Join us at the 2023 RATE Conference – 25th March 2023

On March 25th, Cărturești welcomes two speakers from Macmillan Education & Jolly Learning publishing houses at the 2023 RATE Conference ✨
Please join us and our guests, visit our book stand in your search for new coursebooks, get your goodie bags and upgrade your teaching skills with fresh ideas and plenty of free digital materials!

10:40 – 11:40 PLENARY:
Connecting people: equipping your students for the world of tomorrow
Czesław Kiński – Macmillan Education
Virtual Classroom Exchange

Some people say that humans developed primarily because of their ability to use language, which helped them connect with the individuals around and build communities together. This sounds grand, but in our daily work we see a lot of humans (our students) who are not always willing to communicate, no matter how much time and energy we invest in preparing appropriate activities and encouraging active participation. At the same time, we know that their future is likely to depend both on their English and many of the skills that they acquire in our classes.

In my session, I’m going to demonstrate how we can create opportunities for our students to talk about their personal world while connecting with others. I’ll also discuss the ways to help them prepare for the transition from teenage years into adult life, both in terms of their foreign language competence as well as their soft skills. Here lies the added bonus of English language education: not only is it about developing linguistically, but also about acquiring skills that will remain useful for a long time. Last, but not least, I’d like to show how we can combine the classroom English practice of today with using English as a means of authentic global communication that our students will need tomorrow.

12:00 – 12:40 WORKSHOP:
More than words: helping your students prepare for Cambridge speaking tests
Czesław Kiński – Macmillan Education
Prepare for the Cambridge Exams – Speaking Test

In Cambridge exams, the speaking test may pose a number of difficulties to many of our students. First, exam candidates don’t have the possibility to think about their answers for a long time, and modify them afterwards, which is the case with the other papers. Next, students may find themselves lost not only for words or structures, but also for ideas that they could express. Finally, they have considerably less time to show their competence than they do in the other papers – but the weight of the speaking test is the same.

In my workshop, I’m going to share my experience of working with exam groups and being a Cambridge Assessment examiner. We’ll go through the speaking test minute by minute, focusing on the strategies that will help our students find the right ideas and express them in appropriate ways. You’ll be leaving the session fully equipped to help your students prepare for the exam in terms of their linguistic, cognitive and emotional challenges.

Dr Czesław Kiński is an academic teacher at the University of Warmia and Mazury, holding a PhD in English & Linguistics, training future teachers and doing research into the role of emotions in foreign language learning. His other professional affiliation is the English Perfect school of languages, where he’s worked as a teacher and an Assistant Director of Studies. Czesław is also a Cambridge Assessment English examiner, a speaker at various conferences and an author of ELT books and materials for various series by Macmillan. With over 20 years of experience in teaching all age groups and all levels, he’s never completely satisfied with his work and is always on the lookout for something new. Czesław’s professional interests include positive psychology, student well-being, public speaking, group dynamics and the influence of culture on language acquisition. In his free time, he is an amateur runner, an even more amateur guitarist, and a keen concert-goer.

12:50 – 13:30 WORKSHOP:
The Magic of Teaching Reading and Writing at Your Fingertips!
Silvana Șerbănescu – Jolly Learning
Jolly Classroom

Discover a whole new way of teaching reading and writing to young students by using Jolly Classroom – the new digital platform for teachers designed by Jolly Learning UK and fully aligned to the Jolly Phonics programme validated by the British Department for Education.

Whether you’re an experienced teacher or just beginning your teaching journey, we invite you to tune in and discover how to save time planning and teaching reading and writing, while delivering fun and engaging lessons

Silvana Serbanescu, UK Jolly Phonics professional Trainer, experienced ESL teacher and manager of the independent educational company Jolly Star Learning Centre. She conducted tens of workshops across Romania and the Republic of Moldova on developing children’s reading and writing skills using Jolly Phonics, a fantastic synthetic phonics programme trusted by teachers and loved by children across the world which has been validated by the British Department for Education as an effective systematic programme. She also provided the teacher training in the pilot programme conducted by the Romania’s Ministry of Education and Jolly Learning UK in various counties across Romania.
“Phonics is like a dog. It’s not for Christmas, it’s for life. I’m interested in children succeeding and using the quickest, easiest and simplest way of getting the mechanisms of writing embedded. Then we can all go and write dissertations, love letters, read Shakespeare or The Sun”.

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