ARTESOL

Mathilde Verillaud, ELF

Mathilde Verillaud grew up in Washington D.C., Santiago, Chile and Paris, France. She holds a bachelor´s degree and a master´s degree in American Studies from La Sorbonne University and a Certificate in Art History from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She is finishing her second Peace Corps tour as a TEFL volunteer in Ecuador, where she has been training high school English teachers in the Azuay province and implemented extracurricular clubs promoting leadership and communication skills for high school students. She has also been working on a literacy program for children at a women´s shelter. Previously, she taught French at Mount Holyoke College, worked as an assistant at the Paris-based Vassar Wesleyan Program, and served as a TEFL Peace Corps Volunteer (2009-2011) at Lanzhou University of Technology in Gansu, Northwest China, where she taught Oral English and Film courses. She also created an English library, a Photography/Writing club and ran a Film club and a cooking club. She is passionate about Art, cultural exchanges and world cuisines and always seeks to incorporate these in her teaching. Mathilde Verillaud is the English Language Fellow in Argentina, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Argentina. Her host institution is ARICANA the Binational Center in Rosario, for the ten month tenure in 2014.

Selfies in the Classroom, Really? 

This presentation will explore one of Generation Y’s most emblematic concept: the selfie. The presenter will describe a Photography/Writing project to illustrate how photography can be used to enhance students’ linguistic, critical thinking and creative skills. The presentation will include practical activities for the classroom and photography tips to foster students’ reflections about what and how they can tell about themselves and their world with photography and the English language.

Bradley Horn, RELO

Brad Horn is the Regional English Language Officer (RELO) for the Southern Cone and is based at the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile. In the course of his career as a diplomator (a diplomat and educator), Brad has worked with teachers and students of English in Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, the United States, and, most recently, South America. He holds an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from Southern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Northern Arizona University. His main areas of professional interest and expertise are language policy, assessment, technology-enhanced language learning, and writing and literacy instruction.

The Open Educational Resource Movement: A Potential Game-Changer in Foreign Language Learning and Instruction

The Open Educational Resource (OER) Movement holds great promise for foreign language educators and learners alike, yet OERs remain relatively unfamiliar to most teachers of English. This session seeks to introduce teachers to the potential of OERs by providing a basic overview of what they are, how they are created and shared, and how audience members can get involved in using, creating, and adapting OERs for their own classrooms.

Hot Off the Presses! New English Language Resources from the U.S. Department of State

The U.S. Department of State’s American English website offers a wealth of freely available resources for both teachers and learners of English. This session provides a brief introduction to the American English website for teachers who may not be familiar with it yet. We will then explore some of the most recent additions to the site, as well as a few timeless classics.

February 2014