Georgia | English Language through Civic Education | 8 Jun 2015

Success
On May 23rd, 2015 Guliko Janova, head of the English Department at Samtskhe-Javakakheti and I planned organized an English Language Teachers’ conference at Samtsikhe-Javakakheti university. 45 English teachers from the region attended Approximately,25 ELCE II student teachers and experienced teachers attended the conference

Overview
At the conference, several ELCE II participants gave presentations. Maia Teliashvili from Vale School #1 presented a short program describing how to use the Internet for successful classroom lessons along with the Fullbright teacher Dora Manevich. Tinatin Vardidzia from Sametskhe-Javakhetic University gave a 55 minute presentation on Stress and Rhythm in English Pronunciation Tinatin's presentation was well-received because 25 teachers attended. Her presentation is relevant both to helping with pronunciation skills as well as to prepare teachers for a section in the English National Teachers' Examination in July. Both Maia and Tinatin were ELCE II participants.
As a workshop trainer, I gave a presentation on the using picture analysis to promote critical thinking and speaking activities. During my presentation “Using Pictures to promote Critical Thinking” I showed posters that had been prepared by ELCE teachers to illustrate a variety of handmade visuals which they used during the course of their lessons as well as a variety of pictures and activities that I have collected to demonstrate how pictures can be used for warm-up and for speaking prompts at the beginning of lessons. .
The conference was an excellent opportunity to encourage ELCE participants to develop their presentation and workshop skills. Another conference is planned for fall 2015 to give other ELCE II participants a chance to develop presentation skills and to spread the content of our program to a wider audience.