More than ESP: Empowering Students to Progress

Participating experts

Lizabeth England

ESL Professor at Shenandoah University, USA

Gloria Ulloa

International Languages Centers Network Coordinator, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Francisco Morazán, Honduras

Joyce Myra Kling Soren

EMI expert in Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Yulia Ryabukhina

Associate Professor, Head of the Foreign Languages Department, ITMO University, Russia

Lynnae Lehfeldt
Associate Professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan

Ludmila Kozhevnikova 
Associate Professor at Samara University, Regional Consultant of Cambridge University Press

Day 1, December 9th

1. Pragmatics in the ESP Classroom part 1. Ana Maria Ferraro.

The workshop gives a general introduction to the field of pragmatics. Afterwards, the audience members will be offered varied classroom activities to address at least the basic notions of Pragmatic Competence in their EFL classrooms.

Ana Maria Ferraro has MA in TESOL. Her experience lies in developing student-centered curricula and course materials, and designing alternative assessment tools.

2. ESP Materials at Work. Lizabeth England.

This workshop will help participants to re-think materials use in their classrooms and analyse how those materials actually function to allow students opportunities to observe, interpret, evaluate, solve, and decide how to address scientific study.

Lizabeth England has Ph. D. in Education, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Concentrations in Second Language Acquisition, Teacher Education and Cross-cultural Training

3. Leadership skills training in ESP classes. Olga Minina.

The workshop focuses on new trends in developing students' professional skills to meet the future life demands. A particular accent is made on leadership skills. In the interactive form the participants will learn what leadership means, what qualities a leader should have.

Olga Minina is a PhD, Associate Professor, Head of the Linguistics and Cross-Cultural Communication Department of Institute of the Foreign Languages, Syktyvkar State University

4. Implementing Academic Writing into Undergraduate Education: Stepping Stones to Science. Elena Agrikova.

The workshop shows how the elements of academic writing could be implemented into the undergraduate education. Such elements as essay and science writing will be under consideration.

Elena Agrikova is a teacher of Modern Languages & Professional Communication Department, Tutor of Samara Academic Consultancy Center

5. The challenges of the multilingual, multicultural classroom. Joyce Kling.

The participants will explore the implications of internationalization, as well as student and staff mobility. Student diversity in the multilingual, multicultural classroom will be considered. We will tackle how to make teaching more international and more inclusive.

Joyce Kling Soren is a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use at the University of Copenhagen. Her research interests include English-medium instruction (EMI), teacher cognition research, and ESP.

6. Online resources for language classes. Marina Voronina.

During the workshop participants will learn what kind of online resources are available for learning foreign language and how teachers can implement them in classes. Examples of creating own online tasks will be shown.

Marina Voronina is a Senior Teacher of Modern Languages & Professional Communication Department, Tutor of Samara Academic Consultancy Center

7. Developing writing competences through the writing of different genres. Gloria Ulloa.

This workshop will provide composition teachers with practical guidelines for the teaching of EFL writing as we teach students to compose for academia. It will also show how to move from academic writing to writing guidelines required in some technical fields.

Gloria Ulloa, a Ph. D in Rhetoric and Composition has been a professor at the university level for 25 years. For the last two years she has been the coordinator of the Language Center at Universidad Pedagogica Nacional. 

8. Public Speaking Skills, part 1. Lynnae Lehfeldt.

This physical workshop provides the skills and techniques needed to experience freer breath and a more centered, grounded, and authentic presence in public speaking situations. The participants should wear comfortable clothing.

Lynnae Lehfeldt is an associate professor of voice and movement at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.  Ms. Lehfeldt is a member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association, the Association of Theatre Movement Educators, and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

9. ESP materials using "corpus linguistics" methods. John Kuti.

Applying the idea of "data driven learning" to the task of defining a lexical syllabus for university courses in specialised English. This workshop demonstrates the stages for designing materials to help students to practise and learn them.

John Kuti has his first degree in Law and a Master’s Degree in Online and Distance Education. Nearly 20 years of experience in teaching English in Russia — with special purposes like legal English, accounting, mathematics and in teacher training.

10. Practical techniques for teaching ESP. Maria Ilyushkina.

Hands-on interactive workshop covering two teaching techniques, Dictogloss and Low Prep Activities, which will demonstrate how to help students to activate and introduce their professional vocabulary in speech.

Maria Ilyushkina is a PhD in Philology, assistent at Department of Linguistic and Professional Communication in Foreign Languages, Ural Federal University

11. How to make homework more productive and enjoyable. Ludmila Kozhevnikova.

This interactive workshop will explore ways of making homework more enjoyable for students and more informative for teachers. The participants will also discuss the benefits of using digital technologies for fostering autonomy in language learning.

Associate Professor at Samara University, Regional Consultant of Cambridge University Press

12. Managing mixed ability classes. Yulia Ryabukhina.

Teaching ESP to a mixed abilities group is a very challenging task, as linguistic skills of the students do not necessarily correlate with the knowledge of the subject. This workshop will show how to reach a synergetic outcome, rewarding for both the students and the teacher.

Yulia Ryabukhina is a Head of the Department of Foreign Languages at ITMO University. She holds British PhD degree in linguistics, as well as Cambridge Proficiency C2 level certificate.

13. Inventions and gadgets we can’t do without. Angelina Kondratyeva & Jana Asatkina.

This interactive demo-lesson will help teachers to gain practical knowledge in how to present linguistic material to the students with non-linguistic majors.

Jana Asatkina is an Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Foreign Languages at Nekrasov Kostroma State University. Angelina Kondratyeva is a Senior Teacher of the Department of Foreign Languages at Nekrasov Kostroma State University

Day 2, December 10th

1. Critical thinking and problems solving. Olga Minina.

The workshop focuses on new claims to professionals with special accent on critical thinking, problems solving and project work in ESP classes. The participants will be involved in interactive activities on setting goals, planning, motivation and public speaking.

2. English Medium Instruction – Beyond ESP. Joyce Kling.

English medium instruction (EMI) presents a set of challenges for lecturers and students when English is a foreign language for everyone involved. In this workshop, we will consider how to support our colleagues to facilitate student learning in these EMI programmes.

3. Applying CLIL principles for course design at tertiary level by Irina Titarenko.

The workshop willl address challenges in designing a CLIL course for university students. The case in focus is examining integration of Law content, legal English language and pedagogical principles appropriate for a CLIL-based course design.

Irina Titarenko is an Associate Professor at School of Philology and Language Communication, Siberian Federal University. She considers CLIL an excellent way for the gradual introduction of English as a medium of instructions and applies it working both with students and university teaching staff.

4. The writing prompts for ESP advanced students by Gloria Ulloa.

This workshop will provide ESL advanced writing teachers with ideas on how to develop assignments that allow ESP learners develop awareness of the demands of professional literacy.

5. Public Speaking Skills, part 2. Lynnae Lehfeldt.

The techniques a speaker needs to present to a large audience while maintaining individual connections will be shown. The participants should wear comfortable clothing that allows for a great deal of movement.

6. Pragmatic improvements for an existing study plan. John Kuti.

The workshop will look in particular at the teaching of English for Customs and Logistics students. Discussion of meaning and translation, Moodle, spaced repetition, online collaboration with wikis, and the participants' own ideas.

7. A Crash Course in Academic Writing Pitfalls & Web-based Classroom Activities for Integrating Listening, Writing & Speaking. Robert Cote.

This interactive workshop demonstrates several web-based hands-on activities that will allow the audience to participate before trying them out in their own classrooms.

Robert Cote has PhD in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching from the University of Arizona. For the past 20+ years, he has been a teacher trainer, and administrator in high schools, community colleges, and universities in the USA, Mexico, Spain, Dubai, and China. Currently, he oversees the Writing Skills Improvement and Student Success programs.

8. Pragmatics in the ESP Classroom, part 2. Ana Maria Ferraro.

Continued: varied classroom activities to address at least the basic notions of Pragmatic Competence in their EFL classrooms.

9. The use of mother tongue: don’t speak. Yulia Ryabukhina.

Avoiding a native language when teaching a foreign one is somewhat special for ESP classes. This workshop will show how Russian language may become a perfect tool for mastering English, but only when used in a justified and well-balanced way.

10. Improving academic English: avoid fragments and wordiness. Marina Voronina & Elena Agrikova.

During the workshop examples and instruments will be demonstrated to help identify fragments and change them into sentences, how to write clear and precise sentences.

11. Better Learning in Practice: unlocking your students’ potential through MI-inspired learning materials. Ludmila Kozhevnikova.

The workshop will look at the benefits and challenges of using MIT in the ESP classroom and highlight the importance of choosing MI-inspired activities that will allow students to express their strengths and explore new avenues of learning.

12. Re‐thinking Student Roles for Maximizing Learner Engagement in ESP Classes. Lizabeth England.

Today’s ESP learners represent a major change in their interests and needs when compared to learners in the past. In this workshop, we will explore how these new needs lead to new opportunities and challenges for teachers.

Follow the link (goo.gl/forms/UYhrClFeHrC4OWBr2) to sign up.

Please find the Program below

December 9th

• 09:00-10:00 — Registration of the participants
• 10:00-11:30 — Opening Plenary
• 11:30-12:00 — Coffee break
• 12:00-13:00 — Panel Discussion: what is so special about ESP? Q&A session
• 13:00-14:00 — 10 concurrent workshops. Sign-up for the workshops is mandatory. Follow the link (goo.gl/forms/UYhrClFeHrC4OWBr2) to sign up.
• 14:00-15:00 — Lunch (not included, however, there is a cafeteria on-site)
• 15:00-16:00 — 10 concurrent workshops, continued

December 10th

• 09:30-10:00 — Participants arrive
• 10:00-11:00 — 10 concurrent workshops Sign-up for the workshops is mandatory. Follow the link (goo.gl/forms/UYhrClFeHrC4OWBr2) to sign up.
• 11:00-11:30 — Coffee break
• 11:30-12:30 — 10 concurrent workshops, continued
• 12:30-13:30 — Lunch (not included, however, there is a cafeteria on-site)
• 13:30-14:30 — Panel discussion: Quality assurance and teacher assessment in ESP
• 14:30-15:30 — Closing plenary, setting goals for the 2017 conference

Please, note that the participants will recieve certificates of professional development providing they have attended both days of workshops.

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