Plenary Speakers

Beverly Ann Chin

 

Dr. Beverly Ann Chin is Chair of the English Department, Director of the English Teaching Program, Director of the Montana Writing Project, and former Director of Composition at the University of Montana.

In 1995-1996, Dr. Chin served as President of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), a professional association of literacy educators, kindergarten through graduate school.  

Formerly a high school English and adult education teacher, Dr. Chin has taught at several universities, including University of New Orleans, Arizona State University, and University of Central Florida.  She earned her B.A. and M.A. from Florida State University and her Ph.D. from University of Oregon.  

Dr. Chin is a highly respected leader in English literacy standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment.  She served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, an organization dedicated to certification of accomplished teachers.  As Senior Project Consultant for the 2011 Writing Framework of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Dr. Chin advocated for computer-supported writing assessment.  She is an Expert Panelist for NBC Education’s web-based resource, The Parents’ ToolKit.  A popular keynote speaker and workshop leader, Dr. Chin regularly presents at conventions, such as National Council of Teachers of English, International Literacy Association, National Middle School Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, National Catholic Education Association, and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL International).  She greatly enjoys working with students and educators and presenting at conferences throughout the world.  She has worked with schools and universities in Canada, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Israel, New Zealand, People’s Republic of China, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Japan, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Guam.

 Dr. Chin has written, edited, and/or consulted on resources for teaching literature, reading, writing, and grammar.  She was Senior Program Consultant for Glencoe Literature, grades 6-12.  She was Contributing Editor for Chinese-American Literature (Globe) and Program Advisor for Asian American Literature, African American Literature, Hispanic American Literature, and Native American Literature (Glencoe).  She was Senior Content Advisor and Web Writer for Teaching Multicultural Literature: A Workshop for the Middle Grades and featured as a Literary Scholar/Teacher Expert in The Expanding Canon: Teaching Multicultural Literature in the High School (Annenberg Media/CPB).  Dr. Chin is now Senior Series Consultant for Grammar for Writing, grades 6-12; Grammar Workshop, grades 3-5; and Writing Workshop, grades 6-12 (William H. Sadlier).  She is also a National Consultant for AP English Literature and Composition.

Dr. Chin has received numerous awards, including the NCTE Distinguished Service Award, which recognized her valuable professional service, scholarly/academic distinction, distinguished use of language, and excellence in teaching.  She has also received the Richard W. Halle Award for an Outstanding NCTE Middle Level Educator, the Rewey Belle Inglis Award from the NCTE Women in Literacy and Life Assembly, the Distinguished Educator Award from the Montana Association of Teachers of English Language Arts, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Florida State University College of Education, and the University of Montana Distinguished Teacher Award.

 

Alan Maley

 

Alan Maley’s career in English Language Teaching began with The British Council in 1962.  He worked for the British Council in Yugoslavia, Ghana, Italy, France, PR China and India over a period of 26 years.  After resigning from the Council in 1988, he became Director-General of the Bell Educational Trust in Cambridge (1988-93).  He then took up the post of Senior Fellow in the Department of English, National University of Singapore, where he stayed for 5 years   His last full-time post was as Dean and Professor of the Institute for English Language Education, Assumption University, Bangkok, where he set up new MA programmes.  Since retiring from Assumption in 2004, he has occupied a number of visiting professorial posts at Leeds Metropolitan, Nottingham, Durham, Malaysia (UKM), Vietnam (OU-HCMC) and Germany (Universitat Augsburg).

He has published extensively and was series editor for the Oxford Resource Books for Teachers for over 20 years. He continues to write for publication.  His most recent ELT publications include:

  • Creativity in the English Language Classroom. (co-editor with Nik Peachey) 2015 British Council.
  • Global Issues in the Creative English Classroom. (co-editor with Nik Peachey) 2017  British Council
  • Creativity in Language Teaching: from Inspiration to Implementation.  With Tamas Kiss.  2017 .  Palgrave-Macmillan.
  • Alan Maley’s 50 Creative Activities.  2018,  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

He has recently published collections of his haiku:

  • What the Eye Sees.  1018. Fordwich: PWP.
  • How the Heart Responds.  2018. Fordwich: PWP.

He remains active as a speaker at national and international conferences.

He was a co-founder of The Extensive Reading Foundation, and of The C group: Creativity for Change in Language Education.  He is a past-President of IATEFL, and was given the ELTons Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012

 

Mike Shreeve

 

Mike Shreeve has taught in state schools, language schools and management academies. He has also worked in a business and professional context. The connecting principle is an interest in people and their psychology.

Mike is CELTA trained and a qualified coach who aims to enable students to realise some if not all their learning potential. He has taught for the last few years in Pilgrims summer teacher training school the coaching with NLP course and teaching “difficult learners”.

He has recently been involved in a large teaching project to enhance coaching and feedback skills to Ethiopian teachers- a welcome return to a country he worked in when qualifying as a teacher. Outside of this he coaches individuals (mainly teachers, business owners and professionals) and is involved in several education projects. Until recently he has been a school governor.

Outside of professional life, Mike lives in Brighton and enjoys walking and contemplating the South Downs and is (healthily) obsessed with playing tennis.

 
Linda Steyne

 

Linda (Lyn) Steyne is a South African born, American passport holder who’s lived in Bratislava, Slovakia, longer than anywhere else. She’s been an English language teacher for going on 30 years, teaching students aged nine and up in public primary and secondary schools, as well as at university. She’s served as deputy head of a secondary school, bilingual programme coordinator, and teacher trainer/mentor of incoming English teachers. Lyn has taught academic writing, research skills, and English at both the university and secondary school level, as well as short courses for Slovak journalists. She’s the current (and founding) chair of the Slovak Chamber of English Language Teachers (SCELT).

 

Fiona Dalziel

Fiona Dalziel is Associate Professor of English Language and Translation at the Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies (DiSLL) of the University of Padova, Italy. She teaches on the BA in Language, Literature and Cultural Mediation and the MA in Modern Languages for International Communication and Collaboration. From 2013 to 2016 she was Head of Padova University Language Centre, where she set up the LEAP (Learning English for Academic Purposes) Project, whose aim was to provide support for lecturers teaching their content courses through English. Her research interests include: promoting metacognitive learning strategies and learner autonomy; teaching academic writing; English-medium Instruction (EMI); and the use of drama in language learning, including that of adult migrants. She is a member of the editorial board of Language Learning in Higher Education, the journal of CercleS, the European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education, and she is guest editor of the May 2019 issue entitled “Language learning for and with refugees in higher education”. She has been coordinator of Padova University English drama group for 20 years.

 

Alistair Starling

Alistair leads our business-to-government efforts on the ground across Europe and North Africa, in close liaison with our International Development team in Cambridge. Alistair was previously Regional Director Northern Europe in our Berlin office. He works closely with Directors in other regions and colleagues in Cambridge in formulating and implementing global strategies.

Alistair is passionate about language learning, taught English in Italy for 2 years, and learnt German, Italian and French by working overseas most of his adult life. Before joining in November 2013, he was Higher Executive Officer in the British Diplomatic Service (Foreign & Commonwealth Office), and General Manager, in the UK’s National Trust.

Previously, Alistair headed up the Inward Investment Team for UK Trade & Investment in Italy for 4 years, following 10 years in the private sector in the UK and Italy, culminating in heading up Marketing for a multinational software company based in Milan.

 

 

Sarah Ellis

Sarah is interested in Assessment, Learning & Professional Development and has an extensive background in teaching, teacher training, assessment and exam management. She has trained teachers on CELTA and DELTA courses and is currently is involved in the Cambridge Assessment English teacher support programme which provides information, materials and support for teachers and academic directors.

She is particularly interested in supporting teachers in developing digital skills and assessment literacy.

 

Matthew Fitzjohn

Matthew Fitzjohn is an archaeologist in the department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. Matthew’s research is primarily focused on the archaeology of Italy and Greece from the Iron Age through to the Classical period (First millennium BCE). His work investigates the relations between people and the places that they inhabit by developing historical geographies of everyday life at a range of scales (in domestic spaces, city and countryside). These relations are examined in a number of his publications on domestic architecture, and how the fragments of ancient houses can be used as the building blocks to help articulate his ideas on embodied learning and the role of habitual bodily practices on identity formation across the Greek world. Matthew is heavily involved in undergraduate and postgraduate archaeology teaching. His research on houses and experiences, and the digital methods he uses to analyse material. An important part of his teaching is using digital technology and enquiry based learning.

Most recently, Matthew has been working with educators in Primary and Secondary schools in the UK on a research project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, to develop ways to enhance pupil experience and engagement as they learn about Ancient Greece.