The IATEFL Conference Scholarship Awards: “Translate the person into the global”

Abstract

The quote in the title, which comes from a piece of advice for scholarship applicants by a past IATEFL conference scholarship winner, captures much of the essence of what it is to be at IATEFL and be the recipient of a conference scholarship award. For many, attending the annual IATEFL conference may seem to be an unachievable goal, because of distance, costs or academic standing. With approximately 3,000 English Language Teaching professionals from around the world gathering at the April event, the IATEFL conference is the largest ELT gathering in Europe, and second largest in the world, after the annual TESOL Convention in the United States. As well as an opportunity to learn from the profession’s ‘famous voices’, the conference enables professionals to interact with peers from around the globe, sharing classroom experiences and learning stories, which many remember most. The annual IATEFL conference is, rightly, viewed as a very prestigious event in the ELT conference calendar. But, given the distance and associated travel and subsistence costs, it’s easy to see why some teachers might think that attending is a professional goal that is beyond them. Indeed, one of the overwhelming pieces of feedback from scholarship winners is that, with so many applicants from so many different countries, they rarely think that they’re going to win. However, in the words of one winner, “Don’t think that you are not good enough to win. It’s all about staying true to who you are as a teacher!” There are multiple awards each year, and someone has to win them!