On Wednesday 24 August, the third edition of the popular meetELT event took place in Melbourne! Over 80 ELT-ers took the opportunity to come down to the Duke of Wellington on a weeknight to mingle, attend professional development talks and eat delicious food all at once!

The night started with an emotion-evoking presentation by Julia Gardiner on the benefits of instilling a writing habit for students and ways to get this happening inside and outside the classroom. Connecting with students, monitoring progress and building confidence were just a few of the benefits mentioned. After a quick 5 minutes, we already had journaling ideas such as photo journals or dream journals.

The night continued strongly (between sushi, chicken skewers and a cheeky drink) with a presentation by Petar Stojanovic who talked about SMART goals. He provided practical ideas on managing at-risk students and helping them reach their goals, while also tracking their progress with an online tool.

After being reminded to post on Facebook to be in the running for a prize (who doesn’t love prizes?!), Shweta Ramkumar presented on teaching travel English using communicative as well as written activities with authentic materials. Comparing travel insurance and doing hotel reviews were just a couple of the many ideas suggested.

The break provided a chance to post a couple more selfies (have to be in it to win it!), eat samosas, finally get that free drink, mingle, and of course complete the extra activities on the table, which was a great buzz!

But as we are all teachers at heart, we quickly went back to sharing ideas! Cara Dineen gave us food for thought in designing curricula and using blended learning techniques. Most importantly, the end result should inform the assessment rubrics which should in turn inform the syllabus.

Finally, it was time for Sarah Chamberlain to share her extension task ideas. The importance of turning a one-skill activity into a multi-skill activity was highlighted and some great examples were provided together with links to resources that are ready for teachers to use.

Prizes were given, presentations were done, and the mingle continued! A big thank you to Navitas, English Australia, and Pearson for sponsoring the event, in particular Emma Currie, Christina Tandog and Derya Uysal, as well as this year’s meetELT planning committee, Vesna Stefanov, Gwenny Warnick, Margot Palmer, and Athanassia Iosifidou. Last but not least, thank you to the lovely attendees and presenters who made this event the success that it was.

This post by Athanassia Iosifidou