Contemporary English Course

(Carmela Vaamonde, Dpto. de Inglés)

The course Contemporary English for Adult Education Staff was held in Cambridge from 26^th July to 7^th August 2015. It was part of the annual Teacher Campus organised by Bell English at Homerton College. It is a course aimed at experienced teachers with a high standard of English working with adult students, and taught through a series of informal lectures, seminars and workshops.

Course aims

·         To update participants on current trends in the use of contemporary English

·         To extend knowledge of idiomatic and colloquial language
·         To provide language development and practice

·         To present practical ideas and techniques for teaching the topics covered

Topics included

·         How social and cultural changes have affected modern English

·         Exploiting authentic materials for learning activities

·         Political correctness

·         Trends in lexical change and new words

·         Language change

·         Slang and idioms

·         Varieties of English

Groups are normally 10-15 people – ours ended up being a bit bigger, because apparently word got round that it was a great group to be in (it was, actually!), so some people left other groups and moved to it!

The typical timetable was two 90-minute sessions in the morning, and a more varied schedule in the afternoon – maybe another group session, a variety of workshops and cultural talks to choose from, plenary talks on Wednesdays, and some (much needed) free time on Fridays. There was also a full social programme including some excursions at weekends.

Great opportunities offered by the course

·         Sharing experiences with colleagues from different countries and different educational backgrounds. For instance, finding out how learning English is changing the outlook on life of girls in Saudi Arabia; or getting to know about the jazyková škola in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the only institutions in Europe similar to escuelas oficiales de idiomas in Spain.  

·         Experiencing the life and peculiarities of a great university town like Cambridge from the unbeatable environment provided by a real Cambridge college, and “going native” with year-round residents.

• Not only refreshing the language, but also becoming more up-to-date with the social and cultural changes behind it: learning about media (movies, radio and TV programmes, websites – even augmented reality!) which can give a more contemporary twist to language teaching.

Some of this has been shared with the English department here:

http://www.edu.xunta.es/centros/eoicoruna/aulavirtual/course/view.php?id=222