Málfríður - 15.03.2012, Blaðsíða 19

FEKÍ conference in June:
Not just for English teachers
The. Association. of. Teachers. of. English. in. Iceland.
(affectionately. and. locally. known. as. FEKÍ). will. hold.
an.international.conference.in.Reykjavík.this.year,.from.
June.7th.to.9th .. .The.association.would.like.to.make.it.
known. from. the. outset. that. language. teachers. of. all.
stripes.will.be.welcome,.both.as.presenters.and.regular.
attendees,.for.FEKÍ.strongly.believes.that.all.language.
teachers.have.a.great.deal.to.learn.from.each.other ..To.
drive. this.point.home,. in. the.“Call. for.Papers”.on. its.
conference.website,.the.point.is.made.that.conference.
sessions.will.be.held.in.Icelandic.as.well.as.in.English .
As.the.conference.theme Making sense through writ-
ing suggests,. the. main. focus. will. be. on. the. teaching.
and.learning.of.writing ..However,.all.sorts.of.language.
teaching.and.learning.issues.will.be.discussed,.includ-
ing.the.use.of.literature.in.the.language.classroom,.sto-
rytelling,.bilingual.education,.the.teaching.of.language.
to.immigrant.children.and.much.more ..In.fact,.the.con-
ference.will.be.relevant.to.a.wide.audience,.including.
language. teaching. students,. researchers. and. teachers.
of.students.of.all.ages .
The. conference. begins. with. a. friendly. reception,.
complete.with.live.music,.on.the.evening.of.Thursday,.
June.7 ..The.conference.itself.opens.at.Menntaskólinn við
Hamrahlíð.on.the.morning.of.Friday,.June.8,.with.a.ple-
nary. talk. by.Andy. Curtis,. Professor. in. the. Graduate.
School.of.Education.at.Anaheim.University,.California,.
and.will.continue.with.sessions.all.day,.as.well.as.on.
the.morning.of.Saturday,. June.9 ..Lunch.on.Friday,.as.
well. as.all. coffee/tea.breaks,. are. included. in. the. reg-
istration.fee.of.kr ..11 .250 ..All.conference.goers.will.be.
invited.to.sign.up.to.attend.dinner.on.Friday.evening .
So. far,. notice. has. been. received. of. people. who. will.
be.arriving. from.Norway,.Canada,.Ukraine,.The.Czech.
Republic.and.of.course.Iceland ..But.more.are.keenly.invit-
ed,.including.teachers.of.languages.other.than.English .
For.those.who.would.prefer.to.attend.without.mak-
ing. a. presentation,. you. are. just. as. enthusiastically.
asked. to. come!. . See. the. registration. site. at. http://
www .yourhost .is/feki2012/registration .html .
By Robert Berman
Associate Professor
School of Education
University of Iceland
.
Andy Curtis
Andy. Curtis. is. Professor. at. the.
Graduate.School.of.Education.at.
Anaheim. University,. California ..
He. received. his. B .Ed .. from.
Sunderland. University,. UK.
in. 1991,. and. a. Postgraduate.
Diploma.in.TESOL.from.Sheffield.
Hallam. University,. UK,. also. in.
1991 ..In.1992,.he.received.an.MA.
in. Applied. Linguistics. and. in.
1996.a.PhD.in.International.Education,.both.from.the.
University.of.York,.UK ..From.1998.to.2000,.Dr ..Curtis.
was. the. designer. and. program. manager. for. a. new.
graduate. level. English. program. offered. at. the. Hong.
Kong. Polytechnic. University,. where. he. received. the.
Award. for. Excellence. in. Teaching. in. 1999 .. Dr. Curtis.
was. a. visiting. associate. professor. in. the. Department.
of. Language. Teacher. Education,. at. the. School. for.
International. Training,. Vermont,. where. he. developed.
and.presented.new.courses.on.curriculum.design.and.
educational.technology ..From.2002.to.2005.he.was.the.
Director.of.the.School.of.English.at.Queens.University.
in. Ontario,. Canada,. and. from. 2005. to. 2011. was. the.
Director.of.the.Language.Teaching.Unit.(ELTU).at.the.
Chinese.University.of.Hong.Kong .
As.an.invited.speaker,.workshop.facilitator.and.con-
sultant,.Dr ..Curtis.has.given.over.100.presentations.and.
worked. with. 10,000. language. teachers. in. more. than.
20. countries .. As. a. teacher,. since. 1989,. Dr. Curtis. has.
designed,.presented,.evaluated.and.developed.50.ter-
tiary.level.courses.for.20.educational.centres ..In.1999,.
Dr. Curtis. received. the. TESOL. Leadership. Mentoring.
Award.from.the.TESOL.Association,.and.during.his.ten.
years.as.a.member.of.the.Association.he.has.served.on.
a.number.of.committees .
Dr ..Curtis’.research.interests.include.teacher.educa-
tion.and.development,.program.design.and.evaluation,.
educational.leadership,.and.management.of.change ..He.
has.co-edited.two.books:.Washback in Language Testing:
Research Contexts and Methods (2004),.and.Colour, Race
and English Language Teaching: Shades of Meaning (2006) ..
In.2002,.he. co-authored.with.Kathi.Bailey.and.David.
Nunan. Pursuing Professional Development: The Self as
Source..Dr.Curtis.has.also.published.many.book.chap-
ters,.as.well.as.papers.in.refereed,.scholarly.journals .
Robert Berman. Andy Curtis.
MÁLFRÍÐUR 19