12.00-13.15

The Art of Self-Compassion

Have you noticed that we tend to be much kinder and more understanding when it comes to our friends’ struggles, but we’re often too tough on ourselves? In this workshop, we’ll delve into some of the common challenges teachers face and examine how self-compassion can make our lives much better. Let’s come together and explore this profound topic, and grow as individuals and professionals.

Anna Zavalishina

CELTA, IH VYL, CPEAnna is an EFL teacher with more than 14 years of experience. She specializes in teaching adults, both groups and individuals paying special attention to psychological aspects of teaching, i.e. reducing foreign language anxiety, working with procrastination and perfectionism.Anna leads the project «English Anonymous» for high level learners, where some taboos and issues are discussed in a safe space with respectful listening and challenging the opinion, not the person.

13.30-14.45

The Flow Theory in the Classroom

Do you recall moments when you felt immense happiness, completely engrossed in the present moment to the extent that the past and future seemed irrelevant, making the concept of time meaningless?Csikszentmihalyi, a prominent American psychologist, refers to this state as ’flow’.According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is characterized by being fully engaged in an activity to the point where "nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it” (Flow, 1990)

Is it possible to consciously achieve this optimal experience, or does it occur spontaneously, beyond our control? How can the concept of flow be applied to our teaching experience?What similarities does it share with Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development? It would be great to explore recent research in this area, exchange our own teaching experience, and seek connections between the theories of happiness and learning.

Tatiana Vinogradenko

CELTA, DELTA

Tatiana is currently working as an English teacher at BKC-ih school in Moscow. Apart from teaching children, teens and adults general English and teaching students for academic purposes, she has participated in a BKC programme of teaching different subjects (such as Psychology, History of Religion, Art, History of Photography) in English. Also, Since April, 2022, she has been running an Art course for pre-school and elementary school children in Moscow Multimedia Art Museum in English.

Tatiana is also a lecturer at the Department of Second Education (programme: ’Primary School Education and English’) in Moscow State Pedagogical University where she runs lectures and seminars on Methodology of teaching foreign languages.

14.45-16.00

The Four Cornerstones of Motivation: Existential Approach

There’s a lot of information about motivation in modern ELT literature and there’s no need to write how important the topic is. However, not much attention is paid to the existential approach. In my presentation I will mention the weak points of some other theories and give a full picture of human motivation from the existential point of view. I’ve designed a check-list of questions that may help us make sure our students find the lessons meaningful.

Another application of this theory is to support ourselves: we can use similar techniques to reflect on our own job fulfilment and tackle the temporary crises that we sometimes face with.

Olga Lisina is a CELTA-qualified EFL teacher, having about 14 years of teaching experience. She has worked in different contexts and with all age groups, mostly in language schools and freelance. Olga is also the author of “English for Artists” course for students of the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

One of the key features of her teaching is using both classical and modern developments of Psychology in class. She’s a graduate of Lomonosov Moscow State University and has a degree in Psychology (2009), as well as a couple of years of practical experience in this field.

16.15-17.30

Teacher Resilience

Teacher resilience is a quality that enables teachers to maintain their commitment to teaching and their teaching practices despite challenging conditions, recurring setbacks and unavoidable uncertaities of the VUCA world. Resilient individuals are known to be less susceptible to problems associated with stress, including anxiety and depression due to their mindset and a set of skills that help them adapt and thrive despite experiencing adversity.There are two types of protective factors that contribute to teacher resilience, i.e. individual and contextual factors. The individual protective factors include altruism, strong intrinsic motivation for teaching, a sense of self-efficacy, coping skills, professional reflection and self-care, whereas the contextual ones include administrative support, mentor and peer support, relationships with family and friends and characteristics of the pre-service programme. In the workshop, we will discuss and do some exercises from the most researched teacher resilience program — Spark Resilience. Originally developed in 2009, the programme builds on cognitive-behavioural therapy and positive psychology concepts with the explicit goal of fostering emotional resilience and decreasing stress.

Evgeniya Lubennikova

CELTA, DELTA, Msc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology (University of East London), a coaching psychologist for helping professionals

If you don’t know much about our community, follow this link http://teacher-mentor.tilda.ws/ to find out more about our events and our members.