12 Jan Why IH Bucharest is organising a rare conference that you should attend: 8-9 April 2022, online

Author: Ilinca Stroe

Teachers’ conferences are not common. Google, and you’ll see. A few a year occur in the world, some for tertiary-level professionals, some about school policies, but very few for regular teachers who simply want to learn something new from experts in their field. So for a language centre to set out to organise a two-day online international conference for language teachers from all over the world is, well, quite ambitious.

Why is it that International House Bucharest has taken up that challenging task? Founded in 2002, the centre turns 20 in 2022, and the conference, named “Perfect 20. Two decades of IH Bucharest expertise at your service”, will mark the anniversary. 20 years is an important span, for a company making its way in the Romanian business environment of the noughties. During that time, IH Bucharest not only “survived”, but grew. Here are the landmarks of its development:

• 2002:   became an affiliate member of International House World Organisation
• 2005:   launched English courses for young learners (YLs)
• 2008:   became an affiliate member of EAQUALS (Evaluation and Accreditation of Quality Language Services)
• 2009:   set up its YL unit, English Kids Academy
• 2017:   received Best Preparation Centre award in the step-by-step category (Cambridge Assessment English)
• 2018:   was awarded 11/12 points of excellence at the EAQUALS Inspection
• 2018:   received iStudy Guide award for Teaching Excellence
• 2019:   set up its Teacher Training Centre (TTC)
• 2020:   joined the RULER Program from Yale Centre for Emotional Intelligence (USA)
• 2020:   set up its German for children unit, Die Deutsche Akademie Bukarest
• 2020:   its TTC became the only centre accredited to run all the three DELTA course modules in Romania
• 2021:   was awarded the Gold Preparation Centre status (Cambridge Assessment English)

A numerical “snapshot” of the performance of IH Bucharest over the two decades will necessarily feature

• 400 client companies
• 28,600 in-company students
• 3,000 YLs enrolled every year
• 30 free training seminars and webinars for language teachers
• over 10 CELTA courses run on-site or online by the TTC
• from 6 to currently 150 collaborating teachers all over Romania
• 4 times No. 1 in the National Ranking of Private Companies from Romania
• 96.5% student satisfaction rate over the last year.

All of that is certainly worth celebrating. But the anniversary conference is less about IH, and more about language teaching and teachers. The event’s four plenaries, 16 workshops and 20 talks by international speakers who are experts in the field will fall under four themes: Cambridge Teaching Qualifications, Teaching Young Learners, Teaching Business English, and Teaching Modern Languages. In all of these areas you are guaranteed to get high-quality input which is informative as much as it may be inspirational.

The confirmed speakers to date include world-class teacher trainers and educational managers such as

• Scott THORNBURY (founder of Dogme ELT)
• Estelle HÉLOUIN (Languages Coordinator, IHWO)
• Iulia LEHNER (DELTA trainer)
• Jennifer HILLHOUSE (IH Bucharest)
• Anette IGEL (IH Hamburg)
• Dr. Karolina KOTOROWICZ-JASINKA (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University)
• Palmina La Rosa (founder of Giga IH Catania)

The benefits of attending “Perfect 20”, however, extend beyond the speakers’ good reputation, and they have to do with your own professional development, work satisfaction and teaching career. By attending.

• you will be exposed to the latest developments and freshest ideas in language teaching;
• you find out about career opportunities and prospects in language teaching;
• you may win useful prizes (e.g. methodology books) offered by the event’s sponsors;
• you get to network with peers, educational partners and experts from all over the world.

While the conference full programme is currently being put together and will be announced soon on the event’s web page, you are strongly encouraged to put down the date and time in your diary: 8 April 2022, 1.45pm-8pm, and 9 April 2022, 9.45am-5:15pm).  Most importantly, seize the opportunity to purchase your ticket with a special 15% discount available only until 28 February 2022. So click here, get your discounted ticket and prepare for a professional experience that will absolutely boost your teaching self!

International House Bucharest runs regular CELTA and DELTA courses for teachers of English at its Teacher Training Centre, as well as training events online, onsite or at partner locations. To sign up for a course or event, contact celta@ih.ro.