Aziz Abu Sarah

National Geographic Learning

Revolutionizing Education: Building Peace in a Divided World

This presentation encapsulates Aziz Abu Sarah's profound journey of utilizing education as a catalyst for transformation-steering him away from radicalism towards becoming a dedicated peace builder. With a focus on his educational endeavors spanning Syria, Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine, and the United States, Abu Sarah illustrates how these initiatives have successfully bridged chasms among discordant communities. By delving into the omnipotent role of education, this session uncovers its potential not only in resolving geopolitical strife but also within the microcosms of classrooms. Join us for an enlightening discourse that explores the remarkable capacity of education to foster harmony amidst division.

Susan Hillyard

Macmillan

Reawakening Humanism in the Age of AI Advancements in ELT

This experiential presentation encourages the participants to discuss and define what is meant by ""humanism in ELT"". We will ask why it is now crucial to address how we can combine it with 21st century skills to strike a balance in interactive classrooms. Practical strategies will be explored. 

Jeremy Harmer

Pearson

How to be human

With the increased use of AI and the automation that is rapidly becoming part of our lives the role of human beings is undergoing something of a transformation. We spend a lot of our time online too and if you wished to be pessimistic you could get very gloomy about how life will develop, especially with the powerful disinformation that is spread round the world on so many digital platforms.

What, then, is the role of educators in such a climate? Do we just enable the digital world or do we have more important things to do? What would the new version of the Turing test (how to differentiate between robot and human) look like?

This talk will examine what education is for and how we can deliver it.

Dr. Nicky Hockly

Cambridge

AI in ELT: Critical Perspectives and Ethical Pathways

This talk considers how AI tools can be used critically, responsibly and ethically by teachers and learners, by exploring some ‘big questions’ associated with the use of generative AI in ELT. We examine whether AI supports language learning, and we explore issues around representation, access, and data, among others, helping you become a more critical and principled user of AI.

Russell Stannard

Nile

Key AI tools that are impacting teaching and learning

This is a talk packed with practical ideas on the use of AI in language education. Based on feedback from Russell's 80,000+ subscribers, Russell will highlight simple but effective tools and ideas that can impact how we prepare our lessons, the activities we do in the classroom and our student's independent learning.

Sarah Hillyard

Pearson

Belonging and personalization in the AI era

This session explores how to create a classroom where students feel they truly belong by personalizing teaching and learning. We’ll discuss practical strategies to foster a positive, learner centered environment and examine the role AI can play in supporting this personalization. With a focus on human connection, this session offers actionable ideas to ensure every learner feels valued and engaged, with or without AI.

Carol Lethaby

Richmond

Evidence-based teaching: combining science and humanism?

People often think that if we consider science and research in our teaching, we disregard the human, creative side of teaching. In this interactive talk, I’ll suggest that evidence-based teaching allows us to use evidence from science together with our knowledge, teaching experience and creativity in order to improve teaching. We’ll examine together some of the most relevant research findings to language teaching. These findings tell us which ideas and practices are not necessarily helpful in language teaching, and which strategies and techniques really do work in the English language classroom. At the same time, evidence shows that we can and should still take student and teacher feelings and experience into account. 

Leonor Corradi

Pearson

Backward Design, AI and GSE: a powerful partnership

This presentation explores the integration of Backward Design in lesson planning, enhanced by the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Global Scale of English (GSE) to foster more efficient, personalized, and adaptive teaching practices. The session will examine how AI tools can support educators throughout this process and maximise instructional effectiveness and student engagement. By integrating both Backward Design, GSE and AI, this presentation highlights innovative approaches to creating dynamic and effective learning environments that prepare students for success in an increasingly technology-driven world.

Guillermo Zaracho

Didactica

The risks of AI tools and the importance of a human-centered approach for teaching EFL 

Few people understand deeply the concepts of Technology, digitasation and AI. This makes it difficult to understand all the nuances of bringing these technologies in the classroom. In this talk we are going to discover the scope of the term technology and narrow it dawn to our context to then study the implications of using AI and why a human-centered approach might be more ethical. 

Kateryna Protsenko

Nile

A framework for creating own AI assistants

This talk explores how teachers can train personal AI assistants using custom GPTs without technical skills. I’ll demonstrate examples, provide a step-by-step guide, highlight common AI errors and how to avoid them, and discuss key ethical considerations in integrating AI into teaching routines.