

Theme: Social Emotional Learning
for ALL Teachers and Learners
UPDATE 4/10
Hello all 😊 We have decided to repurpose our PCE as an online event that incorporates social emotional learning as a key theme later in the year or early 2023. Sincerest apologies for any disappointments.
We hope you enjoy the remainder of the conference in May.
What is SEL?
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a process through which we “acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions” (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, n.d.). SEL focuses on five essential competencies.
- Self-awareness: understanding our emotions, goals, and values
- Self-management: skills that help learners reach their goals including managing stress and challenges
- Social awareness: understanding social norms and developing ability to empathize with people from different cultures and backgrounds
- Relationship skills: skills required to have healthy and rewarding relationships including listening actively, negotiation, and asking for help when need be
- Responsible decision making: considering ethics, social norms, and well-being of others to make constructive choices
CASEL’s framework provides educational communities with paths for developing these competencies.
During our day together, we will explore SEL through this framework and work together to apply it to our teaching and learning spaces via experiences and practical uses within our language teaching community.
References
Weissburg, R. 2016, Feb 15. Why Social and Emotional Learning Is Essential for Students. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-sel-essential-for-students-weissberg-durlak-domitrovich-gullotta
What is SEL? n.d. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. https://casel.org/what-is-sel/
Event Schedule
To give you a sense of the day you’re attending, here is an overview of what to expect. Details will follow when speakers are confirmed.
8:00 | Registration period |
9:00 | Social time with coffee/tea and biscuits |
9:30 | Welcome from Coordinator(s) and foundational understanding of SEL |
PART 1 | |
9:45 | Keynote A / Akemi Iwasa 🇧🇷 Beyond language: social and emotional development in the classroom |
10:30 | TD Group Activity – Variation A |
10:50 | Morning refreshments break |
PART 2 | |
11:05 | Keynote B / Romina Muse 🇦🇷 Raising SEL and boosting academics through stories |
11:50 | TD Group Activity – Variation B |
12:10 | Lunch break (90 mins – meal not included) |
PART 3 | |
1:45 | Keynote C – Mystery Guest 🌍 |
2:30 | TD Group Activity – Variation C |
3:00 | Afternoon tea & cakes |
PART 4 | |
3:20 | Open Space with Speakers (20 mins x 2) |
4:00 | Wrapping up the day together |
4:30 | Closing TDSIG comments |
Keynote 🔆 Akemi Iwasa, Beyond language: social and emotional development in the classroom
In this talk, I aim at presenting a programme designed to promote the development of students’ social and emotional competences at a non-profit language institution. Although this is a rather specific context, I will refer to studies showing that emotional engagement is key to learning, corroborating its relevance in any scenario. Next, I will describe some of the activities involved focusing on the competences each one aims at developing, and feedback from teachers and students will be shared. Finally, I will invite participants to reflect upon how to create effective SEL programmes in different contexts.
Akemi Iwasa is a materials writer and editor, currently working as an academic consultant at Troika, Brazil. She holds the Cambridge Delta 1, a BA in Languages (UFRJ), a postgraduate degree in Neuroscience (UFRJ), and she is undertaking postgraduate studies in Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility (PUCRS).
Keynote 💭 Romina Muse, Raising SEL and boosting academics through stories
The ESL curriculum focuses mainly on academic standards; however, research indicates that promoting social and emotional learning skills leads to improved academic outcomes and wellbeing. By resorting to stories that draw on strong social-emotional content, teachers can address emergent literacy and social-emotional learning. Stories make a wonderful medium with which to explore self-awareness, self- management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. This talk is designed to help teachers include stories that give space to teach academics and model social and emotional learning. They will take fail-proof strategies to forge more powerful learning experiences in both domains.
Romina Muse is a teacher of English with more than 20 years of experience. She works as a remote teacher for the British Council in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Romina holds a Bachelor’s in English and a Diploma in Child Neuropsychology. She lived in the UK, where she specialised in ESL and taught Spanish as a foreign language. She has lectured for TESOL, IATEFL, and FAAPI. Romina is writing a dissertation for a postgraduate degree in English Literature and Film Studies.
Keynote ❤️ Mystery Speaker
We have one more guest involved, but who will it be? Tune in to find out! ❤️
Sponsor: Digital Learning Associates
We are thrilled to partner with DIGITAL LEARNING ASSOCIATES as part of our Pre-Conference Event!
The award winning Ready to Run authentic video catalogue now has a special SEL collection that supports teaching English with SEL.
Ready to Run brings real world stories and characters into learning in videos designed to connect with today’s learners. The collection is aligned to the CASEL framework at both core competency and subskill levels. The videos are CEFR graded and deliver outstanding English learning as well as addressing the SEL agenda. The collection features 27 CASEL aligned videos at grades A1 to B2. Each video is supported by ELT learner resources, a teacher’s guide including lesson plan and a video transcript.
Find out more about Digital Learning Associates!
Your PCE ticket qualifies you to win a 6-MONTH LICENSE to SEL education videos and resources!
Preview some sample videos here!
Visit memory lane to see our past PCE pages:
2021 – Alternative forms of TD
2019 – Are you a social justice warrior? (with GISIG)
2018 – Personalised teacher development (with LAMSIG)
2017 – Unlimited PD with technology (with LTSIG)
2016 – The teacher’s voice
2015 – Exploratory practice
2014 – Opening space for critical pedagogy