Zakia Sarwar, Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers

It is almost a cultural norm for teacher associations to hold a conference once a year, or once every two years, where participants gather from different cities and countries at a specified venue. It provides an opportunity for teachers to network with each other and also grow professionally by sharing the issues they face, and innovative ideas to resolve them.

The format of the travelling conference organized annually by the Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (SPELT) is somewhat standardized, involving a keynote, plenary speeches, workshops, symposia, and discussion groups, in which ideas are shared. The difference is that the presenters at the travelling conference travel from one city to another, giving the same presentations, instead of all participants gathering for the conference in only one place.

As Dr. Hema Ramanathan from Georgia University says, “It’s like the mountain coming to Mohamed rather than Mohamed going to the mountain.” (April 1, 2016 )

Why SPELT chose this format is an interesting story. SPELT had been holding an extremely successful annual two-day conference in Karachi since 1985. Then in 1992, SPELT chapters in Lahore and Islamabad both expressed a desire to hold a conference in their cities too. Holding a conference in one city—Karachi—already involved multiple challenges.

First of all, Pakistan had no large conference venues with a capacity of 3,000 to 4,000 participants, with facilities for breakout sessions for 70 or so simultaneous workshops, papers, demonstrations, and panels discussion. Secondly, it is financially difficult for teachers to travel to the conference venue from another city and bear the hotel expenses involved. Most importantly, the majority of the conference participants are women, and it is socially unacceptable and inconvenient for them to travel to other parts of the country alone or spend a night in a hotel on their own.

Thinking out of the box, we came up with a solution to maximize the input of our experts and to meet the needs of our members. We asked our visiting speakers from overseas how they would feel about extending their visit a few more days and travelling to another city besides Karachi. We explained that this would maximize their input as there were many participants in different cities who were unable to come to Karachi for the conference.

The response from our overseas speakers was very positive. They found the idea of travelling across the country and meeting teachers from different cities and experiencing the culture of different regions challenging, as well as novel and exciting.

Yet another hurdle cropped up. SPELT chapters upcountry in Lahore and Islamabad both wanted to have the overseas visiting speakers at their two-day conferences—and to hold the event on a weekend. Both wanted the weekend after the Karachi conference. But we found a solution to that too.

We organized the Lahore and Islamabad conferences simultaneously that weekend as requested. After the inaugural conference in Karachi, where all the overseas visiting speakers presented their work and participated on both days of the conference, we got half the speakers to fly (a nearly two-hour long flight) from Karachi to Lahore to make their presentations on the first day of the conference. We then had the speakers driven to Islamabad (four and a half hours on a good, fast road) for the second day of the conference there.

Meanwhile, the others flew to Islamabad for the first day of the conference there, and then drove to Lahore for the second day.

Each city had different presenters—besides the few overseas visiting experts—and participants.

Arifa Rahman, President of the Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association says, “If teachers can’t come to the conference, the conference goes to the teachers!... Simple but brilliant!!” (May 15^th, 2010) Plenary and featured speakers travelled to give the same presentations to at least three different cities. Dates and presentations were juggled to maximize the input of visiting presenters. (Sarwar, 2010)

To call this—organizing three conferences (two simultaneously)—a juggling act would be an understatement. It is a challenging jigsaw puzzle to monitor flight schedules and entry and exit points of overseas presenters, besides programming who will go where and when, plus accommodations and local transport—a perfect ELT problem-solving activity!

After the inaugural conference in Karachi, it was like a relay race between the visiting speakers (divided into Team A and Team B), travelling to Lahore and Islamabad. Team A travelled after the first day of presenting in one city to the other, and vice versa. This gave the opportunity for the participants in and around both cities to gain from the expertise of all our overseas speakers.

Teams A and B were formulated on the basis of the local chapters organizers’ needs and identification of speakers’ preferences of which city they wanted to spend more time in, as well as their flight schedules.

After attending our warmly hosted Karachi Conference and bonding with each other, our overseas visitors often felt nostalgic as they said their adieus to embark on their air journey to the two different cities. They will not see each other again at the next two SPELT, held simultaneously in different cities.

At the end of Day 1 in their next conference city, the ensuing road travel was a memorable experience for both teams. Local presenters from Karachi accompanied the overseas presenters, and got to spend quality time in the comfortable air-conditioned bus. A hostess served snacks and cold drinks to all of the passengers. The plains of the Punjab unfolded their beauty as the bus moved towards the hilly Pothwar district and Khewra Salt Mines to reach two different destinations. Both the buses were on the same highway going in the opposite direction and passed each other. At their destination in Lahore and Islamabad, local hosts received them for the next day of the conference.

Visitors also appreciated the unique experience of SPELTers’ hospitality, who hosted overseas speakers at their own homes, rather than in hotels. Instead of hurried meetings in conference corridors, professionals got to relax and meet each other in the evenings after the conference and share ideas and plans at informal dinners and receptions or at SPELTers’ homes.

We have seen lifelong friendships being formed and rich professional exchanges taking place as a result of overseas speakers from USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Bangladesh, UAE, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and many other countries staying together in the homes of SPELT members across the country. Staying in Pakistani houses also gives the visitors a glimpse of the Pakistani lifestyle, and to eat amazingly delicious Pakistani cuisine.

We also took our visitors shopping for hand-knotted carpets, gorgeous Pakistani dresses, and other ethnic and folk artworks and artifacts at very affordable rates.

Advantages of the travelling conference

1. The travelling conference maximizes the input of overseas visiting experts, providing an opportunity for professional development to local teachers who are unable to travel to a conference in another city.

2. The conference gives the visiting experts a chance to meet teachers from all over the country, to broaden their outlook, and be exposed to the issues that teachers tend to face in developing countries such as Pakistan.

3. The overseas visitors also get a chance to travel across the country and appreciate various cultural differences from the tip of the Arabian Sea to the foothills of the Himalayas. It is an enriching experience for the visitors.

4. The conference maximizes the attendance of practitioners from all over the country and provides greater visibility to SPELT, which helps membership. Holding the conference in different cities also facilitates greater attendance from nearby rural areas. SPELT impacts about 3,500 teachers every year through its travelling conferences.

5. The travelling conference gives local practitioners a chance to present at an international conference in different cities; this empowers them and helps build capacity in the educational field in Pakistan.

6. The conference develops leadership skills of SPELTers (all volunteers) who organize the conference in their cities. It also makes them feel important and valued.

Logistics and cutting costs:

Being under-resourced and volunteer-driven, SPELT works on a shoestring budget and takes the following steps to keep costs down:

1. We hold conferences in schools, colleges, or universities, using the auditorium or library for keynote and plenary presentations and inaugural and closing sessions.

2. We use classrooms for workshops, presentations, papers, etc., in breakout sessions.

3. SPELT liaises with and invites world-class international speakers who accept home hospitality from SPELTers and manage their own funding for travel to Pakistan. Prominent names include Rebecca Oxford, Diane Larsen Freeman, Ann Burns, Michael Halliday, Ruqaiya Hasan, and Jane Willis, among others.

4. SPELT identifies and invites “crowd pullers”’ as presenters to organize their pre- and post-conference institutes and generate income.

5. Home hospitality by SPELTers is another way of cutting costs and sharing responsibilities. It also ensures the visitors’ comfort and safety as local hosts chaperone and look after them.

6. SPELT volunteers divide up into four committees: (1) marketing and registrations; (2) abstracts and programme book; (3) event management; (4) liaising with overseas presenters and home hospitality.

Organizations in Bangladesh and Nepal have followed SPELT’s model of the travelling conferences that seems to be an inclusive way to maximize professional development in situations where teachers are unable to travel to attend conferences in another city. The two links given in the References share a personal account of the two overseas presenters who visited Pakistan in 2014 and 2015.

References:

Sarwar, Z. (2010): Event management. SPELT’s travelling conference: A success story. In S. Gomez (Ed.) Running an association for language teachers: Directions and opportunities, (69-76). Canterbury, England: IATEFL and the British Council. Retrieved from http://www.iatefl.org/associates/associate-resources

Resources:

Aronson, R. (2014). The 2014 SPELT Conference in Karachi, Pakistan. Retrieved from http://blog.tesol.org/the-2014-spelt-conference-in-karachi-pakistan.

Blok, S. (2015). Teacher of the Year speaks at the 2015 SPELT Conference. Retrieved from http://blog.tesol.org/teacher-of-the-year-speaks-at-the-2015-spelt-conference.

Falcao, A., & Szesztay, M. (Eds.). (2006). Developing an association for language teachers: An introductory handbook. Faversham, England: IATEFL.

Zakia Sarwar is Honorary Executive Director of the Society of Pakistan Language Teachers (SPELT), co-founded in 1984, and is known as “Mother SPELT.” She holds a master’s degree in education in TESOL from Leeds University; Dipolma.TEFL Sydney University, and is one of Pakistan’s pioneering teacher educators. A veteran TESOLer , she was Chair EFL-IS and Global Professional Development Committee.