I have just come back from the British Council Training Day on the eve of the IATEFL Young Learner & Learning Technology SIG, and what a long but productive day it has been.

The idea behind this pre-conference event was to get teachers together to discuss all manner of different aspects that affect young learner teachers and teaching. Here are a few of the things we talked about, many of which will also be present in the official conference sessions:

• Professional Development
• Duty of Care
• Specific Needs
• Child Protection
• Using Technology Safely
• Risk Assessment
• Communications

We were also lucky to have Wendy Arnold, the IATEFL YL SIG coordinator along to present to us the benefits of joining this very active international teachers' association. She mentioned plans for the YL SIG in particular to hold events in different parts of the world, to bring speakers and debate to other countries through smaller, local events instead of just coming together at the once a year annual conference. This conference in Milan is an example of this, and if the programme is anything to go by, looks like it will be a very comprehensive snapshot of the current trends and thinking in ELT when it comes to young learners.

I had the pleasure of talking to Wendy and to Harry Kuchah, another IATEFL YL SIG member. Harry is from Camaroon, and I asked him about the session that he is going to do at the conference tomorrow, on 'Experimenting an ICT curriculum for children in a Low-tech context: the case for Camaroon'. I was intrigued after reading the title and just had to know more. 

He explained that only 5% of schools have any computers at all in Camaroon, and even fewer have access to the Internet. Many of the computers that are reaching the country are being sponsored by organisations, usually through the 'one laptop per child' scheme, a fabulous project that you can read about here: http://laptop.org/en/.

He went on to tell me that the 'low tech' context for ICT that he'll be talking about involves making use of a communication system that is common to village life in Camaroon. These are the Camaroon equivalent of 'town criers' and they usually employ gongs to inform villagers of specific events and actions. For example, a particular type of gong tone will tell people that they should all assemble at the village palace because there is a potential threat.

In the classroom, he told me, teachers can use these gong tones as classroom stimuli, to then ask the students to do role-play activities about possible actions when preparing for the events that the gong tones inform of. It all sounds like fascinating stuff, and I really look forward to hearing more about it in his session tomorrow. If you're coming along to the Milan conference, then this is definitely one to sign up for. But, don't worry if you're not, Im going to try and catch Harry on camera and get him to explain briefly in his own words what I hope I have done justify to above. Watch this space for the video (if Harry agrees to this, of course!)

I hope this gives a flavour of what's been happening in Milan today - and the conference hasn't even started!  Hope you'll come back here during the next few days to hear more news and reports of sessions.