IHWO News
IHWO News – Autumn 2009
Lucy Horsefield – Chief Operating Officer,
International House World Organisation lucy.horsefield@ihworld.co.uk
The IHWO Ltd had a busy and productive summer. As well as welcoming 5 new schools to the network in the past 2 months we launched our online DOS course and the DELTA 1 Exam prep course. Now as the winter draws near our calendar is bursting with conferences and events. This is my favourite time of the year as there are so many opportunities to meet colleagues from all over the IH network and share ideas and experiences.
New IH schools
In August 2009 we were very happy to welcome a new IH school in Mexico to the fold, IH Cuernavaca. The school is located in a beautiful Mexican Hacienda style house very close to the city centre of beautiful Cuernavaca, in the heart of Mexico.
Then in September and October four more new schools joined IH family.
Formerly known as the Language Project, International House Bristol was established in 1987 and has since welcomed thousands of students to Bristol. The school is based in a lovely old building in Clifton, a wonderful, historic area of Bristol.
IH Brisbane, previously known as Australian Language Schools (ALS), is located the capital of tropical Queensland; it is a buzzing University town surrounded by beautiful beaches
International House Tremblant is a brand new Study Abroad Language school in the old centre of Mont Tremblant, a charming resort surrounded by lakes and mountains.
Last but not least, our newest member is International House Poltava, a community school in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava which lies on the banks of the river Vorskla.
Modern Languages Conference 6th and 7th November 2009
The IHWO Modern Languages conference was hosted by IH London at their premises in Covent Garden in conjunction with Mo.La.Co, which is their annual conference for Modern Language teachers based in London and the UK.
To reflect the truly multilingual nature of the conference tracks were run in French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic and English! There were 37 participants from IH schools with an additional 83 external participants attending Saturday’s open sessions. The conference provided a welcome opportunity for teachers to discuss ideas and feedback to IHWO Ltd about how we can further support and develop the teaching of Modern Languages within the network. We now have 8 Modern Language Coordinators to support teachers of the following languages within the network – Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
DOS Conference 7th – 9th January 2010
We are already making preparations for the next Directors of Studies conference which will be held on the HMS Belfast on the River Thames – very close to the Tower of London and the IHWO office. Teacher Trainers are also very welcome to join the conference, the programme on Saturday 9th January will be particularly focused on Teacher Training and Teacher Development and we will also hold a Teacher Training Steering Group.
Confirmed external speakers for the conference include Jeremy Harmer, Scott Thornbury, Russell Stannard, Hugh Deller and Kevin Morrow.
IHWO’s Online Teacher Training Institute
The popular IH DOS course is now available to take online via IHWO’s online learning platform. IHWO used to offer this course only in a face-to-face format, which took place once a year in London in January. Now the course is online so IH DOSs all over the world will have easy access to the courses.
The other exciting news is that IHWO is currently piloting an exam preparation course for the Delta One exam. This is an eight-week course that guides participants through each question of the exam and revises key terminology needed to be successful. It is NOT a self-standing course Delta One course but instead it is aimed at teachers who have taken the CAM or a Delta prep course and feel they need help with preparation for the exam.
IH Calendar
| Event | Date | Location |
| IH Modern Languages Conference | 6th & 7th November 2009 | IH London |
| IH DOS Conference | January 2010 | London |
Unfortunately, at the time of going to print the IH Young Learner Conference in Kyiv has had to be postponed. However, this important event will take place in a few months time and we will announce the new date shortly.
