Speakers

Dr Andrew Curran

Title: How do brains learn best?

Andrew Curran describes the neurobiology of learning as explored in the last 30 years of research in simple, understandable and usually highly entertaining detail. If you really want to get how brains work, and how they learn optimally come along.

Professor Terry Lamb
Professor of Languages and Interdisciplinary Pedagogy, University of Westminster

A former secondary school languages teacher and ALL President, Terry is Professor of Languages and Interdisciplinary Pedagogy at the University of Westminster, where he leads on education research, migration research and research ethics across the university. He has published extensively in the areas of multilingualism and pedagogy for autonomy and is founder editor of the academic journal Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching. In addition, Terry has worked closely on languages strategy and curriculum with the UK and other Governments and has been awarded the honour of Chevalier des Palmes Académiques by the French Prime Minister. He continues to work closely with both the Council of Europe and the European Commission and is currently President of FIPLV (Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes), an NGO of UNESCO and the Council of Europe.

Title: Valuing our multilingualism: Past, present and future spaces of hope for a linguistically inclusive society

Globalisation brings with it increasing diversity in our neighbourhoods, and this includes speakers of a wide range of languages. In my talk, I will argue that our diverse languages are of immense value, but that, despite the recent resurgence in calls for social justice and decolonisation in many parts of the world, the linguistic dimension is mostly ignored and many of our language communities and their languages continue to suffer marginalisation and exclusion. In this talk, however, I will highlight “spaces of hope” – past and present - for a more linguistically inclusive society. Focusing mainly on the UK and other European countries, I will draw on a range of examples at local, national and international levels, to support my argument that, despite their tenacity, exclusionary beliefs, practices, policies and structures can indeed be challenged. In so doing, I will reflect on the processes that may be conducive to a shift to a more linguistically inclusive world and will highlight the potential of the Council of Europe’s recent Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture.

Dr Liam Printer
The International School of Lausanne

Dr. Liam Printer is the Leader of Pedagogical Innovation and Approaches to Learning at the International School of Lausanne in Switzerland where he also teaches Spanish in the middle and high school as part of the International Baccalaureate programme. His Doctorate in Education focussed on motivation and teaching languages through storytelling and his research has been published in various peer reviewed journals. He has been invited as the Keynote speaker at the Irish Association of Spanish Teachers national conference, The Dynamic Language Learning Conference in the Netherlands, The French Teachers Association National Conference and The Goethe Institute of London's annual conference. He has worked as an educational consultant with schools in Australia, Finland, China, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland, and been invited to present at many international language teaching conferences. Liam also lectures on the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) delivered through the University of Durham and the International School of Geneva. Liam hosts The Motivated Classroom podcast which has now had over 250,000 downloads from over 100 different countries around the world.

Title: The motivational pull of teaching through compelling, comprehensible inputs.

In his Keynote address, Dr. Liam Printer will share key insights from the research about how we can ensure we are planning our lessons in a way that will boost our students' intrinsic motivation. Through the lens of Self-Determination Theory, Dr. Printer will provide practical examples that appeal to learners' natural psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness which have been proven in the research to raise their engagement in lessons and lead to implicit acquisition of the language. Attendees will leave this session with a host of practical, low-prep motivational strategies as well as a sound understanding of how to plan lessons for motivation rather than for examination.