1days

The First BETEA Teachers Days took place at HIZPEI (Hizkuntz Pedagogiako Institutoa) in Donostia - San Sebastian on 15th and 16th December 1995. They were organised by the Committee formed earlier that year. 130 people from all sectors of Education attended these meetings. The majority of participants (73%) came from Gipuzkoa, 18% from Bizkaia and 9% from Araba.

Ramon Ribe from the University of Barcelona, inaugurated the Teachers Days with a conference about the role of foreign language teachers from the 1960's until the present day. He traced an interesting development of theories and fashions relevant to each period and reflected upon our task as educators today and in the near future.

Fred Genesse, from the McGill University in Canada, presented a talk on the Saturday morning about various alternative methods of conducting formative evaluations in class by collecting samples of students' work and by using students' diaries in which an on-going dialogue is maintained between the student and the teacher.

In the closing session we had great pleasure in listening to Isabel Serrano from the I.E.S. Avempace in Zaragoza. She demonstrated a way to achieve true autonomous learning by putting into practice a programme based on the continual negotiation and pact-making between students and the teacher.

According to the feedback forms people seemed to especially enjoy the following talks: "Autonomous Learning" by Rufino Grande-Garcia, "One fine day in the middle of the night and other children's rhymes" by Diana Lindsay and "Using TV recorded materials" by M. Eugenia Monreal.

It's worth pointing out the many encouraging comments we received to continue organising more meetings of this nature, and on the other hand the need to offer a variety of talks especially for the interests of Secondary and University teachers.

As additional activities we had an opportunity to see a live performance by ETC ("English Theatre Company") on the Friday evening. We also appreciated the short recital of chamber music by a string duet to close our conference. The publishers' stands showed the latest materials in English Language Teaching.

In conclusion we can safely say that the 1st BETEA Teachers Days were a success and were a welcome opportunity for the teachers to share and exchange ideas and experiences. Therefore, with the support of all the participants, we were encouraged as an organisation to plan further Teachers Days.

(This text is 99% by Sarah Richards)