I attended the 14th  ELTA conference in Serbia for the first time, hopefully not the last one. The conference took place in Belgrade from 20th to 21st of May in Singidunum University.

The theme of the conference was  “One child, one teacher, one book & one pen can change the world”  by Malala Yousafsai. These words reflect Malala's  belief that education could change the world.  Malala was the youngest person  to receive the Nobel prize award  for her strive and commitment to support education for girls. 

The conference was international gathering speakers and participants from all over the world. The agenda offered a huge choice of workshops and presentations on topics regarding ELT.  It was often hard to decide which of the 6 parallel sessions to select as all were happening at the same time. Many of the sessions were practical, helpful and inspirational for my future work. I would like to mention 3 workshops that I consider beneficial. "Managing movement" by Mojca Belak offered plenty of activities merging movement while learning the language, perfect for kinaesthetic learners willing to move. The workshop was enjoyable as the sunny weather. All the participants were outside not sitting but actively moving and being involved into the activities. Moreover, the suggested activities created a relaxed and positive atmosphere and undoubtedly could be incorporated into classes.

Another  workshop I would like to mention was by Jon Hird titled "Grammar games in the classroom". The presenter demonstrated that it is possible to acquire language and enjoy at the same time through games. Furthermore, the benefits of playing grammar games were  discussed. All the participants were actively engaged with lively games for practicing different grammar segments  such as tag questions, bingo for practicing present perfect tense,  mime game for distinguishing and proper use of make, do and take and finally quiz for superlative forms. The 45 -minute workshop was highly interesting and engaging that appeared as 5 minute. Without failure grammar games could make wonders in class.

The last workshop I will shortly describe was "Summarize your vocabulary" by Emese Both. When teaching vocabulary teachers have to include and  cover meaning, form, pronunciation as well as collocation. Furthermore, effective strategies were proposed to be certain that students do not forget the learned vocabulary. It is essential and recommended to combine various techniques so that students can  remember and recycle  the vocabulary in multiply contexts in the future.  The presenter offered rich variety of activities that participants gladly accomplished them. 

In the hall there were stands offering ELT books, posters, pamphlets for students language programmes. 

I spend sunny Sunday walking down Knez Mihajlova and enjoying the view of Danube river  from Kalemegdan fortress  thinking that next year I would not like to miss this incredible event.