This is the title

 Hello,

TESOL Greece, Athens 2014

Hello,

In March 2014, we (Eda Demirci, Ezgi Özel, and Ceren Cessur) attended TESOL Conference in Greece. It was a total “attendance” because we watched several presentations and we also had our own presentations. Since we are undergraduates, the idea of presenting at an international conference was very unusual to us. We had presented at İstek ELT, Istanbul, but the excitement was lower since we presented at a room that we had already known. So, we were asking questions to each other about the size of the room and the profile of the audience. Sometimes frightening questions came to our minds like “what if we fail?” or “what if we forget what we are supposed to say?” After doing countless rehearsals, we still felt like we had to do more, this feeling must have been because of our inexperience.

All of our friends were saying that this conference was a big opportunity for us to meet and socialize with many ELT professionals in the field, and we felt the same way but we were rather overwhelmed by the preparation. Now we are looking back and laughing about the panic that we felt before we presented. We truly appreciate that even though the preparation process was very tiring and intense, everybody was so lovely and welcoming at the conference , which helped all of our worries disappear. We saw that the audience were not just the audience, they were there to share their ideas in a friendly environment. 

One of the most exciting parts of this journey was the interview that we had with Julia Aliverti and Natassa Papakonstantinou before our sessions. This was our first live interview so we were nervous because being interviewed was telling us that our presentations were coming closer.   

Interview with Julia Aliverti and Natassa Papakonstantinou…( The way we put our hands may be the sign of the stress that we felt).

Like we said before, the ideas we shared and the people we met greatly contributed to our professional development. One of the most remarkable sessions that we remember was Igor Rodriguez’s session, because it was about some practical ideas that we can integrate into our classes. We needed an example of the tips that we always heard from our teachers, and one of them was the use of authentic materials in our classroom. Thanks to Igor Rodriguez, we learned how to use authentic materials effectively in the classroom because he brought some brochures, plane tickets, and papers from his hotel and he said that he gathered all of them in 2 days during his stay in Greece. In addition to the authentic materials, he provided us with some links to a number of  websites that might work well in the classroom.

The first website was www.breakingnewsenglish.com. This website provides printable handouts, lesson plans, reading, listening, and dictation activities.

The second website that he mentioned was www.lyricstraining.com. This website includes music videos, songs, and their lyrics. It is a great opportunity for learners from different proficiency levels to develop their listening skills.

Another talk we had a chance to participate in was Nicholas Dimmitt’s. As the title, “Developing a Peer-assisted Learning in a University Writing Center” suggests, we shared our ideas about both the organization of a Writing Center and the effects of peer assistance in writing. The title caught us immediately as we also have a Writing Center at Yeditepe University, where we learn how to be a peer tutor for our friends. Dimmitt’s talk showed us that we, more or less, are employing the same practices. They have more student tutors than we do, but their appointment system is completely different than ours. We suggested our online appointment system and Dimmitt liked that idea as everything would be more planned and traceable. In addition, they do not have a research database for the papers they have collected. This idea was also a good one for Dimmitt as he was really seeking for new ideas to  further develop the Writing Center he is managing.

Dimmitt emphasized the importance of peer feedback for both the tutor and the learner. Some of the participants  had doubts. They claimed that the learner would take a peer as a teacher and learning would not occur. At that moment, I thought about my own experiences as a student tutor. My  room mate does not accept any help from me when we are at home, and she often comes to the Writing Center as a regular student to get feedback. I told that the learning environment changes the learners’ attitudes as well. As an undergraduate student of an ELT program, we have to give one another peer feedback for our writing courses. Some of my classmates, again, come to the Writing Center to get help from me even though they have the same thing in the classroom. I really enjoyed that presentation as I had no idea of how other universities were running their writing centers.

From Nicholas Dimmitt’s workshop “Developing Peer-Assisted Learning in a University Writing Center”.

The social events that we participated helped us leave Athens with good memories…

We even tried sirtos, but it was very tiring, and we had to give up after two minutes.

Jeffrey Doonan and Julia Aliverti showed us some really interesting places. Jeffrey Doonan knows the story of almost each building in detail.

This was the best selfie that we had taken because we were amazed by the graffiti art in the streets of Athens…

TESOL Greece was our first international conference, we want to attend more in the future. We would like to thank Dr. Massoura for giving us the opportunity in presenting in TESOL Greece. We also would like to thank Jeffrey Doonan and Julia Aliverti for helping us with all of the arrangements and the guidance they provided while exploring Athens. Last but not least, we would like to thank our instructor Ece Sevgi for always being on our side and giving us the opportunity and chance, and Hakan Şentürk for his technical support. If they had not encouraged us to attend this conference we would have never experienced the fun of coming together to share ideas and to keep the enthusiasm until the end of our career…

My Impressions of TESOL Greece Convention

Hello everyone,

It has been a while since I came back from TESOL Greece It still makes me smile and I am glad to have attended this conference. The convention was a great chance for me to learn and I believe I used my shot very effectively. Although I was anxious before I went to Athens because it was my first international conference abroad, we were very welcome by all the people there. I would like to thank to the organizing committee for helping us there  immediately with anything we needed. I was lucky enough to meet some of my PLN there in person, which I think was one of the most fascinating parts of my experience there. Although it was a long and tiring process, I enjoyed being in Athens at the convention. My special thanks to Julia Aliverti and Jeffrey Doonan for making the weekend more enjoyable and easier for us in all aspects including the tours of Athens. I also would like to thank Dr. Penny Massoura for her kind help during the preparation period of the convention.

Of the sessions I could attend, I learned much not only about teaching but also about being a better presenter. I gained a perspective for presenting in a more enthusiastic way and that was very important for me as I am just an undergraduate student . I also learned new ways of teaching and their practical classroom implications which made me learn to think of the practical side of the theoretical knowledge not only at the conferences but also in real life.

I can say that this was one of my best and most productive conferences. I hope to meet everyone again maybe in Greece maybe somewhere else. But, all in all, as a student, I am very happy to be a presenter and an attendee of such a great event.  

Welcome Message

Welcome to Yeditepe University Writing Center Student Tutors' Blog.

On this blog, we will be posting reflections and sharing our experiences about the ELT world. Your contributions to this blog by posting comments, bringing important issues to our attention, and offering solutions based on your own teaching experience will be much appreciated.

Hope to meet you some day, somewhere at an ELT event.

Please click HERE for further information on the Student Tutor Program at Yeditepe University, Istanbul.