Impressions from Deutschlehrerkongress Thessaloniki 2010

The big event for German teachers, this time in Thessaloniki was held on 16-18 April, at Goethe Institut.
Time to learn new methods, ideas, be informed on how to use new technology in the classroom , time to be innovative...
All known publishers were there of course to present what's new in the DaF world.
Personaly I attended a series of books presentations, a beautiful workshop about Drama in the classroom and also a presentation on E-learning projects between classes around the world.

• The Drama-workshop was more than I expected, actually.

Participants were given a guideline story, built the characters themselves, had to improvise and perform various "scenes" and integrate language games to work with students and present a "performance" as a result of the "theatrical" play at the end of the school year.

• Using the internet has become more and more popular amogst teachers. E-learning projects between classes are really common. The one presented was communication between 2 classes (one in Poland and one in South Africa). Their common subject was a trip to Berlin. The students built up a page with a forum presenting theirselves, their country, their schools and cultures, but also doing projects about Germany and Berlin in particular (using videos and PhotoStory)
  

Other lectures that appealed to me were about: Interactive Whiteboards and how to use them, using monuments to start projects, Games in Grammar and of course using online resourses for our lessons.
The highlight of the convention was meeting many of my friends from my old University years. (photos over here)