2023
An Exploration of the English Noun Phrase by Robert Buckmaster (LATE/The English Ideas Project), LATE’s 6th Winter Training Day. 30 Years Together: Looking Forwards – Professional Perspectives. 4th January 2023.
2022
Teaching Advanced Learners
In this talk I considered the what, the how and the why of teaching Advanced (C1) level students, to ensure their examination and future life success.
LATE’s 30th Anniversary Conference “30 Years Together. Looking Backwards. Looking Forwards” on the 17th and 18th August 2022 in Jaunmārupe.
2021
The New Year 12 Writing Tasks, LATE’s 5th Winter Training Day, “Setting Goals; Meeting Goals. Whose Responsibility is it?”, 29th December
Keeping Our Promise: Writing
Language learning in the classroom is both a promise and a problem. The problem is how can we fulfill our promise. In this session we will consider the promise and the problem, and then focus on how we can teach writing better so that our learners will do better in exams, at university and in the workplace, and in life. Late Annual Conference, 25th August
2020
The Tyranny of the Gap Fill: What are the Alternatives? LATE Winter Seminar, 29th December
The Girl on the Wall, LATE Winter Seminar, 29th December
The Map is Not the Territory, LATE January Seminar, 3rd January
Time, LATE January Seminar, 3rd January
2019
Developing Speaking Skills, LATE Liepaja Conference 2019, October 23rd
Speaking and Speaking Skills, LATE January Seminar, Riga, 4th January
Listening Skills, LATE January Seminar, Riga, 4th January
2018
Writing: Still a Key 21st Century Competency, LATE Annual Conference, Riga 23-24th August
Writing: Still a Key 21st Century Competency, British Council/LATE Summer School, Coping with Competences, 15th-18th August in Priekuļi, Latvia
2016
Dependency Grammar, LATE Annual Conference, Riga 18-19th August. More information here.
Reading: the Deep Text and Dual Text Approaches, LATE Annual Conference, Riga 18-19th August. More information here.
2015
Corpus Linguistics Research and Tools for Teachers and Students, 27th Communication Skills Workshop: Exploring Practices in language centre[d] contexts, Tartu, Estonia, May 14-16th
The Why of an Intelligence Corpus; and How: Ethical and Constructions Issues The Why Linguistics Conference, the University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia, May 7-9th
2014
Language, Change and Teaching; the closing plenary of the LATE Annual Conference, Riga, 22nd August, in which I considered three aspects of our profession – language, change and teachers’ teaching – and wove these three strands together into a reflective summation of the conference. More information here.
E-Learning: Differences, dimensions and options, Faculties of Philology of the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences and the University of Wroclaw 6th International Conference: Linguistic, Didactic and Sociocultural Aspects of Language Functioning, Vilnius, 25th April
The Associative Model, University of Latvia, 50th Artura Ozola Conference Riga, 20th March
Observations on English Vocabulary Size of 1st and 2nd Year MA Students [with Professor Vita Kalnberzina], University of Latvia, Riga 28th January
2013
Inside and Outside the Bubble, 13th Latgale Annual English Language teachers’ Conference, Daugavpils, 29th October
Watch This Space: Going Digital Made Simple, LATE Annual Conference, Riga 22-23rd August. More information here.
It is all in the mind, LATE Annual Conference, Riga, 22-23rd August. More information here.
2012
Adding value to the learning experience, LATE Annual Conference, Riga, 23-24th August. More information here.
2011
Being the best teacher you can be, LATE Annual Conference, Riga, 25-26th August. More information here.
2010
Key Ideas & Short texts Poster Presentations, LATE Annual Conference, Riga, 19-20th August.
Oral testing formats and task types, Latvian Min. of Education, Riga, 22nd September
2009
Using Short Authentic Texts, LATE Annual Conference, Riga, 21-22nd August
2008
Why did summer go so quickly, was it something that I said? LATE Annual Conference, Riga, 22-23rd August
2007
Fulfilling the Task: exam writing & speaking, LATE Annual Conference, Riga, 24-25th August
The distance between us, LATE Annual Conference Riga, 24-25th August
2005
The English Verb, EATE Conference. Tartu. 5th November
Sustainability and Legacy Planning, BC PEP Annual Conference Belgrade, October
Reading Skills, BC PEP Bulgaria Conference, Sofia, 11-12th March
2004
On-line Learning: Professional English for the Police, BC PEP Annual Conference, Zagreb October
The ELT Verb, LATE Annual Conference, Riga, 20-22nd August
The Estonian Professional English Learning System, BC Glasgow Conference, Glasgow 22nd July
Peer Review, British Council PEP JHA Conference, Warsaw 3-6th June
The Problem of Best Practice, British Council PEP JHA Conference, Warsaw 3-6th June
The CEF and the Estonian Learning System, British Council PEP JHA Conference, Warsaw 3-6th June
The Theory and Practice of e-Learning, 20th CSW, Pajulahti 14-16th May
2003
The ELT Verb, 19th CSW, Taipalsa 22nd May
Using e-Groups for Teacher Training, 37th IATEFL Conference, Brighton 22-26th April