June 30-July 2, 2016
Venue: Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia
Theme: “Connecting Professionally on ELT in Asia: Crossing the Bridge to Excellence.”
All the presentations were given in English.
On June 30, 2016, Director of Academic Writing Center at National University of Science and Technology “MISiS”, Elena Bazanova presented a two new reports entitled “Shaping a Writing Center: A Russian Experience EFL teaching methods” and “Centers: Planning for Success”.
The Far Eastern English Language Teachers’ Association (FEELTA) is a professional organization founded in 1995. Its mission is to strengthen the teaching and learning of English in the Russian Far East, to promote the professional development of EFL teachers, to support networking with colleagues all over the world, and to give access to the latest EFL resources.
FEELTA headquarters is in the Department of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok. Today FEELTA is an organization of over 500 members. There are currently seven FEELTA posts in the Russian Far East: in Blagoveshchensk, Birobijan, Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Ussuriysk, and Vladivostok (FEELTA headquarters). These posts provide ELT professionals with information and support within their geographical areas.
FEELTA’s premier event is the international conference, which is held every other year and attracts some 500 participants. It is a major event and EFL practitioners from even the remotest parts of the Russian Far East come to network and expand their knowledge. The location of the conference alternates between Vladivostok and one of the other FEELTA posts. The inaugural conference, in June 1996, was held in Vladivostok, the 1998 one in Khabarovsk, the 2000 conference in Vladivostok again, and the 2002 conference in Blagoveshchensk. The 2004 conference was our biggest so far, held once again in Vladivostok, with the cooperation of our partners in the Pan Asian Consortium of language teaching associations, and featured an international line-up of featured speakers and participants from 17 different countries. The 2006 conference in Birobijan was smaller, quieter and more intense. The next conference was held in Vladivostok in 2008 hosted jointly with the National Association of Teachers of English. In 2010 the cycle began to repeat itself when the conference returned to Khabarovsk. In 2012, we were again in Vladivostok hosting the Pan Asian Consortium. The 2014 conference was held in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, warmly welcomed and professionally organized by the enthusiastic team of FEELTA members and supporters. Now we are looking forward to another major joint event! In 2016, FEELTA conference will be held in Vladivostok in cooperation with the largest Asian ELT association – Asia TEFL (www. asiatefl.org).
The quarterly newsletter informs members of FEELTA activities and also of the main news in the field of TEFL both in Russia and overseas. Among other FEELTA activities are an annual English Language “Talent Show” for secondary students, a Winter EFL Methodology School offering a number of workshops and seminars on new trends in language and culture teaching, and publishers’ seminars to give teachers knowledge of the latest textbooks and other teaching resources.
FEELTA is eager to expand its connections with overseas colleagues by forming partnerships with international professional organizations.