Eyes Open - Celebrating Diversity in YL Literature

Watch a recording of this talk by Bella Szyszkowska and Ella Watkins from the World Teachers' Day web conference 2019.

On Saturday 5 October 2019, the British Council and IATEFL co-hosted a one-day web conference to celebrate World Teachers Day.

About the talk

This is a workshop celebrating the representation of diversity in literature. We aim to take advantage of this positive development and encourage educators to bring more inspiring materials into the classroom with an aim to normalise diversity. This practical workshop makes use of the models set by successful children’s literature and analyses the positive effects these stories can have on young learners. Participants were given practical advice about how to incorporate diverse materials into their individual working contexts – whether in mainstream education, EFL, a liberal environment or conservative, so that they can start to positively make a change.

About the speakers

Bella Szyszkowska has been a teacher for almost 10 years working first in ESOL, in London, before moving to teaching EFL in Ecuador and now Mexico. She currently works for British Council Mexico and has given presentations and workshops at many conferences around the country. She is DELTA and TYLEC qualified and has dabbled in writing educational books for children.

Ella Watkins is a CELTA and TYLEC qualified teacher of English and author of young learner coursebooks. She has been teaching children and adults in British Council Mexico for 5 years after working in different English Language schools in the UK. She has written for national and international publishing companies, mainly focusing on EY and YL English coursebooks and teachers guides, as well as literature for very young learners of English.

Watch a recording of the talk below

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