Clicks and bricks help Congo teachers join the global ELT conversation - A Harrogate Online British Council Press Release

We'd like to share the press release below which was prepared by Danny Whitehead and Julian Wing and captures a Harrogate Online initiative established to take the IATEFL 2010 online conference coverage to teachers in Democratic Republic of Congo.

-------

Clicks and bricks help Congo teachers join the global ELT conversation

The Democratic Republic of Congo held its first ELT conference this month but it took place not in Kinshasa but thousands of miles away in the spa town of Harrogate in northern England.

Online coverage of the 2010 conference of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) was brought to the central African nation by a pioneering webcasting service coupled with an innovative project on the ground in Kinshasa.

For four days during the conference the British Council rented two cyber-cafés in Kinshasa which were opened free of charge to English teachers. Around 200 Congolese took advantage, some travelling over 400 KM to attend.

The conference is the largest of its kind in the world, with 2000 physical delegates in Harrogate and a global audience of 40,000 who all come together to promote and discuss the latest thinking in the teaching of English. Following each plenary session, local discussion groups and workshops were organised to discuss the themes and ideas presented and relate them to the DRC context.

For many participants, this was their first experience of the internet, but experienced users were on-hand to give basic internet training and help the participants set up email addresses. This enabled them to share their experience and knowledge with ELT teachers in other countries.

‘The teachers got responses from everywhere in the world, ‘ said Cyril Lungu of the Congolese Language Supporters Society. ‘We were proud to get the feedback from the world and to write “I'm from DR Congo.”’

Involving DRC teachers this way was the brainchild of Danny Whitehead, Peacekeeping English Project Manager in DRC. ‘This is a great example of the British Council creating a global network of English language teaching professionals,’ he said. ‘By creating opportunities such as this for those without access to the internet, we’re sharing knowledge and best practice with all; bringing the world to DRC, and bringing DRC to the world.’

‘It’s incredible to see teachers in DRC playing their part in the international ELT community,’ added Julian Wing, the British Council’s IATEFL Online Project Manager. ‘On one day of the conference, DRC was in the top five countries globally accessing our live feed, alongside the UK, Russia and Turkey!’

Cyril Lungu summed up the feelings of his members: ‘This was the first time we’ve had an international ELT conference in DRC’, he enthused. ‘With a little effort like this, we can have huge impact!'

The interviews and sessions recorded at the 2010 IATEFL Conference can be viewed on the Harrogate Online website
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2010

For more information on IATEFL Online, contact Julian Wing
julian.wing -at- britishcouncil -dot- org

For more information about IATEFL please see www.iatefl.org

----ends----