Agenda
21st November
13:00 - Al Majliss Area - 5th Floor
Registration
13:30 - Al Majliss Area
Welcome Lunch
14:30-16:00 - Al Nojoom Ballroom
Welcome and Opening Plenary - Speaker: Donald Freeman
Four data puzzles and some thoughts about what they mean for education and ELT This talk will use four data puzzles to look at changes in education. Each of these data puzzles is perplexing because it seems to contradict to what we think 'should be' happening. The puzzles are about how the social environment relates to learning English in school, and how learners take control of their learning, how new tools are (re)shaping teaching, which lead to the main puzzle-- rethinking the policy and teaching goals of ELT in the classroom. The data about these four issues hold seeds of fundamental puzzles about education, and about ELT and teacher education in particular. Together, they serve as a jumping-off point to examine pressing perspectives that are (re)shaping ELT.
16:00-16:30 - Al Nojoom Ballroom Foyer
Break and Refreshments
16:30-17:15 - Al Nojoom Ballroom
Speaker: Lewis Lansford
Gaps and bridges: connecting education and learner needs Most English learners today study the language in order to do something with it – use it in a job, continue their education, or gain access to wide world English-language material available on the internet. The job of everyone who works in the field of English language teaching (ELT) is to build bridges that help learners cross the gap between their current level of English, and the level they hope or need to attain. This talk will discuss some of the challenges that learners and ELT professionals have always faced, and look at some new challenges brought on by current trends in the field – and in the wider world.
19:00-21:00 - Beach Side
Welcome Mocktail and Dinner
22nd November
9:00-10:00 - Al Nojoom Ballroom
Speaker: Khalid Alkhudair
Turning obstacles into opportunities, Women employment advancement in Saudi Arabia
10:00-10:30 - Al Nojoom Ballroom Foyer
Refreshments
10:30-12:00 - Al Nojoom Ballroom
Panel Discussion
Challenges of, and solutions to, the gap between education and employment Panellists include: Khalid AlKhudair, Founder and CEO of Glowork, Laura Luelsdorf, Boston Consulting Group, Maysa Jalbout – Brookings College
12:15 - Hotel Lobby
Transfer Departures to the Falcon Hospital
13:00-14:00 - Falcon Hospital
Lunch
14:00-16:00 - Falcon Hospital
Falcon Handling
16:00-17:00 - Falcon Hospital
Closing Plenary - Speaker: Constance Adams, Emerging Explorer
International Space Station: Beyond BabelOver two and a half decades of the development of the International Space Station the partner nations have found new ways to broach ancient barriers of thought. Through the International Space Station program we are setting new precedents in overcoming the barriers of culture and prejudice, along with our transcendence of communication barriers. In order to rise beyond our common planetary mothership we must share our technologies and innovations.
17:00 - Falcon Hospital
Thanks
Speakers
Lewis Lansford
After graduating from the University of Colorado in 1988 with a degree in English Literature, Lewis taught English in Spain for six months. Realising he loved the work but wanted to be better at it, he returned to the States and earned a Master's degree in TESOL (University of Arizona, 1991), which led to teaching academic and professional English in the US and Japan.
He moved into publishing full time in 1995 as an editor with Longman Asia in Hong Kong, and has since developed, edited, consulted on, and written materials at all levels for learners around the world. He also has taught materials development to graduate students at the University of Durham.
He's actively involved in publishing for a diverse group of English learners and training teachers globally. His latest project with National Geographic Cengage Learning is Keynote - the first British English publication that uses the TEDTalks.
Khalid Alkhudair
Khalid's current role is the Founder and CEO of Glowork a women empowerment organization that has created thousands of jobs for women.This led Glowork to be awarded the Best innovation globally for job creation by the UN, ILO & World Bank. He is a proud Ashoka Fellow, & a Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum.In March 2014 Khalid was elected to become a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum for his work in social entrepreneurship. Previously he held the role of COO- Markets at KPMG in Saudi, Kuwait and Jordan which helped him secure an expertise insight into all the key aspects of strategic and successful marketing and operations. Khalid managed to lead the firms he worked with to over 30 key awards which were aligned to the firm's overall corporate goals and strategy.in 2013 Khalid led Glowork to an investment of over 16M USD to expand its current operations into different verticals.
Khalid is an active writer & contributor international publications such as the Huffington Post, as well as publishing a book entitled "Communicating effectively in the work place". All this led him to being awarded the Excellence in Entrepreneurship award at the Global Thinkers Forum, The King Salman Award for Entrepreneurship, Saint Mary’s University Young Alumni of the year,selected as a Amends Fellow at Stanford uni, Ranked #3 in the 30 under 30 Gulf Business Magazine powerlist & ranked in the top 500 most powerful Arabs by Arabian Business Magazine. Khalid also sits on a number of Advisory boards throughout the Globe such as the CMO Council Advisory Board, the Country Officer for Women Campaign International,Steering committee member at the Ministry of Labor in Saudi Arabia,Global Agenda Council Member on Middle East and North Africa at World Economic Forum, L'Oreal Global Panel of Critical Friends,Employment Committee Member at the Saudi Chamber of Commerce, Board Member at Saudi Bugshan Subsidiaries, & a mentor at the Founders Institute at Silicon Valley.
Donald Freeman
Donald Freeman is a professor at the School of Education, University of Michigan, where he works with undergraduate and post-graduate teacher preparation in all subjects K-12. For 25 years, he was on the graduate faculty at the School of International Training, where he chaired the Department of Language Teacher Education and founded and directed the Center for Teacher Education, Training, and Research, a unit that designed and implemented teacher education projects around the world. He is editor of the professional development series, TeacherSource (Heinle-Cengage), and his books include Teacher Learning in Language Teaching (with Jack C. Richards; Cambridge), Doing Teacher-Research (Heinle-Cengage). Dr Freeman is a past president of TESOL, a past member the International Advisory Council for Cambridge University ESOL Examinations (formerly UCLES), and immediate past chair of the International Research Foundation for English Language Teaching (TIRF). Since 2010, he has led the academic team drawn from 10 countries to develop learning materials and assessments that will support the improvement of English language teaching and learning in public sector education. Known as ELTeach, the project, which is a joint undertaking of National Geographic Learning and Educational Testing Service, is advancing the principle that better teaching of English will create broadened opportunities for access and participation.
Constance Adams
One of Adams's first projects with NASA was TransHab, designed to be a transit habitat for the first human mission to Mars. The requirements seemed mutually exclusive. To be launched, the habitat could be only 14 feet in diameter. But once in space, it needed to be three times that big to house a six-person crew.
"We proposed something completely new," she says. "We joined the hard core—needed to withstand phenomenal strain, radiation, up to 500 degrees of temperature fluctuation, and orbital debris moving faster than a high-speed bullet—with an inflatable shell."
The breakthrough design folds up for launch. It inflates and unfolds once in space, becoming a three-level habitat for the crew, complete with removable pieces for use as furniture and walls. Habitats on Mars pose other design challenges for Adams. "How will we maintain vehicles that are constantly bombarded by incredibly fine dust? How will we protect crews and habitats from radiation? How will people perform tasks requiring great dexterity while wearing bulky EVA [extravehicular activity] suits?" Despite the overwhelming obstacles, Adams is convinced that "sooner or later we're going to do it, and that's incredibly thrilling!"
Tying together innovations from diverse disciplines such as architecture, engineering, industrial design, and sociology can help solve complex design issues, Adams says. "When you have a brand-new problem, you need as many tools as you can get. Who knows—an approach from a very different field might give you the insight you need. For example, I'm working to forge communication between advanced engineering and consumer-product design to bring more user-centered designs to aerospace." That cross-discipline appreciation may stem in part from her liberal arts training at Harvard-Radcliffe College in Massachusetts, where she received a B.A. in social studies. After receiving a master's degree in architecture at Connecticut's Yale School of Architecture, she apprenticed in Tokyo and worked in Berlin. "I'm a big believer in international relations," she says. "Working with the International Space Station program is extraordinary. There's almost no other place you can see this kind of international collaboration. We are making the biggest, most expensive, most elaborate, technically challenging scientific platform in human history—and it's up there right now!
"Some day I'd like to apply these principles to terrestrial projects," she says. "We need to understand how our planet and all the little systems inside of it can coexist without causing too much strain. I'd like to find a way to bring it all back home again."
Traveling to the Conference
Where is the conferece to be held?
The conference will take place in the Shangi-La Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi. For more information about the hotel please visit: www.shangri-la.com/abudhabi
How do I get from Abu Dhabi International Airport to the Shangri-Qaryat Al Beri Hotel?
We have arranged several free pick-ups that will depart the airport at the following times: TBC
When you arrive at the airport, pick up your luggage (if necessary) and go to the arrivals lobby. Look for a person holding this sign:
If your arrival falls outside of these times then taxis are available. Ask for: Shangi-La Qaryat Al Beri.
The travel time from the airport to the hotel is approx. 15mins
What is the weather like in Abu Dhabi in November?
The average temperature in November in Abu Dhabi is between 22 °C and 30°C at this time of the year. However, we do recommend carrying a sweater or light jacket as conference rooms will be air-conditioned.
I have dietary restrictions. Who should I notify?
Please email Charlotte Ellis at [email protected] with a detailed description of your dietary needs as soon as possible.
What type of clothes should I pack?
The attire is business casual at all meetings, events, and dinners. Please note that rooms will be air-conditioned so a light sweater or jacket would be appropriate. There is a gym and opportunities for walking on the beach and swimming in the pools or the warm Arabia Gulf, so please pack accordingly if you are interested in participating in these activities.
Once I arrive at the hotel, who can answer questions about the hotel or the amenities on offer?
Please contact reception for any questions about the hotel.