English Language Workshops at SFX

2009 resources now available

2009-09-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Finally...they're now available from here.

Apologies for delay

2009-09-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry that the powerpoints from June and July aren't available yet. I've run into a bit of a technical hitch as my web software is knackered. I'm hoping it will all be up and ready by the end of the week.

Resources from presentations

2009-07-29T04:44:00.000-07:00

The powerpoints from June 17th & 18th and July 1st & 2nd will be available on this link soon.

How to find us

2009-06-09T04:02:00.000-07:00

We are here

Running orders

2009-06-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 17th June

10.15 Registration & welcome

10.30 Angela Goddard

11.35 Jonathon Green

12.40 Lunch

1.30 – 3.45 (approx) David Crystal

Thursday 18th June

10.15 Registration & welcome

10.30 – 11.30 Workshop 1 (Julie Blake/Jonnie Robinson)

11.40 – 12.40 Workshop 2 (Jonnie Robinson/Julie Blake)

12.40 – 1.45 Lunch

1.45 – 2.45 Presentation 1 – Emma Jackson (texting and literacy)

2.45 – 3.45 Presentation 2 – Mike Thelwall (social networking and language)

The second session

2009-06-03T01:06:00.000-07:00

Jonathon Green is one of the world's experts in Anglophone slang. His last book, the Chambers Slang Dictionary, was published in 2008. His major work, the multi-volume dicionary of slang 'on historical principles' is scheduled to appear in 2010. Entitled Green's Dictionary of Slang (On Historical Principles) it offers 125,000 slang words and phrases from across the English-speaking world. It draws on a database of around 575,000 citations, and covers the development of slang since the early 16th century. An online version will follow.

My talk is essentially about the making of that book, but in its topics, on the making of any slang dictionary. I deal with the role of a slang lexicographer, how I see myself and what it is that I do, and with some of the aspects of slang lexicography - etymologies, dating, making a head word list, defining. I aim to show that slang lexicography is like all lexicography but nonetheless challenges the dictionary-maker with certain problems with which the OED, for instance, does not have to concern itself. Above all, I try to show why, despite the general disdain and distrust that slang attracts, it is a legitimate part of the English language, as important as any other.

What's happening...the first session.

2009-06-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneak preview of Angela Goddard's talk for the opening session on Wednesday 17th June.

I'll update this blog over the next few days with more info about each speaker, and we'll be emailing all of you have booked places with directions and running orders (which will also appear online here next week).

Metaphors Я Us: How everyday metaphors construct the world we live in.

My talk will focus on how we create worlds from words.

Metaphor is often seen as an elaboration of language use associated with literary texts. I will be arguing against this view and suggesting that metaphor is a very basic form of daily communication that creates a sense of reality for its users.

My research – on computer-mediated communication – has shown that metaphor is a powerful strategy for creating shared worlds. However, that same strategy can act to inhibit alternative interpretations of ‘reality’ and so produce discourses that impact strongly on our personal and social lives.

While the topic of metaphor will have obvious relevance to teachers of English Language, those also teaching English Literature can benefit from re-thinking how other subject areas might view one of English Lit’s basic ‘toolkit’ items. Analysing metaphor can also form an important part of any subject area that concerns itself with different discourses – for example, the Social Sciences, Business Management, etc. Students who can apply their English Language studies to their work in other subject areas gain tremendously in their understanding and confidence as learners.

Professor Angela Goddard works at York St John University as a Head of Subject for Languages and Linguistics. She has worked in every phase of education, teaching and researching aspects of language in use. She has been involved in developing English Language A Level curricula since the beginning of the first course in 1983; she is now Chair of Examiners for AQA’s two English Language A Level Specifications. Angela was awarded a Higher Education Agency National Teaching Fellowship in 2008. She has written many books and articles on language, including writing and editing the Routledge Intertext series, which consist of a core book for language study plus 22 satellite titles on different language topics.

Bookings open until Monday June 8th

2009-05-27T02:45:00.000-07:00

Bookings for the 17th and 18th will remain open until Monday June 8th, or until all available places are gone. There has been a lot of interest in both days and because of the workshop-based nature of the sessions on the 18th, we're getting very close to capacity.

Slight change to 18th line-up

2009-05-27T02:42:00.000-07:00

Bev Plester is unable to do the presentation on Texting and Young People's Literacy, but has arranged for Emma Jackson (who is also involved in the Coventry University research project) to take her place.

The poster!

2009-05-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here you go...

Bookings open for both 17th and 18th

2009-04-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

We've got a final line-up now for the Thursday which is as follows:

Thursday June 18th (workshops and research presentations)

Julie Blake (workshop) a computer-powered investigation of language and gender
Jonnie Robinson (workshop) on the British Library's digital resources and English language teaching
Bev Plester (research presentation) on texting and young people's literacy
Mike Thelwall (research presentation) on gender, swearing and MySpace

It'll cost £25 per teacher per day and we have secured further LSIS Beacon College funding to help make this happen again. Lunch will be included and we're expecting each day to begin at about 10.30 am and finish at 3.45 - 4.00pm.

Bookings open for Weds 17th

2009-04-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

If you want to reserve places for the Wednesday teacher conference, please email me at the address given out on the English Language List. If you're not on the list, post a comment here and I'll get back to you. Tickets are £25 per teacher.

I'm hoping to finalise the Thursday 18th line-up in the next week or two.

Teacher workshops line-up announced!

2009-01-23T03:14:00.000-08:00

The first day of the June 17th teacher workshops has now been finalised and the line-up will feature:

Angela Goddard on Language & Technology
Jonathon Green on Slang Lexicography
David Crystal on Txtng and Grammar Rules

Conference flyer now available

2009-01-09T06:53:00.001-08:00

Click here to download the flyer.

CSI:SFX

2008-12-11T04:39:00.001-08:00

Friday February 13th will be the date for the first part of our QIA English Language programme this year. The conference entitled CSI:SFX will feature lectures on forensic linguistics, the spread and development of English around the world, and two lectures on different aspects of London English.

The lecturers are:
Mark Abley, author of The Prodigal Tongue
Ben Rampton, King's College University
Sue Fox, QMU
Krzysztof Kredens, Centre for Forensic Linguistics, Aston University

There are limited tickets available for students and teachers, as we are hosting the conference in a relatively small venue and have 40 of our own A2 students, so we can probably accommodate 10 students and 2 teachers per college or school, up to a maximum of 4 institutions. Please contact me at d.clayton at sfx.ac.uk if you'd like more details.

2009 workshop dates

2008-10-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

We're pleased to be able to confirm that, thanks to more funding from the QIA Beacon Colleges fund, we'll be running teacher workshops again in 2009. We'll also be organising a student conference and workshops with linguists; more details will follow before the end of term.

The dates of the teacher workshops will be Weds 17th and Thursday 18th June 2009 at St Francis Xavier College. We're expecting the Wednesday to be quite similar in style to last year, with top linguists offering up to date subject knowledge and presentations of recent research, while the Thursday is planned as a more hands-on day with the emphasis on using digital technologies such as audio, video, VLEs and digital corpora.

Resources from presentations

2008-09-08T12:47:00.001-07:00

The powerpoints and handouts from the June workshops can now be downloaded from here. Sorry for the delay, but I tried not to do any work over the summer for a change and my plan worked too well.

We're hoping to do something similar, perhaps on a smaller scale, next year, so watch this space for more details.

They think it's all over...

2008-06-20T13:27:00.001-07:00

...but it's just the start. Or sort of. While the week of workshops and presentations is over - and a big thank you to everyone who has taken part in it - the idea is to keep the spirit of the week alive.

So, the plan is to put all the resources and presentations from the presenters online and available to everyone who attended, and then to share ideas and resources through this blog. More soon...

Three days down, one to go...

2008-06-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

We're 3 days into the programme of workshops and presentations, and so far it's been great. Then I would say that...

I hope that everyone who has come so far has found it useful and interesting. We'll be creating a resources site to share materials from each day's presentations and workshops to make sure there's a longer term benefit for everyone.

Tomorrow we have Jason Jones on teaching accent and dialect, David Hyatt on critical discourse analysis, Deborah Cameron on male and female conversation, and Tony Thorne on youth slang. After that, we'll be celebrating the end of the workshops at the pub round the corner!

Thanks to everyone who has attended, presented and workshopped (is that a word?).

See you next week

2008-06-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

Well lots of people have signed up and I think we've got the organisation of the week covered, so we're looking forward to seeing you next week.

There will be a stall with discounted copies of the English and Media Centre's Language Works pack - a really excellent resource for AS Language as well as GCSE - as well as back issues of emagazine and copies of speaker Kerry Maxwell's latest book Brave New Words.

If you're still unsure of any details or would like to confirm your booking, please contact me via the email address on the flyer.

Final date for booking places

2008-05-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

The final date for booking a place is Friday 23rd May. Please contact me via the email addresses on the booking forms to reserve your place!

Gentle reminder

2008-03-01T01:48:00.000-08:00

We still have places for all of the workshops and will be taking bookings for a while, but if you want to be sure of getting a place on the workshop of your choice, please get your booking in soon!

A contact email is given on the pdf flyer.

For a more detailed running order check here

Final Line-up now out

2008-01-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

Click on this link to download the pdf flyer for the full line-up and details of how to book.

Confirmed speakers

2007-10-19T09:17:00.001-07:00

A full programme of workshops and presentations will be available in the next 3-4 weeks, along with an online booking form to reserve your places, but just to give you a sneak preview of some of the speakers already confirmed, have a look below. We're excited about such a great line-up and we hope you are too!

Dave Britain (Essex University) on recent developments in variation and change
Deborah Cameron (Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language and Communication at Worcester College, Oxford University) on "The Myth of Mars and Venus"
Dick Hudson (UCL) on teaching grammar
David Hyatt (Sheffield University) on critical discourse analysis
Kerry Maxwell (lexicographer for MacMillan English Dictionaries and author of From Al Desko To Zorbing and Brave New Words) on new words
Jane Setter (Reading University) on world Englishes
Tony Thorne (Kings College London) on youth slang
Graeme Trousdale (Edinburgh University) on grammatical variation and change
Kevin Watson (Lancaster University) on accent change

We're also working on confirming a number of A Level examiners to run workshops with a focus on helping teachers cover the topics on the new A Level specifications. We'll have more details of this part of the course in weeks to come.

Welcome

2007-09-28T23:16:00.000-07:00

This blog is designed to provide information on the English Language A Level workshops running at St Francis Xavier College, south London 16 - 19 June 2008.

The programme of workshops and presentations is aimed at A Level English Language teachers (and those who'd like to be!) and will offer a choice of 2 90 minute workshops in the morning of each day, both of which will be focussed on hands-on teaching - resources, approaches, ideas and tasks for teachers to take away - while 2 60 minute afternoon sessions will be more like research presentations from university linguists on areas of interest for A Level teachers.

The focus will be on helping English Language teachers keep up to date with recent research in the field and developing interactive and engaging teaching resources.

We've had lots of interest from a range of presenters and I will post an initial programme of workshops and presentations in the next few weeks, with a full programme to follow in late October. So far, we have topics such as youth slang, grammar teaching at A Level, grammatical change, regional variation and dialect levelling, world Englishes and others in the pipeline. It'll be good...promise.

We're hoping to keep the cost down for teachers and have secured QIA Beacon College funding to run this programme. We anticipate ticket prices to be something like £10 per delegate per day, with a cheaper ticket available if you attend all week (Monday - Thursday).

More details will follow soon.