Editorial
Dear HLT Readers,
Welcome to the December issue of HLT. As usual we start with Pilgrims News. In Pilgrims: New Times - Responding to Our New Realities Phil Dexter, Teacher Training Coordinator and Editor of The Pilgrims Teacher Trainer Journal, shares with you our plans for the future and talks about new developments. One of them is paid advertising in TTJ and soon you will be able to advertise in HLT, too.
There is also some very interesting last minute news that “Negotiators are aiming to finalise a deal by January that would allow the UK to participate in Erasmus from 2027 onwards”. So, it might be possible again to organise teacher courses in the UK. (The Guardian)
We are busy making plans, designing new courses and improving our offer to make it suitable for teachers who want to develop and move forward. We hope to welcome you at Pilgrims in Segovia in the summer or you may choose from new courses available all year round.
We are also attending conferences like 34th IATEFL Poland International Conference, 19th-21st September 2025 (report by Hania Kryszewska, Pilgrims Trainer) or A New Cross Curricular Event Coming Up! (News from APPI) and the MATSDA/UAEH Conference - 3rd - 4th June 2026. We have just had confirmation that Phil Dexter, Stefania Ballotto and Hania Kryszewska will be representing Pilgrims and giving workshops at IATEFL Brighton conference this coming spring. We hope to bump into you at one of these events.
Don’t miss the information about The Simon Greenall Award 2026 .The 2021 winner was "Dau Dau" - A project from Keningau College in Sabah, Malaysia, run by Sirhajwan Idek and Nurazilah Othman on “using local folk tales, storytelling, puppetry, and song in English to promote indigenous culture and bring together diverse communities” while the 2024 winner was “The Happy Teachers’ Mentorship Programme” - founded and coordinated by Venice Irving in Jamaica. The programme “offers six months of coaching to help new teachers who lack developmental opportunities to improve their teaching and develop their careers”. Who knows, you might be the winner of the Simon Greenall Award 2026.
In this issue of HLT we are saying goodbye to Bell Schools who technically have been our competitors, but we had very good contacts with our Bell colleagues and some Pilgrims trainers also worked at Bell schools. We shared expertise and ideas, inspiring each other and having great time at conferences we all attended. In Bell School Closing Down you can read about their seventy-year history and wave them good-bye. You yourselves may have fond memories of language courses or teacher training programmes you attended at one of the Bell Schools.
For many HLT readers this is the time of seasonal festivities and celebrations. There are Christmas themes in On Snow, Christmas and the British by Mojca Belak, Xmas Card Activities by Hanna Kryszewska, and one of the entries in Three Voices from Pavilion.
But for some teachers and learners this is the time of plight and ordeal. Read about education in Palestine in these difficult times: Palestinian Students’ Teachings on Life, Hope and Sumud by Stephen Reilly, and Telling Their Stories to the World – Showing Support and Expressing Admiration for the Children of Gaza by Haneen Khaled Jadallah and David Heathfield.
The articles in this issue talk among others about teaching young learners - Differentiating Instruction for Young Learners: Overcoming the Challenges of Mixed-Age and Mixed-Ability English Classes by Aliya Kurmanova, and story telling for the big and small - Story, Story, Tell Us a Story: Storytelling in Language Teaching and Learning by Vera Cabrera Duarte, Elizabeth M. Pow and Maria Aparecida Caltabiano and Bridging Generations Through Shared Stories: A Review of Jacobs and Renandya's Approach to the Universal Language of Reading Aloud by Puvana Gnanasagaran.
But the main focus is on the classroom, inclusion and motivation , : Social Skills for Successful Student Groups by George M Jacobs and Marla Lise, Incorporating Resources for Hope in Classrooms with Transnational Students by Laura E. Mendoza, A survey on Learning Motivation of Senior English Majors Between Some Public and Private Universities in Ho Chi Minh City by Trần Bảo Huân, and Regulating Learners՚ Engagement: A Journey of Self-discovery by Anestin Lum Chi.
Another group of articles is devoted to exams, anxiety, assessment and technology: From Stress to Flow: Rehumanising Exam Culture by Effie Kyrikaki, Reducing Second Language Learning Anxiety Among ELT Diploma Trainees in Sri Lanka: The Role of AI Duolingo by Priyanka Kumarasinghe, Taiwanese Freshmen’s Preferences and the Effects on Vocabulary Acquisition of Online Annotation for Reading an Extended Text by Chin-Wen Chien, Assessing Listening Placement Tests in English through Digital Technologies by Alexis Vasquez, and Formative Assessment Using Time Sequenced Analysis: Assessing Learning According to the Way Languages are Acquired by Miriam C.A. Semeniuk.
Finally, there are lesson ideas and creative ideas in Know-Ask-Explore-Learn: Taking Advantage of Learner Curiosity by Chrysa Papalazarou, The Teacher, the Poet and the Critic: Change Cannot be Postponable by Fernanda Felix Binati, TikTok Style Video Reaches ELT by Ben Goldstein, and many more recommendations in More than Methods: Using Stories to Humanize CPD: An Interview with Alan Maley by Chang Liu, and Short Book Reviews by Hanna (Hania) Kryszewska, HLT editor and Pilgrims trainer.
Enjoy the December issue of HLT and have a great New Year when it comes to you... although around the globe it may January, February, March, April and even September or October. So, it will take a while…
Hanna (Hania) Kryszewska
HLT Editor
Email: hania.kryszewska@pilgrimsteachertraining.eu
