Meet our Speakers - Rina Krasniqi & Erëza Mehmeti

Speaker: Rina Krasniqi
Title: Let’s Ice-Break
Are you a teacher who constantly worries over breaking the ice with new students you meet every year? Do you feel stressed out, anxious, and clueless about where to begin? If YES, attend this workshop and help yourself and your students pave way for a better year! Carefully chosen and multiple stirring icebreakers will be presented which will be highly beneficial during your classes with different age ranges. These gripping activities will undoubtedly foster emotional comfort in class, will keep them interesting and fun, and most importantly will help students get acquainted and build rapport.

About Rina: MA in Applied Linguistics with TESOL/ English Teacher


Speaker: Erëza Mehmeti 
Title: Practical Application of Game-Based Learning/ Play. Learn. Grow.
Children enjoy learning while playing. Keeping students engaged in lessons can be a great challenge for teachers. Game-Based Learning creates a comfortable environment and provides opportunities to acquire knowledge. By using games in the classroom both learners and teachers benefit. Young learners will consider learning to be an enjoyable experience whereas teachers can collect information on students’ progress.

About Erëza: MA Applied Linguistics with TESOL/ Teacher, Teacher Trainer/ Prishtina/ Kosovo 

Meet Our Speakers - Margarita Kosior & Eftichis Kantarakis

Speaker: Margarita Kosior
Title: Difficult Topics Made Easier with Film
Film is a unique tool which allows students to make connections between their personal lives and the people and events on the screen, and to develop high levels of empathy. Therefore, approaching global issues through feature film, documentaries, or short inspirational videos, is an effective strategy. Thanks to its audiovisual nature and authentic appeal, film brings real life into the classroom providing a context in which the language is learnt, the students are motivated and the difficult issues are discussed with more confidence and ease.

About Margarita: Educator, teacher trainer, conference presenter, materials author, storyteller.Hobbyist photographer and dancer.


Speaker: Eftichis Kantarakis
Title: Is the future of Education in Gamification? Where did "Pokemon Go"?
Gamification seems to be the next buzz word in ELT. Based on the assumption that children love e-games, teachers have for years tried to exploit this "love" to teach English. Let's try and see how much of this is possible and whether we can trust games to do the work of planting knowledge in the minds of young learners.

About Eftichis: RSA Dip, / Teacher Trainer / Athens / Greece

Meet Our Speakers - Jeanie Iskos & Paschalia Patramani

Speaker: Jeanie Iskos
Title: Injecting Values in the Education of English Learners of Young Learners
English Curriculum especially at young levels needs to provide students not just verbal communication skills, but social and classroom skills.  Injecting lesson plans promoting values can benefit the classroom and the teacher in many ways such as classroom management and life-long interpersonal skills. This presentation will discuss what and how these values 

About Jeanie: B.A, B.S, M.Ed, Anatolia Elementary Teacher

Speaker: Paschalia Patramani
Title: Bringing out the best in students through engaging
learning experiences
How can teachers engage students and help them discover new interests while learning the English language? This presentation will demonstrate various activities in which teachers can cultivate a love for learning and an appreciation of English. The attendees will participate in some activities and see how they can bring out the best in their students.

About Paschalia: BSc Villanova University, USA/ EFL Teacher/ Serres/ Greece

Meet Our Speakers - Joan Macphail & Angeliki Apostolidou

Speakers: Joan Macphail & Angeliki Apostolidou
Title: TEFL: Fast Food or Gourmet Gastronomy? Food for Thought!
Increasingly we rely on ready-made food and learning packages.  Our workshop considers Fast food and Gourmet food outlets, and their correspondence with teaching establishments. 

 We look at our profession in comparative terms, considering actual policies, practices, perceptions which create problems. Finally, in our very own Bake-Off, we work to produce solutions to our perceived obstacles, creating recipes for gourmet teaching. 

About Joan: MA,Teacher-trainer, Asessor, Director, Thessaloniki.

About Angeliki: DOTE, Teacher, Teacher-trainer, Director, Athens

Meet Our Speakers - Dimitris Primalis & Tatjana Jurišić

Speaker: Dimitris Primalis
Title: Creativity has classroom boredom for ...breakfast

Looking for an antidote to students’ indifference and lack of engagement? Developing creative thinking skills along with traditional skills can be done seamlessly without radical changes in the syllabus. The workshop focuses on simple ways you can tweak activities and tasks to stimulate learners’ imagination with or without learning technology. 

About Dimitris: Dip. RSA/Teacher/ Athens/Greece

Speaker:Tatjana Jurišić

Title: Shadow Theatre in ELT

This workshop aims at presenting and practicing techniques and methodology of using Shadow Theater while teaching EFL to young learners. The participants will get acquainted with various materials and equipment that can be used and gain experience of directing and performing a short play.  

About Tatjana: BA TEFL / Teacher, Teacher Trainer / Novi Sad / Serbia

Meet Our Speakers - Kyriaki Koukouraki

Speaker: Kyriaki Koukouraki
Title: Keep calm and keep reading

Extensive reading in EFL classrooms is often overlooked, considered time-consuming, difficult, or even perceived as irrelevant in exam-oriented courses. However, the targeted incorporation of extensive reading, e.g. literary texts,has multiple advantages such as the improving students’ reading skills,widening their horizons, expanding their vocabulary and language awareness,developing their emotional intelligence,and fostering critical thinking.

About Kyriaki: Dr Koukouraki is a DELTA certified lecturer for English (EAP) and has major teaching experience at Greek and UK universities. Her academic interests also include Translation, Sociolinguistics and Intercultural Communication.

Meet Our Speakers - Despina Karamitsou & Effrosyni Bisiri

Speaker: Despina Karamitsou
Title: Classroom Crimes ans Court Cases
You are invited to taste a ''mysterious'' recipe for success, with lots of practical ideas that will enchant and transform the most reluctant, bored, indifferent student into someone who will be highly interested and actively participate in the lesson in order to  examine the evidence, find the culprit and distribute justice (suitable for students over 11years old).

About Despina: MA in English Language, Literature & Culture/ Thessaloniki/Greece


Speaker: Effrosyni Bisiri
Title: Designing a story-based syllabus
When designing a syllabus based upon a specific framework for young learners, teachers have to be aware of how the various tasks and activities will contribute to the child development and language learning creating a pleasant and motivating learning environment. For this reason, stories allow the learners to be active participants in the learning process and encourage them to be autonomous.

About Effrosyni: BA TEFL, M.ed. TEFL, Kozani, Greece