Has anyone been to an ETA-ROC (English Teacher’s Association-Republic of China) Symposium?
I’ve been invited to give a presentation at the 13th International Symposium and Book Fair, November 12~14, 2004, and I was wondering what it would be like.
What the hell is a symposium? Well, checking the 1913 edition of Webster’s dictionary gave me this definition:
[quote]\Sympo"sium, n.; pl. {Symposia}. [L., fr. Gr.
symposion a drinking party, feast; syn with + po`sis a
drinking. See {Syn-}, and cf. {Potable}.]
A drinking together; a merry feast. --T. Warton.[/quote]
Okay, it’s just a fancy way to say “a piss up”. Ah, now it makes sense why I would be invited and asked to share my expertise.
It’s a bit of a mixed bag. They usually attract several well-known speakers, though it’ll probably be standing room only. It’s also a major event for publishers to promote their books, and they will have stands, presentations and “how to use this book” demonstrations. Lastly, there will local teachers giving workshops on their specializations. In short, there are a few diamonds and a lot of rough stones.
AJ,
You’ll only be getting pissed on the guava juice that comes with the greasy lunch box!!
I understand that the publisher’s sessions are not on this year, and that ETA speakers are all about theories and methods this time around. Dunno if that’s the case or not because the teachers who go to these things, primarily Taiwanese teachers of English, love to get the freebies that the publishers toss at them. I’d be interested to hear if this is the case.
Almas: If you present, be prepared to sweat your bollocks off. Either you’ll be in one of the big rooms crammed with 500 people, or in one of the tiny rooms crammed with 100+ people. These events are if anything, crowded.
Your audience is primarily Taiwanese female English teachers who’ll giggle at anything you say. Don’t feel pushed to give a brilliant talk, just go with the flow and toss out some classroom tips and ideas. That’s what they come to these things for, not to be wowed by theories. They want to learn something they can use in their classes. Make it fun, light, and entertaining since you’re not out to win any awards in TESOL. Toss in a wee bit of theory, but don’t bog your presentation down with that or people will snooze.
Remember that this event (symposium) is three days long with back to back sessions from 8 am until 6 pm or something like that. Ive only seen a couple of good speakers over the past five years I’ve attended. I obviously won’t be there this year, and I don’t regret that one little bit.
E-lectic and Alien,
Thanks a lot for your detailed replies. There’s no fear of me being too intellectual (I drink Taiwan Beer after all); I’m a practical kind of bloke and I know exactly the kind of cheesy humor that goes down well with Taiwanese xiaojies. And if that doesn’t work there are always self-deprecating fat jokes.
[quote=“almas john”]E-lectic and Alien,
Thanks a lot for your detailed replies. There’s no fear of me being too intellectual (I drink Taiwan Beer after all); I’m a practical kind of bloke and I know exactly the kind of cheesy humor that goes down well with Taiwanese xiaojies. And if that doesn’t work there are always self-deprecating fat jokes. [/quote]
I’ve seen two local textbook writers do the fat joke thing, so that’s passe.
Think of some fun classroom methods or tasks that will compliment your books. That is what you’re presenting for, right?
Get the crowd to pretend they’re the class and have them engage in the activities. Whatever you do, don’t stop being entertaining, but simultaneously, give them something practical to ‘go away with’, you know what I mean? If you do that, they’ll remember you next year and flock to your presentation, and/or buy your books, and soon your name will be up in lights on a billboard outside Taipei 101!
Oh, and be sure you look professional, clean, and well-shaven. Blood shot eyes won’t go over well either, so save your session with tigerman for after your presentation!
I’ve presented at ETA before (mostly under duress, mind you!) in my past life as an English teacher/training guru. The teachers you meet there – and those you’ll meet when you visit any high school program – are frustrated because they realize they cannot cover all the material the students are expected to memorize and have them actually master it in the time allotted, PLUS of course the schools want to see “enrichment” and other stuff, blah blah blah…so if you can come up with a few nifty tips to make things easier or more efficient, throw out some cool activities the kids will like, they’ll be delighted.
I’ve heard that this year the major international publishers will not be attending the ETA. The reason being that they are unhappy with the management of the event. That being the case there will probably be few if any respected keynote speakers taking the podium.
