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MORE than 250 English educators attended the Bahrain ELT Professionals Network’s (ELTPN) sixth annual conference ‘ELT: Teachers as Learners’ at Bahrain Polytechnic.
Saturday’s platform brought together teachers and support teams allowing them to share experiences and enhance their teaching skills.
Its opening ceremony was attended by US ambassador William Roebuck, British ambassador Simon Martin, British Council Bahrain director Alan Rutt and representatives of the local educational field.
Mr Rutt described the conference as ‘a wonderful opportunity’ for English teachers in Bahrain to come together and share their experiences and to take away new ideas that will help them to develop professionally.
“This professional development will result in improved quality of English language teaching in the classroom which will enable thousands of learners to achieve their goals and ambitions,” he added. “For the sixth year now we’ve been able to provide a strong platform for English teachers thanks to the ELTPN Steering Group members and our partners.”
Keynote speakers at the conference were Adrian Tennant from the UK and Nicky Hockly from Spain. Additionally, the conference presented a total of 15 breakout sessions delivered by 15 local and regional trainers. Participants also had access to the latest ELT publications from participating international exhibitors such as Express Publishing, Macmillan and National Geographic Learning.
Bahrain Polytechnic CEO Dr Jeff Zabudsky said: “In Bahrain, but also regionally and internationally, it is the ability of students and employees to communicate in English that allows them to compete on the global stage, to advance themselves and their country as well as to engage in research and the sharing of ideas and practices.
“Conferences such as the ELTPN are wonderful opportunities to bring together English teaching professionals to share best practices and envision the future English language teaching in the kingdom.”.
Organised annually by the ELT Professional Network, this year the conference was sponsored by the British Council, the American Embassy, Dar Al Ma’rifa English Language Centre, CrediMax, Ahlia University as well as Tamkeen, this year’s conference strategic partner.
The Bahrain ELT Professionals Network aims to help educators in the field of English Language teaching to share information, to find working partners and to collaborate on events and projects.
The network’s chairman, Dr Hussain Dhaif, said the organiers were ‘confident’ that the conference provided a ‘valuable opportunity’ for all attendees to take a fresh look at classroom methodology and techniques in order to enhance performance.
