As part of being in a teacher, there are always opportunities for training and development of all sorts. Part of this means countless online workshops, webinars (web seminars), blogs, use of social networks and many other tech-related resources. There are also opportunities to meet real people and just talk face-to-face, which is where the conferences came in. I really wanted to go to a few this year and lo and behold, my wish was granted.
First stop, off to Prague for an extended weekend to attend a conference on teaching young learners. I had been there several times but did a bit of research before leaving to see what non-touristy things I could squeeze in between conference activities, and tried to mark them on the map.
From most places in Europe, it seems quite complicated to fly to Prague, and from Spain, the easiest and cheapest (though still not cheap) was via Germany.
Lufthansa treats all their customers fantastically in Munich! Here you can see they take care of the smokers with their own little box, and then they offer everyone free newspapers (English and German), coffee, tea and hot chocolate to your heart's content. Makes us economy class travellers feel special too! :)
All conference attendees opted to stay in the hotel right behind the school, so that it was a quick 2 min dash to get there on time in the morning. Here you can see the little dorm-room style accommodation that I stayed in--business trips don't always mean luxury hotels!
Thursday night welcome dinner near the hotel, with the other conference attendees. First course, everyone at my table opted for a nice potato soup in a breadbowl--lovely but too much to start!!
Randomly sat down with various people, and we got on great from the start. Here Wes and Lorenzo show off their second course dishes....meat and bread dumplings in two different ways.
Chris was smart and opted for the veggie-loaded option, which would have been perfect after the huge soup..... (and before a big dessert!)
Tanya and Elena tell us that in the Czech Republic, the plates of food are always too gigantic....much bigger than Belarus apparently!
View from my hotel window
Day 1 of the conference and everyone is waiting for the sessions to start
The main seminar room...
Nice little area for students to sit and chill out!
Wow, what a huge teacher's room!
After the first day of sessions, I ran off quickly into the city to explore a few places before we gathered again for dinner as a group.
Many of the metro stations have this button/bubble theme going on.
Up all the stairs in the dark to reach Letna Park....wasn't sure about this at first since I had no idea what I would find....
...but it was worth it as the view was fantastic and there were other people sitting and enjoying the peace and lights from high above
It was pitch black at this time but after fiddling with my camera settings, I managed to snag this fantastic (if I do say so myself!) shot of the metronome. It's right up atop the aforementioned stairs in the park, where there used to be a Stalin statue.
Back into the hubbub of town, and the fancy Parisienne street with all the luxury shops...
I think the main square is much prettier at night....fewer tourists and calmer...
The Kafka museum
After wandering a bit, I raced to catch up with the group because we were going on a dinner cruise! The night was lots of fun with a buffet dinner, lots of conversation and random music to dance to your heart's content.
Ran to catch up with the group for our dinner cruise along the river!
Inside the boat the celing is quite low but there is a buffet, bar and tables space for everyone.
It's like musical chairs every meal so here are my tablemates for the dinner
Oddly out of place in this country.....
We were doing loops up and down the river for a while and then the boat stopped for aaaaages idling and spitting out fumes (cough cough) while we waited for several other boats to come out of the lock.
Then we went inside the lock and sat waiting for another while for the water to rise again, and then escaped through to the other side. We finished the night in a different location than where we got on, but it was all good fun!
The next morning, we had another full day of sessions and then capped off with a panel discussion from some of the experts.
Q&A with the panel, representing various regions and positions
And of course a goodbye dinner on Saturday night--here are my tablemates for the night
The restaurant was quite cool inside. We were the loudest group with about 5 tables of 10 or so, and when one of them decided to start a song contest, the rest of the diners didn't look so thrilled....
Sunday morning, I tried to get slightly early and take advantage of the few hours before my flight to see some other bits in the city. I headed into town and dropped my backpack at the train station lockers, and then wandered around.
This tram cafe looks just like a real tram car! :)
Still early enough on Sunday morning that the masses of tourists hadn't made it out yet...
Saw these propped against the side of the clock tower: Does anyone know what they represent? If you can translate or give any insight, please do!! :)
I just thought they looked pretty odd and had to snap a shot. Something to do with protest and rights? But of who and for what?
There is a decent sized Jewish quarter in the city centre, with several synagogues squeezed in between modern buildings. I found the Spanish synagogue--the Star of David mixed with the Arabic-style architecture is very cool!
The metronome during the day--it actually moves! :)
I trekked up the stairs again to see what the view was like during the day. Behind the metronome there is a big skate space, but there was no one there that early except this one guy...
Lots of shoes by the metronome...
Residents of Letna Park
View from the metronome of the quiet city on Sunday morning
I went for a bit of a stroll through the park on my way back down to collect my stuff, but didn't see any grandpas with hats holding the hands of little girls with their hair in pigtails.... ;)
In the end, I didn't get a chance to find the John Lennon wall (apparently close to the Charles Bridge, hidden in a square), which was one of the more obscure things I found out about before going to Prague. My goal was to see the non-typical things which meant no Prague castle, astronomical clock nor Charles Bridge, all of which I had seen several times already. I did discover the metronome in the park with its nice views and skatepark, so that's okay. I think my perception of Prague is better now that I had a chance to go to areas which aren't so overrun with visitors.....
At Prague airport, there is an area where you can go outside and watch the planes while you are waiting to pass the time....
And you can also sit down and watch some cool films in original version! I watched bits of a claymation film called Mary and Max, in English with Czech subtitles! :)
The weekend after I came back from Prague, I headed to Bilbao for another conference, this time organised by TESOL Spain, so there were all sorts of teachers of English in various capacities. Some from private academies, some freelancers, some in public schools....not all native English speakers either. My colleague Adam and I had signed up to do a presentation, and they had scheduled us for Sunday at noon, which meant we had all of Saturday to take in the talks of others.
The conference was held at Deusto University in Bilbao, which was very cool and old style...located just across the river from the Guggenheim
Here is the big auditorium where everyone had gathered for David Crystal's plenary session. I meant to take photos of other rooms and such, but just plain forgot with all that was going on!
Here are Adam and I before our presentation! In the midst of it all, I forgot all about taking photos during the talk as well! =( But you will be pleased to know that it went well and had 15+ people, all of which were very cooperative and participated enthusiastically.
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