Guidelines for Regional ETJ Groups
These guidelines are intended to help a new group/project get off the ground or support a group/project that is having difficulty finding a successful format. Groups/projects have the freedom to choose whether or not to follow these guidelines.
1. Guidelines for new regional groups and those groups looking for a successful format
1.1 – The format of a meeting
ETJ regional groups generally have workshops on Sundays, and the workshops normally last about 2 1/2 hours. The most effective workshops are ones with broad topics that appeal to both elementary school and kindergarten teachers.
1.2 – A grass-roots style
A typical ETJ regional group meeting encourages the sharing of ideas among teachers. The emphasis is on grass-roots participation – either with no presenters or with short presentations followed by plenty of group discussion.
1.3 – General advice (longer version)
Here’s one style that works well – Have a workshop based around a broad theme that all kinds of teachers can talk about (e.e. learning phonics, writing for beginners etc….). Prepare a list of questions related to the topic (e.g. What are the benefits of learning phonics? What’s a good idea for teaching CVC words?). The teachers discuss each question in pairs or groups, and then one person from some or all of the pairs/groups reports what they have come up with. You then do the same for the next question. It is best for committee members to have back up answers and activities just in case.
1.4 If there are presentation, it is best to encourage short presentations and avoid long ones. This is partly because when you are trying to find presenters for future meetings it will be easier to find teachers who are prepared to speak for a short time, but who may be intimidated if they feel they will be expected to give a long presentation. Another advantage of having shorter presentations is that it allows more time for all members to exchange ideas.
2. Social media
2.1 – All regional ETJ groups are encouraged to have a Facebook group (this is different from a Facebook page) that is kept active by the committee so as to build a local community and help promote meetings. Regional groups are also encouraged to build the local community by posting to their group in the Language Teaching Network.
3. Promoting workshops
3.1 – Regional groups are encouraged to promote meetings in as many of the following ways as possible.
• Setting up a registration form, such as a Google form, and sending a welcoming email before a meeting to those who register to attend.
• Sending details of the meeting by email to LTP a few weeks before a meeting.
• Posting to eltcalendar.com so that the post appears on the ETJ website and other websites.
• Posting to the Language Teaching Network regional group.
• Creating a public Facebook events page (not connected to a Facebook group) for the meeting and encouraging committee members and others to invite their facebook friends through the events page.
• Posting to the regional group’s Facebook group and other relevant places on social media.
