English Language Teachers’ Summer Seminar- Oxford University.

When I enrolled on the annual summer seminar for English teachers at Exeter College in Oxford, I really didn’t know what to expect. This would be my first visit to Oxford and the first professional development course I would attend… Luckily, the overall experience turned out to be more satisfying than I could ever imagine!

The seminar lasted for two weeks that literally flew by! We were a diverse group of 54 teachers from Greece, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Portugal, Norway, Slovakia, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, China, Japan and the USA! Our daily schedule was very demanding yet highly motivating! Each morning started with some very informative lectures given by inspiring teacher trainers among whom Ken Wilson and Shaun Wilden.

The workshops to follow covered a wide range of ELT areas for ‘every taste’ like language testing, developing materials, how to become a teacher trainer, successful pronunciation, teaching grammar, working with texts, promoting speaking skills and teaching teenagers. Our tutors, Charles Boyle, Hanna Kryszewska, Jon Hird, Edmund Dudley and Adrian Underhill were great- I’d say the elite of the ELT field!

Aside from all the learning, we had our share of entertainment too! Indeed, we had lots of fun doing some Scottish country dancing, going on a pub tour, walking in the countryside ‘the English not the Latin way’ 😉 as well as talking about our countries while trying local delicacies and drinks on a special cultural exchange night!

Experiencing the Oxford student life at the beautiful premises of Exeter College, going around this lovely city with all its historical buildings, the old colleges, the Botanic Garden, the Bodleian Library was dreamy to say the least.

Most importantly, in Oxford I made some lifelong friends :-)! It’s so nice to feel part of a worldwide ELT community and even better to have special people to visit wherever you choose to travel in the world!

I consider myself very lucky and privileged to have attended the seminar at Exeter and if you ever get the opportunity to do this course, just don’t miss it!

A big thanks to everyone who made this course so memorable!

Christina