Newsroom
'Cambridge days' in Italy focus on young learners
12 November 2009
More than 900 English teachers and other language professionals gathered in Northern Italy at the end of October to take part in a series of "Cambridge Days" – informative one-day conferences for the English language teaching sector.
Authors and experts in language teaching and assessment presented on a range of issues around language teaching, including vocabulary description and the important role that teaching frameworks play in the classroom.
Ian Cook from Cambridge ESOL’s School Sector team, who presented on the importance of rewarding achievement, commented:
"With increasing numbers of younger students taking language exams all over the world, it is important for educators to develop suitable strategies for working with schools, learners and parents. This helps to ensure that language testing is fair and a real benefit to the learner."
The days which ran from 26–28 October were organised in collaboration with Cambridge University Press. Professor Michael McCarthy, Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, gave two insightful presentations on vocabulary description and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. There were other contributions from Jeanne McCarten, an experienced freelance writer and specialist in vocabulary and grammar, and Sarah Ellis from the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations in Italy.
