Assessment for Learning - week-long event

About the event

This week-long webinar event will feature five webinars with ELT experts from around the world. Attend a webinar each day at 12:00pm (UK time) which focuses on a different aspect of assessment for learning. The webinars are for teachers of primary, secondary and young adult English language learners. 

About the webinars
 

Session 1: Assessment for learning: the road to improvement
 

Speaker: 

Annie Altamirano

Session information: 

This session is designed to help participants reflect on the importance of introducing assessment for learning strategies to help students improve their learning. The session establishes differences in types of assessment, looks at the benefits of formative assessment, and focuses on the ten principles on which formative assessment is based. The session shows examples of how formative assessment can be embedded in the learning-teaching cycle.

This session was broadcast on 15 May 2023.

Download the webinar handout for this session

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Session 2: How to assess a cookie: Developing scoring rubrics
 

Speaker: 

Claudia Rey

Session information:

This workshop focuses on practical ideas on how to design and use your own holistic and analytic scoring rubrics that are learner-friendly and that will help you involve students in self-assessment, reflection and improvement. Everyday and academic examples are presented, ranging from assessing cookies and pop singers to oral presentations and projects.

This session was broadcast on 16 May 2023.

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Session 3: Alternative assessment: The portfolio in writing
 

Speaker: 

Vasiliki Vlachou

Session information:

The talk explains how a needs analysis questionnaire was created for a B1 class, and then looks at its results, which pointed to the importance of implementing portfolios in the EFL classroom. The talk then guides teachers through each stage of how to implement writing portfolios in your classroom.

This session was broadcast on 17 May 2023.

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Session 4: Feedback and growth mindset
 

Speaker: 

Jarmila Valkova

Session information:

The session focuses on the student perception of feedback and how much learners actually benefit from error correction. It considers some factors which may limit the effectiveness of some traditional error-correction techniques. The session will offer practical, adaptable classroom techniques which require students´ creative input and are designed to encourage self-reflection and growth mindset.

This session was broadcast on 18 May 2023.

Click or tap to download the webinar handout for this session.

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Session 5: AfL in the primary classroom: practical activities
 

Speaker: 

Adrienn Szlapak

Session information:

This workshop will start by discussing assessment in general, including both assessment of learning and assessment for learning to establish a common understanding of these ideas before moving on to a more in-depth discussion of assessment for learning. We will look at why AfL it is useful for students and teachers and why even primary learners should be exposed to it regularly. The next stage of the workshop will take a look at some practical activities for primary learners.

This session was broadcast on 19 May 2023.

Click or tap to download the webinar handout for this session

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About the speakers

Annie Altamirano is an international speaker, teacher trainer and materials writer and has given teacher-training workshops in Europe, Asia and Latin America. As author, she has published extensively with all major international publishers. She is currently a mentor with the Cambridge Teacher Support Service Team and the Vice-president of TESOL-SPAIN.

Claudia Rey specializes in the areas of Teaching Young Learners, CLIL for Primary Teachers, CLIL for Secondary Teachers and Teaching English through Literature. Claudia is the designer of NILE’s “Teaching Young Learners” online course, and has designed video series for the British Council. She has also worked with teachers on MOOCS for Cambridge English Language Assessment.

Vasiliki Vlachou is an English teacher in Greece with experience in private and public sector in Greece, the UK and Italy. She holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature (AUTH), an M.ed. in Teaching English as a Second/ Foreign Language (TESOL) and a CELTA certificate.

Jarmila Valkova joined the British Council in 2015. She teaches general English and Cambridge exam preparation to both young learners and adults. She works for Charles University in Prague as a lecturer, teacher trainer and course coordinator. She is the author of the book The Communicative Approach and Textbooks of Czech for Non-native Speakers (Karolinum).

Adrienn Szlapak is an experienced EAL/ESL specialist, who is also involved in teacher training, and academic management. She holds an MA in Cognitive Linguistics, a Cambridge DELTA, and a PGCE(i). She has been blogging about ESL and EAL on both her personal blog, ealdiaries.com, and on the IATEFL YLTSIG blog, where she is the current editor.

All the recordings and webinar handouts are available below