Schools

August 2024, Macmillan English Latin American Festival
‘Curious and Creative: Engaging Young Learners in Meaningful and Creative Tasks’ for the Macmillan English Empowering Young Learners Training Day. 

August 2024, Pearson Publishing, Brazil
Webinar for Heads of International Schools in Brazil. ‘Inclusive School Practices for Students with Learning Disabilities and Difficulties.’ 

February 2024, Macmillan English Global Teachers’ Festival
‘Ideation in the YL Classroom: Generating, Developing and Sharing Creative Ideas.’ To watch the webinar, visit:  Generating, Developing and Sharing Creative Ideas by Sea Steele and Sarah Smith – YouTube

February 2024, Teachers’ Association PL Rhineland-Palatinate and British Council, Germany

Cognition and Challenge in the Secondary Classroom for secondary school teachers.

October 2023, Macmillan Publishers 
‘Curious and Creative: Engaging Young Learners in Meaningful and Creative Tasks’ for the Macmillan English Empowering Young Learners Training Day. To read more, visit: Empowering Young Learners Day (macmillanenglish.com). 

January – March 2023 British Council, India

A series of exciting and interactive webinars to English Language teachers across India. Topics included: Teachers and Students with Disabilities, Creating Inclusive, Diverse and Equitable Classrooms, and Empowering Learners with Learning to Learn Techniques.

Review from the organiser: “There was so much enthusiastic feedback about how much the teachers learnt, how awesome and amazing the session was. They wanted you to talk to their school board authorities, do more sessions etc.”

Review: “It blew my mind about how engaging a classroom can be.” “I have been an educator for decades and have not attended such an illuminating session.”

January – December 2022 British Council Teach English Website
eltonix was invited to deliver a 6-part series of webinars on the topic of Creativity in the Classroom.  We developed and delivered the following: What is Creativity in the Classroom? Task Design Promoting Creative Thinking Skills (Part 1 & 2), Creative Feedback, Creative Ideas for your Professional Development & Being Creative with Low Resources. To see the recordings: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/what-creativity-classroom

Review: “It was one of the best, if it is not the best webinar, I have ever attended from content to presentation and interaction. Really appreciate.”

Other webinars delivered for the British Council

Increasing the Level of Challenge and Cognition in the Teenage Classroom
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/challenge-and-cognition-increasing-level-challenge-teenage-classes

Supporting Students with ADHD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssy2gcWPMTg&list=PLvCfA99qTst9EiVeKqwG86pUoomH81MHK&index=3&ab_channel=BritishCouncil%7CTeachingEnglishUpc

ONGOING, British Council Teaching English Website
eltonix is currently writing a series of 10 listening lessons on Social Justice Themes for British Council (levels A2-C1) for a global audience of 6 million teachers!

April 2024, Macmillan Education, The Little Book of Curiosity
Unlock the power of curiosity in your primary classrooms with this amazing book. We offer practical tips and strategies for primary school teachers to fuel creativity and collaboration for a brighter learning experience. Download your copy here: Curious Kids – Macmillan English – course

May – July 2023 In collaboration with British Council Northern Ireland, British Council Teach English Website and The National Archives, UK 

eltonix developed a series of interactive lessons for the Secondary EFL/ESL classroom to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in collaboration with The National Archives and British Council Northern Ireland. The materials include lesson plans and classroom materials and can be accessed and downloaded here: From conflict to peace in Northern Ireland | TeachingEnglish | British Council 

To read more about the impact of these materials and their global launch, please refer to the UK Gov press release: New teaching resource helps English students around the world learn about the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

March 2023 Burlington Books (ELT Publishers)
eltonix developed bespoke teacher training materials including webinars, workshops and accompanying tasks and trainers’ notes on the following topics: Fostering a Growth Mindset, Higher Order Thinking Skills in the Secondary Classroom,  Teaching Phonology to Young Learners, Teaching and Learning Creatively: Creative Tasks (a Primary version and a Secondary version), Empowering Young Learners with Learning to Learn Techniques and Inclusion and Diversity in the Young Learner Classroom. We worked closely with the Publishing House to create innovative, creative and engaging content with a balance of theory and practice that can be delivered by their in-house trainers. 

Review: “In total, more than a thousand people have seen at least one of these talks and the feedback has been very good! Participants found the experience enlightening, inspiring and practical and an amazing experience overall.”

February 2023 ELLiL Project Partners, Nord University, Norway
eltonix produced illustration and text work for the RIDL (reading for in-depth learning) framework.

Review: “Both our universities have in-house graphic artists, but neither of them are educators as well and so although their work is great, they weren’t able to envision what we were looking for in this graphic. It is always such a joy to be able to work with someone who ‘gets’ what you’re doing and works alongside you adding their very ample talent.”

July 2022 British Council Future English Online Teacher Community Summer School
eltonix developed engaging and bespoke content, materials, and trainer notes for webinars and speaking clubs, as well as forum posts and reading lists for participants in the Online Teacher Community Summer School. These were delivered to around 500 English Teachers, based in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine who wanted to improve their English level and reflect on teaching techniques.

Review: “The feedback on the summer school has been absolutely amazing – teachers loved the concept and the structure and really benefitted from getting involved. They loved the content and found it useful and entertaining, and we got the same feedback from our trainers as well.”

May 2024, Macmillan Education, Vietnam
eltonix worked with hundreds of educators in Can Tho, Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City on a 4-day tour delivering training on Developing Creative Thinking and Fostering a Sense of Wonder and Curiosity in the Primary and Secondary Classroom.  

Review: “Engaging and thoughtful training which had me laughing and engaged throughout. I understood the theory and immediately applied the ideas to my classrooms.”
“It was obvious to me that this was super effective because there were some children in the audience who enjoyed every moment. Excellent!” 

October 2023, We Need to Talk about ADHD, collaboration with educators
Sarah Smith and Lottie Galpin collaborated with other educators to share our experiences of living (and teaching) with ADHD. This was a 5-part series which can be viewed here: We need to talk about ADHD! Episode 1 – YouTube

From October 2023 – June 2024 Associação Portuguesa de Professores de Inglês (APPI)

eltonix periodically deliver a 25-hour course called Let’s Get Creative in the Teen Classroom to educators in Portugal. During the course, participants learn ways to design and promote creative thinking in task design. This includes ways to adapt existing materials, how to give feedback on implicit language teaching, and how to approach social justice issues and intercultural citizenship through visuals and visual literacy.

Review: “This training course was excellent as it became clear that the use of art and art forms opens up multiple possibilities in the classroom and is beneficial to all students, catering for and encouraging those who struggle academically to become more involved.”
“The trainers’ dynamic during the sessions allowed us to interact with everyone and to create an atmosphere of companionship, almost a family, where we felt comfortable to ask, answer, fail, laugh, cry, exactly the way we are supposed to make our students feel in our classes.” 

October 2021 IATEFL Young Learner and Teens Special Interest Group

eltonix designed and delivered a 6-hour course for members of IATEFL YLTSIG on Using and Creating Images and Art in the English Language Primary Classroom. To read the accompanying blog post, visit Visual art in primary English language teaching | YLT (iatefl.org)

Review: “Your perfect 5-star rating is intact which I think is truly exceptional. Participants were super enthusiastic and very clear that your course will have a massive impact on their practice.”

May – July 2021 British Council, Sri Lanka
We trained and mentored 15 teachers from the Sri Lanka British Council Teaching Centre. The brief was to prepare in-service newly-trained (CELTA) teachers to teach Young Learners.  The aims of the course were to improve practical teaching skills (face-to-face & online), improve skills on adapting existing Primary & Secondary Plus materials, to develop a deeper understanding of Task-based Learning & set up and manage a supportive and active community of practice.

Review: “Sarah and Claire were amazing trainers. They were kind and thorough and their sessions were relevant, consistent, and to the point. Enjoyed the training immensely!”

“Loved the vibe and overall atmosphere of wit and understanding created in the classroom by Sarah and Claire! I was learning so much while having a good time – I aim to make my own classroom atmosphere the same!”

March 2021 Language Centre, Linguist N LLC, Azerbaijan
eltonix delivered online training for Young Learner teachers at a language school in Azerbaijan. The brief was to improve on practical skills for in-house Young Learner teachers (face-to-face & online).

Review: “I would like to thank you for organizing an amazing session – I learnt a lot from it.” 

September 2024, British Council Germany and Universität Rostock
Workshops for state school teachers at primary and secondary levels
WORKSHOP 1 Promoting Creative Thinking in Young Learner Classrooms (for age groups 6-12)
WORKSHOP 2: Encouraging Learners to Reflect Using Creative Feedback Techniques (for age groups 12-18)

September 2024, British Council Germany, Tübingen, ZSL Baden-Württemberg
Workshops for trainee state school teachers at lower and upper secondary levels.
WORKSHOP 1 Promoting Creative Thinking in Young Learner Classrooms through
Engaging Task Design
WORKSHOP 2 Encouraging Learners to Reflect Using Creative Feedback Techniques

April 2023, IATEFL, Brighton
WORKSHOP (YLTSIG and LIT SIG Special Interest Day) ‘from the stars in the sky to the fish in the sea’ let them be them
Watch here: ‘from the stars in the sky to the fish in the sea’, let them be them. (youtube.com)
TALK (IPSEN SIG) Stop Including Us! Arguments Against Inclusion and For Diversity 
Watch here: Stop Including Us! Arguments Against Inclusion & For Diversity. – YouTube

March 2024, Macmillan Advancing Learning Podcast (S1, E07) – Learning to love learning
Listen here: Advancing Learning Podcast (macmillanenglish.com) 

January 20 2024 ELA (Educational Leadership Association) Annual Conference, Greece
KEYNOTE Promoting Creative Thinking in the Young Learner Classroom through Engaging Task Design
WORKSHOP Designing Creative Tasks in the Young Learner Classroom 
WORKSHOP Plan, Do, Review in the Young Learner Classroom

September 22 2023, British Council Germany and German Association of Sprachpraxis Professionals
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Promoting Creative Thinking in Higher Education
Classroom through Engaging Task Design

September 20-21 2023, British Council Germany and University of Saarland
WORKSHOPS Promoting Creative Thought in Young Learner Classrooms through Engaging Task Design & Encouraging Learners to Reflect Using Creative Feedback Techniques

June 10-11 2023, GRADE Education Centre, Kyiv 
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Diversity Matters: Fostering Kindness in the Young Learner Classroom

April 2023 IATEFL, Harrogate 
WORKSHOP (YLT SIG) How to Teach Creative Thinking to Young Learners.

February 2023, British Council, Germany and LISUM (state teacher training institute) 
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Promoting Creative Thinking in Young Learner classrooms.

February 2023, Associacão Portuguesa de Professores de Inglês 
PLENARY SPEECH Promoting Creative Thinking in Task Design.

January 2023, IATEFL Young Learner Sig Webcon 
PLENARY SPEAKERS Learning to Look: Visual Literacy to Explore Global Identity with Teens.

November 2022, International House, London: Future of Training Conference
PRESENTATION Tokenism or Engagement: A New Model for Teacher Development.

October 2022, Associacão Portuguesa de Professores de Inglês
WORKSHOP Challenge & Cognition in the Teenage Classroom.

October 2022, British Council, Germany and LISUM (state teacher training institute)
WORKSHOP Cognition and Challenge in the Young Learner Classroom.

June 2022, HUPE Croatia
WORKSHOP Cognition and Challenge in the Young Learner Classroom.

May 2022, IATEFL, Belfast
PRESENTATION Tokenism or Engagement: A New Model for Teacher Development.

March 2022, TESOL Greece
PRESENTATION Tokenism or Engagement: A New Model for Teacher Development.

Steele, C. and Smith, S. (2021). Through participation to empowerment. In English Teaching Professional (137) pp. 58 – 60.

Smith, S. and Steele, C. (2023). Childish Gambino’s This is America. In CLELE Journal (11: 1) Children’s Literature in English Language Teaching. Introduced by – David Valente – CLELE JOURNAL – children´s literature in english language educationCLELE JOURNAL – children´s literature in english language education