Biogram

Peter Lucantoni has had a long career in English language teaching, teacher training and management, in Europe and the Middle East, and he is now based in Cyprus. He is the author and co-author of a range of popular coursebooks for students, including Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language, and Introduction to English as a Second Language, both published by Cambridge University Press & Assessment.  He is also the co-author of From Teacher to Trainer with Matthew T Ellman. Peter is Professional Learning and Development Manager for Cambridge University Press & Assessment, and regularly speaks at ELT conferences and trains teachers internationally in both the public and private sectors. His main interests are in teacher education and transitioning teachers into trainer roles.

The importance of teacher learning

‘Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better’ (Dylan William, Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment, IOE, UCL). Teacher learning is a critical element in any teacher’s professional development, as well as for the organisations where they work. In this session we will discuss the aims of teacher learning, what we are striving for, and the benefits in terms of classroom impact. We will also consider a four-step process to support teachers’ professional development and the organisations that they work for, and define three elements for successful teacher training input: personal, professional, practical (Ellman & Lucantoni, 2022).

The importance of communicative writing

We know that writing is often the most challenging of skills for learners and can be equally daunting for teachers to teach. Often this negativity is students’ general lack of understanding about how to write effectively, and a lack of motivation to write communicatively. Our session will start by considering what the essential building blocks for effective communicative writing are and look at ways in which teachers can support learner writing. We will discuss how we assess writing and look at the Cambridge assessment criteria while thinking about how best to give learners effective feedback.