INNOVATE ELT 2025
May 24th & May 25th | Oxford TEFL, Barcelona, Spain
Get involved, get connected, get inspired!
The only ELT event you need to attend this year
Find out why
What is the theme this year?
The theme this year is “Your ELT Toolkit” and we will be providing an abundance of opportunities for you to share your ideas with others and fill your own toolkit at the same time.
This could be, for example, a new ELT product which is being developed, a teaching or training technique which has proven to work wonders, or innovative practices in leadership and mangement. There is no limit to what may be found in the ELT toolkit at the Innovate ELT conference this year
Who is the InnovateELT conference for?
The InnovateELT conference is for you if you are passionate about the ELT industry and you are keen to be more involved in discussions about how to make a difference. The theme this year is “Power to the classroom!” and we are expecting professionals from all areas of ELT to join us in learning more about the future of the ELT classroom. Delegates can include (but are not limited to):
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- Language school managers
- English as a foreign language teachers
- Teacher trainers
- EdTech professionals
- Materials writers
- Authors
What type of sessions will I be able to attend?
We aim to provide engaging sessions in a variety of formats. As an attendee of the InnovateELT conference, you will be able to attend four different types of sessions:
- Dynamic workshops (45 minutes)
- Demo lessons with real students (45 minutes)
- Informative talks (30 minutes)
- Mini plenaries (15 minutes)
The conference will have three pathways: teaching, teacher training and management/ teacherpreneurship. Delegates will be able to focus on one area or dip into a mixture of sessions. This will be a great opportunity to delve into many toolkits, whatever context you are working in!
What else can I expect at the InnovateELT conference in 2025?
The InnovateELT conference is different to many other ELT conferences around the world. As well as providing inspiring sessions related to the world of English language teaching and learning, we also pay special attention to the people who have taken the time to join us (yes, you!).
As a attendee, you will be made to feel welcome and you will find connecting with other delegates is easy and hugely enjoyable. We encourage collaboration and we listen to our delegates as well and share our own thoughts.
You will be provided with plenty of opportunities to enjoy our sunny garden, as well as our spacious and modern classrooms. Snacks, coffee and tea will be available throughout the event to provide you with the well-needed fuel to keep you going. By the end of the conference you will feel like you have gathered plenty of ideas, activities and inspiration to take straight back into your own workplace. Join us, and find out for yourself!
Can I sponsor the InnovateELT conference?
If you have an ELT product or service that you would like to share, why not consider sponsoring the event? As a sponsor of the InnovateELT conference you will:
- Improve brand awareness for your business
- Interact directly with superusers and decision-makers
- Showcase your product or idea to people from across the ELT industry
- Get grassroots feedback from potential customers
- Make contacts with other professionals who can help take your business to the next level
We are offering one package per business which will include:
1 x table in the coffee area to engage with delegates and display your brand and products
1 x coffee break in your name where you can address delegates for up to 5 minutes
1 x post in our social media feed in the run up to the conference
2 x tickets to attend the conference
PLUS your name and logo on our website.
Sponsorship fee: €500
Get in touch at innovateelt@oxfordtefl.com so that we can provide you with more information and find out more about your needs.
Can you help me get a visa to attend the conference?
We provide a visa service in-house (€60 if you need a letter for your visa application). If you require a visa for attending the conference, please contact us at innovateelt@oxfordtefl.com so that we find out more about your needs.
Innovate ELT Conference 2025
24th and 25th May 2025 | Oxford TEFL, Barcelona, Spain
Speakers
Our speakers are the movers and shakers of the ELT world. Our typical conference speaker is someone truly passionate about the English Language teaching industry and full of ideas that they want to share with the community.
About Burcu
Burcu Yilmaz
English teacher
Anadolu University
Burcu Yılmaz has been a lecturer at School of Foreign Languages, Anadolu University for 22 years. Yılmaz gained her BA in ELT department at Anadolu University in 2002. She is currently teaching English at Tourism Faculty Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Department.
About Claire
Claire Bowes
Educational content creator
englii
englii Instagram
Claire started her ELT career in 2018, transitioning to online in 2020. During 2020, her social media journey began, sharing bite-sized English lessons on @englii_insta, amassing 664,000 global followers. In addition, her TikTok, @englii_tiktok, has over half a million followers. Claire is the social media savvy superstar for englii who keeps you learning and is the face of englii online. She is passionate about getting all learners to reach their language goals.
Claire now divides her time between engaging her learner community and collaborating with ELT brands to create educational content.
About Rachel
Rachel Marie Paling
Founder of NeuroHeart Education®, Efficient Language Coaching®. Creator of Neurolanguage Coaching® and NeuroHeart Educational Coaching.
Efficient Language Coaching Global SL
BA Hons Law/Spanish distinction in spoken Spanish, MA Human Rights, MA Applied Neuroscience, MA Neuroeducation and Neuropsychology, qualified UK Lawyer, over 35 yrs teaching experience, International Coach Federation credentialed PCC Coach and ICF Coach Mentor. Creator of Neurolanguage Coaching® and Neuroheart Education Foundation.
Neurolanguage Coaching® incorporates the latest findings in neuroscience as well as principles and tools from coaching into the traditional process of language teaching.
This method and approach create the perfect learning conditions for the brain leading to faster, more efficient, sustainable and cost-effective results. Our Language Coaches are the FIRST in the WORLD to be certified as INTERNATIONALLY ACCREDITED LANGUAGE COACHES (accredited by the ICF – International Coach Federation).
All tickets include Saturday and Sunday entry, snacks, drinks and an unforgettable experience!
Sessions
During the conference, you will be able to attend plenaries, workshops, informative sessions and demo lessons. We will discuss and reflect on what “Power to the classroom” means for us as language teachers, teacher trainers, managers, leaders and all other professions related to ELT. There is something for everyone, regardless of your level of experience. By the end of the conference you will be buzzing with ideas and ready for Monday!
Jedrek Stepien
Workshop: ELT vs. The Epidemic of Solitude
I’d like to highlight the importance of live classroom lessons in the context of the growing problem of loneliness, propelled first by the pandemic and now by the rise of AI and algorithms.
ELT has a lot to offer as a potential response to the problem whose repercussions range from individual to political.
In-class learning may not only help with socialization, but skillfully designed, it can also help learners to reconnect with the world, and to feel at home in it again.
Nicola Meldrum
Workshop: AI: Empowerment or Disempowerment for Teachers?
Teacher’s perceptions, concerns, and opinions about new AI tools such as Chat GPT vary widely, reflecting a healthy spectrum of enthusiasm and skepticism. In this plenary we will explore some of the fears, frustrations, optimism and opportunities that comes with AI.
Julia Zibrova
Workshop: Creating a WebQuest – It’s easier than you think
If you still think that a WebQuest technology is challenging, it is for you. WebQuest technology allows to achieve the following results: searching for solutions, rational options, justification, developing critical thinking, as well as the ability to compare, analyse, classify and think abstractly. Teachers can use this in their work and I will give tips on how and where to create lessons effortlessly, talk about lesson structure and platforms for creating a webQuest.
The outcome of our workshop is your own WebQuest that you can take home. It is not rocket science!
Eva Bogdanovic
Ivana Buric
Workshop: Mysterious Doors to Critical Thinking
A story-based game to solve puzzles and open doors. Each stage teaches a critical thinking skill to explore the areas of history, geography, literature, language, culture.
We foster critical thinking and nurture collaboration by playing a game. We provide challenging games to play with your pupils.
This workshop is structured as a story-based game in which one presenter plays the role of the storyteller, the other one of the teacher, and the participants, divided into two big groups, have a double role: story characters and pupils/ players. The story takes the participants through six European countries in six different time periods.
The final challenge is a quiz to assess the level of participants’ engagement and perceptiveness during the workshop.
Barnaby Griffiths
Workshop: Further language and communication coaching techniques to enhance your teaching
Using video clips of learners in Spain, I’ll share a series of language coaching techniques teachers can incorporate into their teaching. We’ll look at techniques such as stacking learning habits, using scripts and trigger words and developing intuition.
Attendees will be given short tasks to reflect on their own teaching practice and how they might address the challenges proposed in the videos before then identifying how I use language and communication coaching techniques to help my learners retain language and develop their skills.
Becca Ellis
Workshop: Help! I dread that class!
Even bright, experienced teachers can dread certain teaching situations. Together we’ll explore the causes and effects of this and use EFT, a proven technique, so you can feel more ease about your personal nemeses, leaving with a tool to use whenever dread raises its ugly head.
First, just to calm the amygdala and symptoms of the threat response (whole group). Second, I’ll give the chance to verbalise trigger situation of your own , in pairs or small groups. And finally together we’ll craft some scripts that you use for the next time you find yourself in this situation, either pre-class dread, or post-crappy class.
Georgia K. Papamichailidou
Workshop: One Size Doesnt Fit All
How can we create classrooms that celebrate diversity and empower all learners regardless of their backgrounds and needs? During this practical workshop, there will be ideas and activities from personalised instruction to culturally responsive practices and collaborative learning.
During the session, the participants will have the chance to explore three aspects of diversity and inclusion in their classes:
Section 1: Learning Differences
Section 2: Language Matters
Section 3: Representation
This practical workshop aims at helping the attendees become familiar with inclusive education, use reflective questions to question our practices and find ways to create an inclusive learning environment.
By the end of the session, the attendees will have worked together, shared ideas and discussed ways they can use in their classes to explore inclusion and diversity.
Unnati Ved
Workshop: Using AI to enhance creative writing in a hybrid class for young learners (8-12 yrs)
This workshop explores ways in which AI tools can be used to support lesson planning and enhance young learner’s engagement in creative writing. By using figures of speech and sensory details, the workshop looks at ways in which learners can add vivid descriptions to their descriptive writing.
The workshop focusses on creative writing for young learners and uses Chat GPT to generate prompts of a setting. Learners write sentences using sensory details on post-its and stick around the classroom. Online learners use padlet and teachers shares the classroom ideas by taking pictures and posting it on padlet. The learners use the collected ideas to compose their descriptions and visual representations can be generated using DALL E.
By using AI tools, we can increase learner engagement and writing can no longer be a boring task.
Tim Warre
Workshop: Mix it up & Space it out
We will examine practical ways to incorporate concepts such as spaced repetition and interleaved practice in order to maximise student learning. You’ll leave the talk with practical ideas to use in class and a framework for more varied and effective lessons for long term learning gains.
This workshop will put forward a framework in which teachers plan out sequences of tasks and activities across multiple lessons in order to ensure more lasting language acquisition.
You will leave the talk with examples of sequences of classroom activities incorporating interleaved practice and spaced repetition, which will serve as templates for your own experimentation with these concepts.
Burcu Yilmaz
Informative talk: Power to the Gastronomy English Classrooms!
The main purpose of this presentation is to describe the problems experienced by students studying in Anadolu University Gastronomy and Culinary Arts courses while speaking English. The problems students experience while speaking English in Gastronomy ESP classes will be identified, tasks designed to overcome these problem areas will be mentioned and finally students perceptions on these suggested tasks will be evaluated.
In the presentation suggested solutions will be shared.
Ola Kowalska
Informative talk: How to create a live group course your students will be desperate to sign up to
Successful group language classes hinge on transformative student experiences and income scalability for teachers. Learn to design compelling live or hybrid group courses that deliver tangible outcomes and attract well-paying students. A planning tool will be provided!
In this session, we’ll explore how to craft a compelling live group course that delivers meaningful results and attracts paying students. We’ll first examine why traditional CEFR-based classes might struggle to appeal in today’s market. Then, we’ll delve into the alternative: result-based courses.
We’ll outline the essential components of an effective result-based group course and discuss why conducting it live or in a hybrid format benefits both students and instructors. Finally, I’ll guide participants on initiating their own result-based course creation journey, providing a planning tool for support. We’ll end with a Q&A.
Jonathan Dykes
Informative talk: Two exciting Erasmus projects: Developing Responsible Global Citizens and Green Standard Schools
Language teachers and learners often have interests and concerns that rarely feature in most modern textbooks. Subjects such as Diversity and Inclusion, Mental and Physical Health, Sustainable Development, and so on, are often considered too controversial or too ‘Woke’ by publishers to be included.
This talk with feature a range of digital tools and study materials developed in two transnational Erasmus projects, that are designed to help teachers and academic managers design language courses that integrate topics such as Diversity, the Environment, Health, and Community.
Coni Barbariol
Informative talk: Unleashing Identity: Using Poetry in the Classroom to Empower Students’
In this talk I will use three short and beautiful poems as a springboard to discuss identity issues and foster learners’ sociocultural competence. At the same time, practical ideas will be shared on how to use the poems as input to develop receptive and productive skills.
I will then use one of Richard Blanco’s poems as an example to support this idea and provide ideas on how to incorporate it into a EFL classroom. Additionally, I will share one poem by Levi Tafari’s and offer practical ways to use it in the classroom. The final part of the presentation will showcase a performative poem by Amanda Gorman together with ideas on how to include it in class.
Daniel Berejnoi
Workshop: AI-Powered ESL: Revolutionizing Language Learning for the Digital Age
This workshop explores AI’s role in ESL, offering tools for personalized teaching and fostering student independence. Through practical demonstrations, participants will learn to integrate AI responsibly, aiming for a balanced approach that elevates teaching effectiveness and student autonomy.
Through the use of the most well-known and accessible AI platforms in the ESL field (Chat GPT, Google Gemini, etc), we will explore how to tailor-make lessons to meet the student’s needs in terms of their main 4 language skills (Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing). The aim of this talk is to streamline teachers’ workload to create and deliver more meaningful lessons while at the same time empowering students by teaching them how to responsibility use AI tools to aid their learning process.
Laura Wilkes
Workshop: Harnessing the Power of Podcasts in ESL Classrooms
Are you looking for ways to bring podcasts into your ESL classes? In this workshop, we will explore activities that you can use with your teenage or adult learners. Take away activities that you can use to build learners’ awareness of podcasts and engage them in podcast content creation.
We’ll review several ways to engage learners in podcast content creation, referring to the features we explored initially. E.g. podcast artwork, promotional material, and episode role-plays.
A Padlet board summarising ideas will be provided.
Patrick Casey
Workshop: The power to change (young learner activities mid class!)
In this workshop we will put ourselves in the observer’s shoes and ask: What would we do when we see a teacher struggling in a young learner class. We will use a simple framework to help us to make minor tweaks to the activty to ensure learner success.
We will start by reflecting on times when lessons have not gone to plan. Anyone who is teaching can empathise with the frustrations of seeing learners struggle with seemingly simple tasks.
This workshop is about empowering teachers to tweak their lessons so that both they and their learners are successful!
Ambra Pacchioni
Workshop: The Perfect First Lesson
Are you always looking for the best way of starting a new course? Here’s “The Perfect First Lesson”: a combination of gamified ice-breaking activities which involve peer interaction and self-assessment tasks aimed at helping you with your students’ needs analysis and them with their goal setting.
During this session, attendants will have the opportunity to experience the first lesson of a new course from the learner’s perspective and will be able to verify the efficacy of evidence-based practices for teaching a successful first lesson that focuses on needs analysis and goal setting.
While students are involved in activities that put them at the heart of the learning process, they will be given tools for self-assessing their starting and target language level and for defining the actions to be included in their daily routines in order to achieve those goals even faster. All this by having fun, singing and dreaming.
Theme in 2025: Your ELT Toolkit!
Pricing & Registration
Sales end on 24/05/2025
– ON SALE NOW –
€40.00
Super early bird ticket
On sale from November 11th 2024
to December 31st 2024
– COMING SOON –
€50.00
Early bird ticket
On sale from January 1st 2025
to March 31st 2025
– COMING SOON –
€80.00
Standard ticket
On sale from April 1st
to May 26th 2025
– COMING SOON –
€40.00
Speaker ticket
On sale from March 1st 2025
to March 31st 2025
-COMING SOON –
€40.00
Speaker guest ticket
On sale from March 1st 2025
to May 24th 2025
Organiser: Oxford TEFL
Oxford TEFL is an an accredited teacher training school in a great central location in Barcelona, Spain, that provides Trinity DipTESOL, Cambridge CELTA and teacher development courses online and face-to-face in Barcelona. Our trainers are experts in teacher training and active in the ELT industry. We strive to create a positive, dynamic and supportive environment where our students, teachers and trainers can focus on their learning and teaching aims and enjoy the experience of achieving them. The InnovateELT Conference is an extension of the passion we feel for teaching and learning languages.
Be a part of InnovateELT 2025!
May 24th & May 25th | Oxford TEFL, Barcelona, Spain