Seven ingredients to write a good story beginning

Veronica Layunta-Maurel presents seven basic ingredients to write a good beginning in a story.

Language Learning Lesson Plan Competition - deadline approaching

The social media promotion team of the MA in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching is hosting a lesson plan competition for all teachers or other educators worldwide. Teachers who enter the competition will have the chance to share their lesson plans in language learning with other teachers all over the world and get recognition for their work. Additionally, the best two lesson plans will be awarded a SanakoStudy Solo license (http://www.sanako.com/products/study-1200/study-solo/).

Lesson plans should include:

• A title
• A short introduction which includes students' age range, language level, type of institution (primary, secondary, university, college, etc.)
• Lesson aims and objectives (no more than eight)
• Description of the procedure of the lesson (approx 100 words)
• Time required for completing each activity and the overall lesson
• A list of the software/web 2.0 tools to be used
• A list of the materials to be used (if relevant)

Lesson plans should normally fall between 700 and 1500 words in total (bibliography excluded).

The competition opened on 7th January and the lesson plan submission deadline is 7th March 2015 at 23:00 (UK time).

Terms & Conditions

1. The content in the lesson plans must be the work of the contestant. Entries with plagiarized material will be excluded from the contest.
2. Any images used in the lesson plans must be royalty free or correctly cited.
3. The lesson plans should integrate digital technologies in language teaching.
4. Each contestant can submit more than one lesson plans, but may win only one SanakoStudy Solo license.
5. Although contestants can collaborate to create a lesson plan and enter the contest, there will be only one prize for each entry.
6. The lesson plans must be sent to the digitaltechnologies4lt@gmail.com by the deadline. Late submission will not be considered. 

Judging Criteria
Competition entries will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

• Clearly stated lesson aims and learning outcomes appropriate to the designated level(s)
• Logically sequenced activities which support the achievement of the lesson aims
• Technology integration in the learning activities 

Follow MA in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/UoN.MA.DTLT) and Twitter (@dt4lt) for updates and other info about the contest.

CALL FOR PAPERS: 1st Annual CLAS Postgraduate Symposium

CALL FOR PAPERS: 1^st Annual CLAS Postgraduate Symposium

April 27^th-28^th 2015, University of Nottingham

Confirmed Keynote: Professor Pat Thomson

This year, the CLAS postgraduate community is pleased to be hosting the 1^st Annual Postgraduate Symposium.

We invite both taught and research PGs to present their research in a friendly, informal environment and would welcome as many contributions as possible on any theme or topic, in the following suggested formats:

-          Formal papers, lasting 10-15 minutes

-          Informal research overview presentations, lasting 5-10 minutes

-          Translation, subtitling or interpreting demonstrations, readings of translations or other creative contributions

-          Offers to chair panel sessions

-          Posters

We are looking for speakers from all departments to present their research however they feel most comfortable, be that in a traditional conference format or a more informal talk, such as a translated piece followed by a commentary. We’re very open to all ideas, so please do get in touch if you feel that you have an alternative format that you might like to try.

We ask for abstracts of 200-250 words, giving details of what you would like to present, and how you would like to present it. Please be sure to include your name, degree course, and department. Please email this to classymposium@gmail.com by Friday 27^th February, 2015.

The setting will be informal and inclusive, and there will be an emphasis on discussion rather than on presentation. We hope to enable students at all stages to benefit from the knowledge and experience of colleagues, and to engage with each other’s research.

The symposium does not have an overarching theme; rather, we hope to be as inclusive as possible, and arrange the panels by research interests with the aim of creating discussions that will enhance our individual projects by sharing ideas across disciplines. The concept behind the symposium is to share our research and build networks across the different departments in the School in order to foster a livelier, more interactive postgraduate community.

We are also very pleased to announce that Professor Pat Thomson will be giving our keynote address. Professor Thomson, of the University of Nottingham’s School of Education, will be presenting a paper about postgraduate life. Her impressive academic profile (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/people/patricia.thomson) is supplemented with an extremely accessible and helpful blog (http://patthomson.wordpress.com/) that provides excellent academic advice for postgraduates and early career researchers on a range of topics. In addition to her position within the School of Education, Professor Thompson is Adjunct Professor at the Free State University, South Africa, a Visiting Professor at the University of Haskoli Islands, Iceland and a Visiting Professor at Deakin University, Victoria, Australia.

We have also planned a variety of parallel workshops, which are based around key issues affecting postgraduates such as public engagement, social media networks, being an early career researcher, and careers outside of academia (all of these are yet to be confirmed, but this is to give you an indication of the nature of these workshops). We hope to see as many CLAS postgraduates as possible at the event, even those are not presenting, so look out for an opportunity to register as an attendee in due course.

Kind regards,

PG Symposium Organising Committee

Sam Wilkinson (French)	Nicola Thomas (German)	Irene Hadjiloizou (CFM)
Victoria Gerstman (CFM)	Isabel Story (SPLAS)	Olivia Hellewell (RSS)
Onur Alptekin (SPLAS)	Hongyuan Chen (CETI)	Timo Schrader (AmCan)
Coral Leather (AmCan)	Claire Burdfield (CFM)	Margarita Escobar (SPLAS)
Ya Chun Liu (Translation)

Call for Papers: Innovative Language Teaching and Learning at University: Enhancing Participation and Collaboration

The School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies at The University of Nottingham is hosting the 5th annual conference in the "Innovative Language Teaching and Learning at University" series. Following great success in Newcastle (2011), Bristol (2012), Manchester (2013) and Leeds (2014), in 2015 the conference will focus on 'Enhancing Participation and Collaboration'.

The InnoConf 2015 is taking place at the University of Nottingham (University Park Campus) on 19 June 2015.

We welcome research-related papers as well as presentations of case studies and projects on innovative ways to enhance participation and collaboration in Modern Languages at university, including English as a Foreign Language. We would be particularly interested in the following areas: 

·       The use of technology

·       Assessment of/for learning

·       Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

·       Intercultural awareness (support and development)

·       Employability

·       Year Abroad

·       Classroom dynamics/management

·       Students as producers

·       Teacher training

·       Teacher-student collaboration

·       Autonomous learning

·       Motivation

Abstracts are invited for a 20-minute presentation/workshop in a titled, single-spaced attachment of not more than 300 words in length, with name, address and affiliation in the body of an email address to: innoconf2015@nottingham.ac.uk.
EXTENDED DEADLINE: 27 February 2015
 
Confirmed keynote speakers are Jan Hardman, University of York, and Zoltán Dörnyei, University of Nottingham.

For further information on the conference, please see the conference website http://innoconf2015.weebly.com/ or contact the organisers:

Cecilia Goria, cecilia.goria@nottingham.ac.uk
Oranna Speicher, oranna.speicher@nottingham.ac.uk
Sascha Stollhans, sascha.stollhans@nottingham.ac.uk

Research scholarships for international students at the UoN

The University of Nottingham offers a range of research scholarships for international students to help cover tuition fees. In order to apply for a scholarship you must have a confirmed offer of a place to study at the UoN for academic year 2015-2016.

Good luck with your applications!

For more information visit: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studywithus/international-applicants/scholarships-fees-and-finance/scholarships/research-scholarships.aspx

Masters scholarships for international students at the UoN

The University of Nottingham offers a range of different masters scholarships for international students to help cover tuition fees. In order to apply for a scholarship you must have a confirmed offer of a place to study at the UoN for academic year 2015-2016. Good luck with your applications!

For more information visit: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studywithus/international-applicants/scholarships-fees-and-finance/scholarships/masters-scholarships.aspx

Midlands3Cities Nottingham Masters Studentships - Studentships for the MA in DTLT

The University of Nottingham is offering 14 Research Preparation Masters studentships to start September 2015. These awards are available to outstanding students from the UK and EU who wish to pursue a Masters degree at the University of Nottingham in any area of the Arts and Humanities(included the MA in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching).
 Awards will cover the University of Nottingham tuition fee and provide a stipend of £8,400. The deadline for applications is noon on 28 April 2015.

For more information and  application forms: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/arts/news-events/m3cdtp-nottingham-masters-funding.aspx

Studentships for the MA in DTLT

The School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies is offering a number of studentships and fee waivers for students of the MA in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching.

All School fee waivers cover tuition fees at the University's UK/EU level (currently £3,980 per annum). Please note that this will not completely cover the full cost of any taught course or international tuition fee. The successful candidate will need to cover the remainder themselves.


To be eligible to apply for School funding, you must be holding an offer of a place to study at the MA in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching of the University of Nottingham. The deadline for submitting the completed application form is on 11th May 2015.


More info and application form: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/clas/studywithus/postgraduate/pg-funding/schoolstudentships.aspx