Conference Overview: The ” Certifying Excellence: Teacher Training and Language Assessment” conference focuses on the critical aspects of teacher training and language assessment. It aims to provide a context for educators, trainers, and language assessment professionals to share their expertise, discuss best practices, learn and explore the latest advancements in the field.

Conference program:
8.30 – 9.30 Registration
9.30 – 10.00 Opening speeches – Alina Gânj (General Manager International House Bucharest), Lisa Clark (Regional Director Europe, Turkey and CAMENA), Andrei Niculescu (General Manager Niculescu Publishing House , Oxford-Niculescu Education)
10.00 – 10.45  Oxford Test of English – Speaker: Samantha Tinkler
10.45 – 11.30 Increasing Engagement, learning better! & The Cambridge CELTA – Speaker: Robert Martinez 
11.30 – 12.00 Coffee break
12.00 – 12.45 Unlocking the Doors to Professional Excellence: The Cambridge Delta Journey  –  Speaker: Teodora Manole
12.45 – 13.30  Get your students speaking with Business Result – Speaker: Gareth Davies

13.30 – 14.00 Lunch
14. 00 – 14.45 Insights from the IHCYLT &Effective Differentiation: catering to individual learner needs – Speaker: Jennifer Hillhouse
14.45 – 15.30 Creating a curious classroom – Speaker: Gareth Davies

15.30 -16.00 Q&A – Diplomas – Conclusions

 Meet Our Exceptional Tutors

Robert Martínez (DIRECTOR/TEAM LEADER AT LACUNZA IH SAN SEBASTIAN)
Robert started his English-teaching career in 1994 at Centro Colombo Americano from Santafé de Bogotá (Colombia). He gained tremendous TEFL experience throughout the 1990s with various language schools based in Turin (Italy), as well as the British Council in Cairo (Egypt).

Between 1999 and 2001 he gained both his CELTA and his DELTA qualifications at the British Council in Milan (Italy). He became Director of Studies in 2005 at Anderson House Bergamo (Italy) and Managing Director at International House (IH) Palma de Mallorca in 2006, when he also started running CELTA courses as Assistant Tutor. Since then he has been a CELTA tutor with prestigious schools such as British Council Singapore and Giga IH Catania (Italy). Robert is also a Cambridge-certified YLE, BULATS and IELTS Speaking Examiner, a Cambridge Exams Team Leader and a registered translator and interpreter proficient in Spanish, Italian and English. Robert’s list of qualifications is impressive and includes a TESOL MA (Merit), a Postgraduate Diploma in TESOL, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Academic Management (Distinction). As if this weren’t enough, he has also recently completed the MA in Professional Development for Language Education with NILE/University of Chichester with a Merit grade.

His professional creed? Excellence, and excellence again.

Increasing Engagement, learning better! & The Cambridge CELTA – How engaged are your students with the content you bring into class? Would you like to explore how to increase their level of engagement? Would you like to become a Cambridge CELTA qualified teacher? Come along and learn about both options. Be prepared to participate in this practical session!

Teodora Manole (HEAD OF TEACHER TRAINING IH BUCHAREST)

Teodora has been working for IH Bucharest since 2010. She has a wide range of experience in teaching and training, having taught a variety of courses, from Business English to exam preparation and YL groups, and is currently working as one of our CELTA and IHCYLT Main Course Tutors.

As Head of Teacher Training, she contributes to designing and implementing IH Bucharest’s INSETT programme, as well as overseeing our events for external teachers, such as the Coffee @ IH series. Teodora also acts as Teaching Qualifications Centre Administrator, which means she makes sure that all of our teacher training courses are run to the standards imposed by Cambridge and IHWO, and that you have a high chance of meeting her if you apply for one of them.

“Unlocking the Doors to Professional Excellence: The Cambridge Delta Journey” – In this interactive session, we will demystify the Delta experience, shedding light on the challenges, rewards, and profound impact it can have on your teaching career. Whether you’re considering taking the plunge or are already on your Delta journey, this session aims to inspire and empower you on your path to becoming a highly accomplished English language teacher. Unleash your potential, embrace the Delta, and unlock the doors to professional excellence.

Gareth Davies
Gareth Davies is a storyteller, author, teacher and teacher trainer living in Pontypridd in South Wales. Gareth has lived and taught in Czechia, Spain, Portugal and Japan and is currently a senior teacher at a language school in Cardiff. He’s been involved with material development and teacher training with Oxford University Press since 2005 and has delivered training to teachers all around the world. Outside of teaching, Gareth is an oral storyteller and novelist and probably the worst ukulele player in the world.

Get your students speaking with Business Result – Sometimes getting adult students to speak in a language classroom can be difficult. People who are not shy in their own language clam up in a foreign language. A fear of sounding ‘silly’ in a foreign language can inhibit them and in turn inhibit their progress. In this talk, we will look at how we can motivate our students to talk by setting meaningful, challenging, creative tasks that will help them to stretch their existing knowledge and communicate effectively in English.  

Creating a curious classroom – For years people have been talking about the four Cs of language learning – creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication – but how about the forgot 5^th C, curiosity. Before any learning takes place, students need to be curious, and it has been shown that curious students learn better. So how do we go about creating curious students? Using examples from Life Vision, we will look at how we can arouse our students’ curiosity and make them better language learners.  

Jennifer Hillhouse (Educational Manager & IHC YLT TUTOR)
Jennifer is from England and started teaching in 2001.  She spent ten years in Russia, six years in Portugal and is based in England.  She has been with International House since 2005 and has worked as a teacher, teacher trainer, academic manager and materials writer.  She specialises in teaching younger learners and very young learners, has been working as a teacher trainer for IH Bucharest since 2013 and is currently the academic manager for EKA.

Effective Differentiation: catering to individual learner needs – In the session we will explore why it is important to differentiate and adapt activities to suit individual as well as group needs.  We will experiment with practical ideas that you will be able to take away and use with your own classes.

Ticket price = 130 lei