INVITED SPEAKERS
OpenTESOL is honored to introduce our featured and keynote speakers at the 9th OpenTESOL International Conference 2021. As a participant, you can post your pre-conference engagement questions at: https://padlet.com/opentesolconference/keynote.
Prof. Yilin Sun
Dr. Yilin Sun is a tenured professor who directs faculty development programs at the Seattle Colleges in Seattle, WA, U.S.A. She has served the field of TESOL for over 30 years as a classroom teacher, program leader, teacher educator, and researcher with many higher education institutions in China, Macau, Canada, and the USA. Dr. Sun is a former president of the TESOL International Association (2013-2016). She also severed as the founding president of Macau Association for Applied Linguistics (MAAL, 2016-2018). She is also serving as Chief Editor of the series Foreign Language Teacher Education and Development: Selected Works of Renowned TESOL Experts published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. As an English Language Specialist, Dr. Sun has provided training workshops in many countries including Russia, Cambodia, Laos, China and Thailand. In 2021, 30@30 Celebration of The English Language Specialist Program of U.S. Department of State recognized Yilin as one of a select group of thirty specialists who have made a lasting impact on the specialist program and on the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) field since 1991. In 2005 Dr. Sun spent five weeks in Vietnam as a member of the Fulbright Study Abroad Vietnam Program.
Over the years, Dr Sun has given numerous keynote/plenary and featured presentations at international professional conferences. She has authored and coauthored books, book chapters, and journal articles. Her research interests include curriculum development, program assessment and evaluation, L2 reading, vocabulary learning, critical thinking, classroom-based action research, teacher education, ESP/EAP, Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT), Project-based Learning, and Bilingual/Multilingual English-speaking Teachers in the ELT field.
Over the years, Dr Sun has given numerous keynote/plenary and featured presentations at international professional conferences. She has authored and coauthored books, book chapters, and journal articles. Her research interests include curriculum development, program assessment and evaluation, L2 reading, vocabulary learning, critical thinking, classroom-based action research, teacher education, ESP/EAP, Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT), Project-based Learning, and Bilingual/Multilingual English-speaking Teachers in the ELT field.
Keynote 1: Cultivating resilient and innovative ELT educators during challenging times
Our life and work as TESOL educators have been changed significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we cope with the many pandemic disruptions and fight against Coronavirus fatigue, educators must build confidence, skills, and strategies to face new challenges and continue our actions and innovations to be successful in the new realities that define our professional and social lives. The speaker, who has a strong research background and extensive teacher education experience in ESL and EFL settings, will discuss these questions: what are the perspectives and directions for ELT and professional development during and beyond Pandemic Times? What are the critical skills and strategies that we need to effectively serve our students and develop professionally? She will also share practices and applicable strategies to help ELT educators broaden professional horizon and deepen our understanding of those essential teaching strategies and skills during challenging times.
Pre-conference Workshops: Digital Project-based Learning activities for engagement and success
The facilitator for this workshop will engage participants in exploring the following questions: what are the major principles on how to design an effective digital PBL project? What are the strategies and resources to utilize to actively engage students in the PBL learning process to develop 21st century skills? She’ll also share samples and engage participants in drafting their own digital PBL project during the workshop. Handouts and resources will be provided, and active participation is expected.
Assoc. Prof. Andy Gao
Dr. Xuesong (Andy) Gao is a language teacher educator at the School of Education, University of New South Wales, Australia. He has been involved in language teacher education in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Taiwan. His research interests include language learner autonomy, language education policy, and language teacher education. His research has been funded by Research Grants Council (Hong Kong), Sumitomo Foundation (Japan), and the Standing Committee for Language Education and Research (Hong Kong). He has published widely in international journals, including ELT Journal, TESOL Quarterly, Modern Language Journal, and Teaching and Teacher Education. He is a co-editor of System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, and co-editor of the English Language Education book series, published by Springer. He also sits on the editorial boards of a number of international journals in applied linguistics and language education including Applied Linguistics Review, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Language Awareness, and Journal of Language, Identity and Education.
Keynote 2: Language learner agency as a pedagogical focus for language teachers
In this talk, I argue that English language teachers should commit ourselves to helping students to become lifelong learners who believe they can learn English and are able to take charge of their learning. For this reason, I present language learner agency, which is defined as ‘the feeling of ownership and sense of control that a learner has concerning their learning’, as a key focus for language teachers when preparing learners for the challenges and opportunities beyond the classroom in teaching. Drawing on a recently published position paper I contributed to with a team of experts, I will outline what learner agency means for language teachers, how it is different from other related self-concepts (such as autonomy, self-regulation) and how it operates. I shall also contextualize the relevant discussion of learner agency within an ecological perspective on language education. I shall consider the challenges that language teachers may have in promoting learner agency before I suggest some possible solutions based on what good language teachers have been doing in teaching.
Nicky Hockly
Nicky Hockly is Director of Pedagogy of The Consultants-E (TCE), a highly-respected and award-winning online training and development organisation. She has worked in the field of English Language Teaching since 1987, is an international plenary speaker, and gives workshops and training courses for teachers all over the world. She has written several prize-winning methodology books about new technologies in language teaching, the most recent of which are Focus on Learning Technologies (2016), and ETpedia Technology (2017). She is currently writing a new methodology book for Cambridge University Press (forthcoming 2022), and also working with co-authors Gavin Dudeney and Mark Pegrum on a second edition of Digital Literacies (2013; forthcoming 2022). Her research interests include blended, hybrid and online learning, as well as the integration of learning technologies in the English language classroom.
Keynote 3: Engaging and motivating students in live online classes
The Covid-19 pandemic saw teachers all over the world suddenly having to teach English online. Although videoconferencing platforms are easily accessible these days, it can be challenging for teachers to engage and motivate students in live online (i.e. videoconference) classes. In this talk, we examine activities and strategies that teachers can use to engage learners and help them practice their English in live online classes, including at lower levels. We look at how to design motivating live online tasks, review key online teaching skills, and consider how to structure engaging online classes. You will leave this session with ideas you can try out in your own videoconference classes with your own learners.
Thuy Tran
Thuy Tran is an English teacher at Duc Hop High School, Hung Yen Province, Vietnam, where she has devoted eleven years of using technology in the classroom to improve students’ outcomes. She has overcome difficulties in teaching conditions and brought the Internet to the classroom. She represented Vietnam at the global Education Exchange Toronto in 2017 and won the overall prize for innovative use of technology. She was selected to be Top 50 Finalists Global Teacher Prize 2019 by Varkey Foundation for making the impact and changing for a better community. She uses Skype in the classroom to connect classrooms internationally and builds her students’ global citizenship. From her viewpoint, technology cannot replace teachers but makes them much more important in a constantly changing world. She believes that learning English is like creating a human named English. She is interested in nurturing that human, and that is the art of an English teacher. She loves sharing and learning from other educators.
Feature Speech 1: Redesigning online teaching in rural schools during the pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic challenges teachers, especially those who are in rural public schools. In response to the challenges, the speaker will share her experience and approach in four parts. The first part is concerned with the current situation of online teaching setting that the speaker has experienced. The second part investigates the nature of the learning process, learners’ outcomes, and learner autonomy in online lessons. The third part provides the audience with practical teaching approaches and tools to redesign online learning environments. The fourth part concludes with evaluations and recommendations to motivate students for better online lessons.
An Dinh
An Dinh is a community-engaged practitioner who has completed a service learning design course provided by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has 5-year experience working for Friends for Street Children, a local non-profit educational organization. Currently, she is Deputy Director at Center for Service Learning at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance (UEF), integrating critical community work into core courses at UEF. An is passionate about youth development, social work, and education. She values human dignity, sustainable development, and the love of humankind.
Featured Speech 2: Integrating community-engaged learning into higher education courses: Lessons from a translation inclusive project
Service learning is an evidence-based, pedagogical approach that empowers students and practitioners to understand and deal with issues in local communities. Service learning helps efficiently transfer academic knowledge into real-life experiences, adequately preparing learners for real work in the future. It also can support local communities by meeting their specific needs. With the efforts of cultivating such experiences, the Center for Service Learning at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance (UEF) was established in 2018 to incorporate service learning into academic courses and proactively engage students and lecturers in community work. In this presentation, An will introduce a model of community-engaged learning and analyze a case study that has successfully integrated community-based practices in a translation course supporting Cerebral Palsy Family Association Vietnam. This session can benefit both lecturers in universities and teachers in schools who are eagerly seeking an approach to design learner-centered, community-based courses.
