We launched the Pearson ELT Teacher Award in October to celebrate dedicated and innovative teachers around the world. Every teacher from every corner of the globe was eligible to enter and we were overwhelmed when we received more than 1,400 entries.
We are excited to announce our winners – there is one from each of the five regions: Africa & the Middle East; Asia & Oceania; Europe; North America; and South America. Each winner will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the IATEFL or TESOL conference in 2017 to learn, share and talk with other ELT teachers.
The winners of the Pearson ELT Teacher Award are:
Africa & Middle East: Imane Nejjar, Morocco
Imane used Kagan structures as the academic backbone for an online Schoology course. The judges felt that this was a scalable way of dealing with a pervasive problem: excessively large class sizes.
Imane says: “The use of Kagan structures and Schoology have helped me to reach every single student in a large class and to create a warm and learner-friendly environment for my students; it has made teaching a very enjoyable and successful experience for me.”
Asia & Oceania: Koki Shimazu, Japan
Koki organises camps around Japan to give students the opportunity to practise spoken English. Our judges thought it was an innovative approach to solving a common problem and showed his determination and enthusiasm for teaching English.
Koki says: “Most Japanese students have no idea what it is like to go abroad and speak English with foreign people. Most of the kids do not want to go abroad because they lack confidence, English ability and information. Therefore, I decided to hold English camps around Japan.”
Europe & Central Asia: Agnieszka Bilska, Poland
Agnieszka uses technology to engage her students, both inside and outside the classroom. She impressed the judges with her incredible energy and dedication to teaching. The range of projects she is involved with demonstrates her own initiative and reflects a constructivist, collaborative and creative use of technology.
Agnieskza says: “In order to make my classes more engaging and memorable I use games, gamification and projects related to real-world issues to help my students to become more autonomous and responsible for their own learning process.”
North & Central America: Gabriela Cambiasso, United States
Gabriela developed a blog to help motivate her students to engage with written English. Although a class blog is becoming more commonplace these days, the judges felt that Gabriela’s application showcased particular aspects of creativity and autonomous learning.
Gabriela says: “My students become amateur journalists and document small and big moments of their daily life. Using their phones, they take pictures, selfies, or short video clips, post them on our blog and write about them.”
South America: Ornella Valentinuz, Argentina
Ornella and her team created a cultural exchange to support their learners, who are based in a remote part of Argentina. The judges were impressed with their initiative and their way of bringing the real world into the classroom.
Ornella says: “Our students, for the first time in their lives, had the opportunity to be in real contact with students from other countries and use English as the global language to communicate.”
Congratulations to all the winners! You can find out more about each of them by clicking on their name below… We hope you enjoy reading their stories!
People’s Choice winners
We received more than 34,000 votes for the People’s Choice award, so thank you to everyone who took part. Our winners, below, will receive 20 Kindles for their class, pre-loaded with Pearson content.
- Africa and Middle East:Yassir El Hajel Sheikh, Sudan
- Asia & Oceania: Amreet Kaur Jageer Singh, Malaysia
- Europe & Central Asia: Sylvie Dolakova, Czech Republic
- North & Central America: Rosa Higueros, Guatemala
- South America: Kellen Geremias, Brazil
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