English Language Fellow Anne Talavera presented at two annual conferences, CamTESOL and Lao TESOL. The theme of CamTESOL was “English Across All Platforms” and the conference was held at Phnom Penh’s Institute of Technology of Cambodia. Talavera presented a listening activity–“Enhancing Culture and Critical Thinking through Children’s Stories”– that has proved to be effective in engaging her students in the Lao classroom. She also facilitated a lively discussion between teachers from Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand, on the differences and similarities among children’s stories across many cultures.
A week later, Talavera participated once again as a presenter at Lao TESOL at her home school, the National University of Laos (NUOL), where she spoke of the ways in which TED-Ed lessons can be used as valuable ICT (Information and Communication Technology) resources to promote learner autonomy in English language learning. Afterwards, one teacher remarked, “I can now encourage my students to think more critically about topics that interest them and commit to learning beyond the classroom.”