Well, I can’t really think of many better ways to spend a weekend. A conference packed full of amazing highlights and accompanied by some of the nicest, most engaged and interesting people in ELT. Really, TESOL France’s 30th Annual colloquium does justify the hype and superlative.
This is testament to the brilliant work of Madame La Présidente, Bethany Cagnol (@bethcagnol), and her wonderful TESOL France committee. I can only guess at the sheer amount of work that has to go into organising such a great event.
And it was so great, at least it certainly was for this teacher. I plan to blog in more detail about sessions I went to and things I learnt, including a bit about my own workshop, but for now here is a non-definitive list of my particular enjoyed moments:
Highly inspiring and informative sessions by Dale Coulter, Anna Musielak, Willy Cardoso, Fiona Mauchline, Simon Greenall, Cecilia Lemos, Shelly Terrell… I really did enjoy every workshop I attended. There was such a good selection! At more than one time during the weekend I wished I could have split myself into two, or three or four!
Really engaging plenary speakers, the stand out highlight of which was Luke Medding’s talk on ‘Dogme and the city’, a journey through teaching and the French capitale, including a fab impersonation of Greta Garbo by Mr Meddings!
Bethany introduces Luke for his Saturday plenary
Oh and who could forget the great entertainment, including karaoke organized by Pandaman, Brad Patterson. Though maybe the less said about that, the better!
In the mean time please check out these blogs by fellow TESOL France attendees and speakers, as I’m sure they will be sharing their experiences of the weekend:
vickyloras.wordpress.com
languagemoments.wordpress.com (Dale Coulter)
lukemeddings.posterous.com
theteacherjames.blogspot.com (James Taylor)
And, I’m sure, there many more!
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Hey Mike-
Mum’s the word on karaoke…
Already looking forward to the next opportunity to make fools of ourselves on-stage. And yes, I can’t imagine all the work Beth, Debbie and many others put into this. It was a great conference !
Word is indirectly out about karaoke! Ah well, ‘sall good fun! We can’t be serious teaching types all the time, right?!
I’m sincerely touched and moved by your comments. We do work very hard to organize amazing conferences. This year we were so fortunate to have such a large team of teachers and pre-teachers helping us. Moreover, we congratulate all the speakers on their superb presentations. It was an amazing weekend, I agree, and I’m honored to be a part of your ELT family.
Bethany
Thank YOU (aaaaaaaaaaall the wonderful TESOL France people) for such a great event! For me it surpassed last year in so many ways! What are you going to do to top it for 2012??
Mike =)
Very nice words Mike! Unfortunately, Paris was a bit far for me and couldn’t make it this year to TESOL FR, maybe next time. Maybe you could come to Braz TESOL July 2012 in Rio
I’m looking forward to reading your posts about the sessions. All I’ve watched until now was a group of 5 guys singing Backstreet’s Back =] Great performance!
Have a great week!
Haha! That karaoke was fun(ny)!! Thank you for the comment about the post. It really was such a great event and so much to take away – my head was buzzing last night! Will try to blog my thoughts and experiences as soon as I can.
Mike =)
Hello Mike!
Really looking forward to everyone’s detailed account of the weekend! Tweets were great but just not enough…:)
Thanks in advance for sharing!
Dina
Certainly sounds like it was a fantastic bringing together of all the best PLN members into one place, sharing and collaborating and having fun! Can’t wait to join in.
[...] Looking back on a Parisian weekend — http://www.mikejharrison.com Experiences, teaching ideas and lesson plans from an ESOL teacher (RT @harrisonmike: Looking back on a Parisian weekend http://t.co/KR6sdMIS…)… Source: http://www.mikejharrison.com [...]
It does sound like it was a great event! You guys seem to have had a blast! And, oh, about the karaoke night… well, there was a video on Facebook that showed the performance of five of you… funny how I could identify who they were without even having met them! LOL
I hope I’ll be able to make it, well, one of these years!
Not sure what you’re talking about, Rick. That was a surprise guest appearance by Nick and the boys!! ;o)
Seriously, it was such a great event – who knows maybe the Backstreet Boys will tour Braz TESOL???
Mike =)
Wish I could have made it! Great to hear you all had such a fantastic time!
[...] as I’m sure all who attended will agree. You can read notes on some of the highlights for me here (more on these to come [...]
[...] Simon Thomas Ceri Jones reflects on the recent conference in Paris. Mike J Harrison has also posted his thoughts.Share this post:Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on FacebookGoogle Buzz-up this [...]