TESL Niagara Spring Conference 2016
​A Time for Growth
PD Sessions         Breakfast          Publisher Displays         Annual General Meeting

May 7, 2016, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Brock University International Centre, St Catharines, ON  Campus Map
Payment and Conference Details

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PD Sessions             NOTE: All sessions are now full.

1a. Making the Links: Connecting on LinkedIn  Anna Bartosik

Having a digital footprint which you control is invaluable. Connecting with colleagues and potential employers is even better. Add to that a digital portfolio? It all adds up to LinkedIn. We will move from the basics of setting up an account and ensuring your privacy to discussing what should/shouldn't be a part of a profile. We will conclude by exploring LinkedIn's professional development tools, which often get forgotten.

Anna Bartosik is an ESL professor from Sheridan College. She is a teacher/facilitator with an extensive background in ESL/ELT education.  Her current interests include instructional design, assessment and rubrics, program evaluation, storytelling, motivation's role in learning, and incorporating educational technology in the classroom.

2a. Experiential Learning: A Guided Approach Low Tech /Experiential Grammar Activities  Anna Bartosik

Experiential learning has been touted as an effective strategy to support learning in higher education...but can we apply it to the ESL classroom? We will have a go at some ideas to implement teaching grammar, listening, and doing research with students. No BYOD or computer labs are needed for this interactive workshop, but the examples we work through together will touch on "no tech" as well as "some tech." 

Anna Bartosik is an ESL professor from Sheridan College. She is a teacher/facilitator with an extensive background in ESL/ELT education.  Her current interests include instructional design, assessment and rubrics, program evaluation, storytelling, motivation's role in learning, and incorporating educational technology in the classroom.

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1b. Mental Health in ESL Classrooms
Sherry Campbell

For ESL Instructors, interacting with students who may be suffering from PTSD, depression or anxiety can be challenging. This presentation will focus on the sensitive interactions needed with students who may be experiencing a variety of such mental health issues. Sherry Campbell will provide hands-on strategies and tools for ESL Instructors to utilize with their students on a daily basis. 

Sherry Campbell M.A. RSW is a professional speaker as well as owner and principal psychotherapist for the Sherry Campbell Counselling Group. As an experienced workshop presenter and conference speaker, Sherry has offered dynamic workshops for organizations such as; The Canada Revenue Agency, Niagara Regional Police Services, Niagara Victim Services hand Research Institute for Counselling, as well as Boards of Education across Ontario. 

2b. Creating Opportunities for Self-Directed Vocabulary Learning  
Nataliya Borkovska, Scott Jamieson

Educators should promote and support the development of self-directed learning as an integral part of developing lifelong learning skills. Essentially, students need to take the lead in using effective learning strategies to access the learning resources available to them. In this session, the presenters explain how teachers might scaffold the learning process to enable students to identify and select their own vocabulary learning goals, what activities students might complete each week after receiving individual guidance from teachers, and how students might positively evaluate their own learning processes and successes in light of their goals. Through discussing select teaching activities, student exemplars, and end-of-semester student reflections, the presenters hope to offer their perspectives on the students’ and teacher’s role in the self-directed process.

Nataliya Borkovska is a Lead Instructor - University of Guelph English Language Programs. Nataliya has been dedicated to English instruction for more than 15 years.  Her main areas of professional interest lie in second language pedagogy, collaborative learning, specialized vocabulary instruction and the use of technology in language teaching.
Scott Jamieson is a Lead Instructor - University of Guelph English Language Programs. He has been teaching in a blended classroom for the past eight years. His professional interests include investigating the impact of context on teaching and learning as well as on individual differences in learning.

Conference Schedule

8:30-9:00
Welcome/ Sign-In/Publisher Displays (IC 107)

9:00-9:10
Welcome & Opening Remarks

9:10-10:10
Session 1a (Student Lounge) ‘Making the Links: Connecting on LinkedIn'   Anna Bartosik
Session 1b (IC 112) ‘Mental Health in ESL Classrooms’   Sherry Campbell

10:10- 11:00 
Brunch Buffet/Publisher Displays
 
11:10- 12:10
Session 2a  (Student Lounge) 'Low tech / Experiential Grammar Activities’   Anna Bartosik
Session 2b  (IC 115)  ‘Creating Opportunities for Self-Directed Vocabulary Learning’   Nataliya      Borkovska, Scott Jamieson

12:10 -12:30  
Door Prize Draws & Annual General Membership Meeting   

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