2008

The  ELTons 2008 awards ceremony took place at the Delfina studios near London Bridge on 7th March. The guest presenter for the evening was the world-famous linguist, David Crystal.

The  ELTons 2008 awards ceremony took place at the Delfina studios near London Bridge on 7th March. The guest presenter for the evening was the world-famous linguist, David Crystal.

UK Category winners

Learning English Blogs (BBC Learning English – Paul Scott)
The Learning English Blogs transform the concept of blogging from an individual pursuit into a collaborative learning process. The blogs retain a rich vein of individual expression since the ‘student blogger’ writes about topics of interest to them. A ‘teacher blogger’ prepares posts in response to the student’s writings giving feedback on good language use, specific student mistakes and typical language errors, all within the dynamic of a content-based, personalised and meaningful dialogue.

Bookworms Club Reading Circles (Oxford University Press – Mark Furr, Jenny Bassett and Nicole Irving)
Bookworms Club Reading Circles is a unique series that provides all that is needed for running Reading Circles. Carefully graded short stories from Oxford Bookworms are combined with Role Sheets (e.g. Discussion Leader, Word Master, etc.) that help students prepare to take part in the Reading Circle, and ensure that they have natural, meaningful discussions in English. This improves the students' speaking and listening, and also their motivation and sense of autonomy. Bookworms Club is also a great stepping stone to extended reading.

The Flatmates (BBC Learning English – Nuala O’Sullivan)
The Flatmates is a free, interactive, weekly online soap opera for Intermediate EFL students. First, read and listen to Tim, Helen, Khalid and Alice and their tales of love, cheating, football and, of course, arguments about the rent! Second, cast your vote to decide what'll happen in the next episode. Third, study the language point (grammar, vocabulary, spelling or pronunciation) highlighted from each week's episode. Next, take the quiz to see if you've understood the language point. If you get any of the answers wrong, you'll get feedback steering you towards the right answer. Finally, write your response to each week's topic. It might be 'What's your ideal date?' or 'Who was your worst boss?' Then, see your own comments published online and read what other learners around the world have to say too.

International Category winner

The Vocabulary Course (Dubai Women’s College, U.A.E – Emma Pathare)
The Vocabulary Course is a ground-breaking, stylishly designed product, built on extensive academic research. It has been used by over 1500 students so far. Testing shows that its use results in substantial gains in core vocabulary knowledge. The course is popular with both learners and teachers, and its academic basis earned a Manchester University Platt Prize award and a distinction at Master’s level.

 

Below are the nominated entries, selected by an expert panel of judges, from the UK category for the Innovation Awards 2008:  
 
‘Phonetics Focus’ – interactive pronunciation resources
Cambridge English Online Ltd – Adrian Illingworth
 
‘Dealing with Difficulties’ – teacher resource book
DELTA Publishing – Luke Prodromou and Lindsay Clandfield
 
‘The English Language Awareness Course’ – online course  for teachers
Cactus Worldwide – Jenny Johnson
 
‘Good practice: Communication Skills in English for the Medical Practitioner’ – course 
Cambridge University Press – Ros Wright, Marie McCullagh and Clare Abbott
 
‘World Englishes: Implications for International Communication and English Language Teaching’ – book and audio CD
Cambridge University Press – Professor Andy Kirkpatrick and Jane Walsh
 
‘Fairyland’ – multimedia course for primary learners
Express Publishing – Jenny Dooley and Virginia Evans
 
‘Macmillan English’ – International course book
Macmillan Education – Gavin McLean, Mary Bowen and Louis Fidge
 
‘www.onestopenglish.com Audio and Podcasts’ – resources for teachers
Macmillan English Campus – Claire Pye, Lindsay Clandfield and Adrian Tennant
 
‘Teachers' awareness and use of language for setting up teacher-independent activities in the language class’ – Doctoral thesis
Nottingham Trent University – Dr Linda Taylor
 
Below are the nominated entries from the International category:
 
‘Mobile Mazes’ – English language learning game software for mobile phones
King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand – Dr. Saowaluck Tepsuriwong and Dr. Richard Watson Todd
 
‘The Explorers 1’ – language teaching materials for 10 to 11 year-olds
Federation of Ikastola (Basque Medium Schools), Spain – Diana Lindsay, Amaia Urruzmendi and Sagrario Etxabe
 
‘Living Language Roadshow’ – book and audio CD for students
Loud Arte, France – Oswald McCarthy
 
‘VocaBOOM’ – vocabulary-building programme for children
VocaBOOM, India – Preeti Gupta
 
‘Church English’ – book to teach English through the medium of the church in Nigeria
Ashdell Publishers, Nigeria – Bamidele Ashade, Kenny Adeyeloja and Adewale Ajayi
 

 

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