| EDITORIAL |
| This time ten years ago many of us were sitting on the train or driving
our car to Kecskemét, the site of the very first IATEFL Hungary
conference. Do you remember the high-school kids meeting participants at
the station to escort them to the venue? Can you recall the unexpected
snowfall putting a soft white blanket on parks, buildings, cars and trees
enhancing the cosy atmosphere of the first evening? Much has changed since
then. The membership has grown, the conferences offer a much wider selection
of papers, and the bookfairs are as rich as they can be. Local journalists
aren't eager to report on the national gathering of English teachers affiliated
with IATEFO [i.e. IATEFL] or Pesol [i.e. TESOL], there are so many other
conferences to write about. In the meantime the enthusiastic amateurism
of the early days has developed into cool professionalism. There is one
thing, however, that does not seem to have changed: presenters are just
as reluctant to write up their talks for publication as they used to be.
Still, this issue of novELTy is dedicated to the 10-year-old IATEFL
Hungary, and we are pleased to be able to share with our readers a few
of the anniversary conference presentations.
First and foremost, it is an honour to have Claire Kramsch's plenary talk on cultural learning as our feature article. A non-native speaker and experienced language teacher herself, Dr Kramsch has a unique ability to truly capture the essence of looking for your own voice in EFL. Her text offers a number of fine examples of how language is culture and how students can be made aware of this. The motto "mind the gap", the German office clerks' diary entries, or the example of the Vietnamese student `speaking' but not `talking' English struck a chord in many of us who attended her plenary. The issue of teaching culture was also the topic of one of the roundtables at the conference. Magnuczné Godó Ágnes summarises the discussion in the Events section, pointing out that culture teaching is not something that should be simply added to a language course but is part and parcel of language teaching itself. If you were unable to attend this anniversary conference, do not miss Gabriela Matei's report on the whole event. Her article gives a sense of the variety and the quality of the presentations as well as the enthusiasm with which they were received. Most closely related to the theme of this issue of novELTy is the brief history of IATEFL-H compiled by Illés Éva with the help of the former presidents of the association. For someone who has been part of the organisation since the early days, reading some of the details will surely bring back long forgotten memories. It was another IATEFL conference, a SIG event in Leeds that prompted the thought provoking article by Peter Grundy on the role of research in the life of EFL professionals. Responding to the issue of "Teachers doing research", which was the title of Vol. 7 No. 3 of our journal, Grundy describes four different ways of doing research, with recommendations as to who each of those approaches might be appropriate for. A new colour on the novELTy palette is an author from the private sector. In the My classroom section, Fehér Judit from a private language school shares her thoughts about strict teacher behaviour in language school contexts. Our book review section is very rich this time again. A number of dictionaries are reviewed, among them the new English-Hungarian and Hungarian-English desk dictionary that authors Lázár A. Péter and Varga György promised to come out with in Vol. 6. No. 1 of novELTy. For those who are interested in teaching skills, a supplementary book on pronunciation and two books on writing are recommended. Methodologists will want to read the praise of an award winning book of ideas and tasks for mentor courses, and the evaluative description of a workbook to use in teacher education. This issue of the journal closes again with a few conference reports, a bulletin board and the information section on British Council contact persons and events. Happy anniversary IATEFL-Hungary! Edit H. Kontra and Kormos Judit Editors |