workshops and webinars. Cooperating with regional education centres and publishers, she promotes innovative approaches and teaching materials for language education and develops recommendations and courses for teacher professional development. Currently Beata is involved in the project run by the National Agency for Education aimed at renewing the National Curriculum for Foreign Languages for primary, basic and secondary levels.

Mediacija atnaujinamose Lietuvos bendrojo ugdymo Užsienio kalbų bendrosiose programose. Užsienio kalbų mokytojams Lietuvoje mediacija nėra naujas dalykas – mediacijos gebėjimai buvo įtraukti į ugdymo programas jau 2008 m. Šiuo metu atnaujinamose Užsienio kalbų bendrosiose programose mediacijos samprata išplėtojama, ši gebėjimų sritis detalizuojama. Naujos programos remiasi 2020 m. atnaujintais Bendraisiais Europos kalbų metmenimis (Companion Volume). Šiame pranešime bus apžvelgiama mediacijos gebėjimų klasifikacija ir vertinimo aspektai įvairiuose ugdymo koncentruose. Taip pat bus aptariami mediacijos gebėjimų ugdymo veiklų pavyzdžiai, pateikiami Bendrųjų programų Įgyvendinimo rekomendacijose. (The talk will be given in Lithuanian.)

2021 LAKMA NACIONALINĖ ASAMBLĖJA – spalio 23 d.

DARBOTVARKĖ
09:30 – 09:50 Registracija / Prisijungimas
09:50 – 10:00 Atidarymas
10:00 – 10:15 Ona Marija Vyšniauskaitė, Britų Taryba Lietuvoje
10:15 – 10:30 Caitlin Nettleton, JAV Ambasada Vilniuje
10:30 – 10:45 Jennifer Uhler, Regional English Language Office
10:45 – 11:00 Živilė Lazauskienė, ASSIST programa
11:00 – 11:15 Miglė Ogorodnikovienė, Oxford University Press, Humanitas
11:15 – 11:30 Iveta Vitola, Pearson
11:30 – 11:45 Jakub Bąk, Macmillan, Rotas
11:45 – 12:00 Violeta Liudvinovičienė, NGL, Cambridge University Press, Krisostomus
12:00 – 12:15 Pertraukėlė
12:15 – 12:45 Kristina Urbonienė, LAKMA
12:45 – 13:00 Diana Galatiltienė, Inga Veberienė, LAKMA, IATEFL
13:00 – 13:15 Uždarymas. Loterija
13:15 – 14:00 LAKMA Valdybos posėdis

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