NCTE 2025

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One of the most important purposes of education is to prepare learners for success beyond the classroom, encompassing future jobs, future relationships, future associations, and future careers. Learning English by itself doesn't guarantee readiness for future challenges. Rob Jenkins, an ESL and professor and author, will share his expertise in motivating learners to pursue practical skills that create opportunities for satisfying careers.
He will accomplish this by advocating for the basics: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity that serveto build confidence and independence, leading to self-awareness and the confidence they need to successfully navigate the workforce. This approach will help adult students view their futures as an exciting adventure. Since education is really about our students’futures, it is our job to expand their vision by providing different perspectives that they may have never considered. Teaching with this objective motivates students to strive for more.
Classroom activities that continually help students look to the future and solidify personal goals, bring them to a common purpose. Once established, project-based instruction, and a lexical approach, take on more and deeper meaning, turning each class into anexploration of new ideas and opportunities.
Join us for this plenary session to learn how to implement these strategies and inspire your students toward success.

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The best way to unmask learners’ command of grammar is to engage them in discovering for themselves how, when, and why particular grammar points are used in English. To do this, language forms can be introduced through content-rich, rigorous instructional tasks that mirror learners’ communicative needs. Learner output that naturally emerges while completing a task can become the basis for grammar instruction. This means that the content and tasks drive the choice of grammar to teach, rather than the other way around. See how this contextualized, interactive approach to teaching grammar engages learners with the language they need to meet the communicative demands of today’s world. 

Teaching can be a very rewarding experience for most teachers, but it also can be tiring after following the same routines for a number of years and as such we can ‘plateau’ at various times during our career. Plateauing is marked by feelings of sameness, frustration, disillusionment, and career stagnation. It can happen when we least expect it, after 2 years, 5 years, 10 years and even beyond that resulting in many teachers losing the joy, excitement, and wonder of teaching that makes us so effective in providing opportunities for our students to learn. This plenary will show how language teachers can overcome plateauing by considering ten principles of effective teaching.

As AI reshapes education, language teachers remain irreplaceable guides in learning. This interactive keynote explores how educators can leverage AI while preserving the human connection vital to language acquisition. Through live demos and discussions, we’ll examine AI’s potential and its limits, providing strategies to enhance engagement, critical thinking, and creativity. Walk away empowered to integrate AI effectively while reaffirming your role as a mentor and leader in English language education.

Resilience is more than just “bouncing back”, it’s a skill set made up of distinct, buildable components… and it’s essential for academic, social, and emotional growth. Yet technological advances and sociological shifts have caused many of the challenges that used to sharpen those skills to be numbed or bypassed. Drawing from neuroscience, education, and real-life experiences, we’ll explore how “intentional inefficiencies” can strengthen adaptability and lead to more successful learning outcomes.

Join us for an engaging talk on the transformative power of technology in language education. Discover how cutting-edge innovations, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT, are revolutionizing English teaching. Delve into the benefits of AI, including personalized feedback, interactive conversations, and adaptive learning. Explore the potential challenges and gain insights into practical solutions, ensuring a seamless integration of AI in the classroom. Don't miss this opportunity to embrace the future of language education and unlock new possibilities for enhanced learning experiences

This talk explores the potential of ubiquitous learning (u-learning) to revolutionize educational methodologies and improve student engagement. U-learning transcends traditional boundaries by leveraging technology to create an omnipresent learning environment, where educational resources and experiences are accessible anytime and anywhere. This session will delve into practical strategies for integrating u-learning into classroom settings and pose the implications for future teaching practices. Teachers will gain insights into how to effectively implement u-learning to foster a more inclusive and dynamic educational landscape.

This workshop focuses on appropriate uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the creation of classroom reading materials to improve reading proficiency. In this session we will (1) summarize the pros and cons of using AI in the classroom, (2) design a reading passage and comprehension questions using Chat GPT 3.5 and edit the passage with ER Central’s Online Graded Text Editor, and (3) critique the activity to determine if you could use it on your own in the future.

AI is everywhere, and educators are struggling to make appropriate and ethical use of it. These freely-available standards for adult education – for instructors, programs, and learners - were developed in Canada over the past two years. They were inspired by needs coming from emergency remote teaching and with blended and online learning. The audience will have several opportunities to explore and discuss the different areas that the standards address.

In this interactive session, participants explore the benefits and steps for creating classroom communities through engaged discussions and a range of questioning techniques that are inclusive and encourage active learning and learner autonomy in the age of AI. Participants will leave with concrete ideas for how to “make the students the experts” and create class experiences that connect students to the language, to each other, and to their emerging English language identities. Ideas for formative and summative evaluation are shared. Come prepared to participate actively to gain practice in these techniques and co-explore with other teachers.

As AI reshapes education, how can English teachers harness its potential while preserving the human connection that fosters trust and engagement? In this session, we will explore practical, classroom-ready strategies for integrating AI into English language teaching to enhance personalized learning, boost student engagement, and support skill development. From adaptive feedback to AI-powered conversation practice, we will examine tools that complement—not replace—teachers’ expertise. Together, we will challenge ourselves to strike the right balance between innovation and the irreplaceable human touch, ensuring AI serves as an ally in creating meaningful and effective language learning experiences.

In today's AI-driven educational landscape, English language learners often grapple with feelings of uncertainty, self-doubt, and the fear of making mistakes. These emotional challenges can hinder their progress and confidence. Cultivating a growth mindset and resilience empowers learners to view challenges as opportunities, embrace errors as learning moments, and adapt to technological advancements, ultimately fostering success in their language acquisition journey

Generative AI has and is continuing to cause upheaval and consternation in many areas of education. English language teaching is by mean means immune to these developments.
The integration on AI into language teachings and how to manage this has become of paramount importance to many teaching institutions, but if this is to be done in a truly productive and positive way then we must also look carefully at how teachers should use it for their own professional development and be aware of some of the pitfalls but also the amazing potential if this tool is used wisely. During this session I will share some different approaches to ‘prompting’ for AI and look carefully at how it can be used a collaborator to help us develop our knowledge and abilities as teachers rather than supplant them.

Effective group work is essential for fostering collaboration, communication, and critical thinking in English language learning. In the digital classroom, educators must adapt strategies to engage students meaningfully while leveraging technology. This session explores innovative approaches to structuring and facilitating group work in virtual and hybrid environments. Participants will discover digital tools, best practices, and practical techniques to enhance student interaction, accountability, and motivation. By integrating these strategies, teachers can create dynamic learning experiences that promote language development and teamwork, ensuring that group work remains impactful and engaging in the evolving landscape of digital education.

This is a session description.

This is a session description.