I think IATEFL 2022 may have been my favourite IATEFL so far! A bold statement, I know. But:
– I raised over £2000 for Amala Education by cycling from Glasgow.
– I saw Voices (the coursebook series I’ve been working on,) in all its finery on the National Geographic Learning stand.
– My session on Graphic Facilitation for ELT was well received, as was my Pecha Kucha.
– Doroth Zemach of Wayzgoose Press sold every copy of my 50 Ways to Teach Life Skills book at the Indie Authors stand.
– I caught up with long lost friends and met people I know from working online.
– I had the opportunity to create lots of sketchnotes.
Usually, when I create sketchnotes, I’ll use my touchscreen laptop or an A3 sheet of paper. This year, I cycled to IATEFL so I didn’t have such a luxury. Instead I had a black pen and a bendy A5 notepad. But, as I keep telling everyone, they’re not art, they’re communication. So here they are!
Meri is a world changer. I wish she didn’t need to stand up at an International TEFL conference and talk about how so called ‘non-native teachers’ are being discriminated against for jobs. But the sad truth remains that they are. A lot. English is a global language yet still, so called ‘native speakers’ get preferential treatment. I hope that this changes in the very near future. After all, 80% of English language users are ‘non-native speakers’. The demographic of language teachers should reflect this reality. Meri, myself and all the Voices team are with you!
The answer? Not very. This is something else that needs to change. The problem is, how do we change it?
Massive thanks to every single one of these speakers. I loved every second of your sessions. You are all amazing at what you do. Keep up the good work.
If you like these sketchnotes, why not join one of my courses and have a go yourself? Click the link to find out more!