NATE means advanced methods of education. The National Association of Teachers of English is the national professional body representing teachers of English throughout Russia. NATE Russia promotes excellence in language learning, teaching, and research by providing opportunities for those involved in language education to meet, share, and collaborate. However, the educational landscape is changing; the present day teacher faces more challenges that he/she faced in earlier times. The rapid development of knowledge, demands the creation of qualitative teacher who in turn, will help to strengthen a knowledge society to meet the challenges of globalization and mold the society keeping in view the values and traditions.

NATE Russia means new ways to learn other cultures through learning the language. “Our job (as language teachers) is challenging, confusing, and scary because we are leading our students into an alien, strange world which is not only full of hidden traps but also changing non-stop. And the world is alien and hostile to both – the teacher and the student. In this case, nothing helps more than well-educated, thoughtful teacher who loves both – what and whom he teaches and is supported by professional association” (S.G. Ter-Minasova).

NATE means the team is better for doing great things than individuals. Every individual member of the professional society gets access to unique teaching materials: author’s methods and courses, teaching aids and real cases, all knowledge of NATE for effective organization of educational process, conference materials such as a set of articles, presentations, etc.

NATE Russia holds annual conferences for teachers of English in Russia. English language teaching professionals and scholars from around the world join the most significant and renowned event in the sphere of EL teaching. NATE conference aims to explore new educational approaches and current trends in ESL/EFL teaching and learning in a dynamically changing environment.

It is a great tradition to arrange NATE conferences in different parts of the country on different topics but with one main goal to keep teachers up-to-date with new trends in TEFL, professional development, provide unique opportunity to meet with colleagues and native speakers and become a part of professional national and the international community. Nineteen different cities hosted NATE conferences, among them Moscow four times, Voronezh three times, Samara two times, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Smolensk, Vladivostok and so on and so forth.

NATE jubilee convention was held in St. Petersburg on April 17-19, 2019. To celebrate NATE achievements, more than 400 participants came to the conference. Outstanding foreign and Russian specialists presented plenaries, reports, and workshops. Participants of the milestone 25^th NATE conference reviewed its history and the role of the association in the development and sharing of best practices and know-how in the sphere of English language teaching.

We covered such topics as:

• CLIL & EMI: challenges and achievements
• ESP & EAP
• Teaching Soft Skills in the context of EL curriculum
• Teaching Russian as a foreign language
• Enhancement of EL level through extracurricular activities at school
• EL level assessment (OGE, EGE, Cambridge exams, TOEFL)
• Current trends in applied linguistics

“The daughter” of NATE conference – Umbrella started in 2000 in Pskov and went on in Kolomna, Ryazan, Tula, Kursk, etc. Nizhny Novgorod will host Umbrella conference on September 26 – 29, 2019. Leaders of regional associations will come to present the results of their work on current projects and discuss the ideas of coming ones. Generally, leading foreign specialists and NATE Russia experts arrange professional development workshops for local teachers of English and other educators at Umbrella meeting. The association supports and encourages local professional communities.

One of the main achievements of NATE Russia is the official Journal Focus on Language Education and Research. This international forum is for both invited and contributed peer-reviewed articles that advance language education at all levels and current issues and challenges for educational research practice in the teaching, learning, and assessment. The journal publishes a broad range of papers covering best teaching practices, experimental results, and contemporary teaching issues. Focus on Language Learning and Research is directed to those concerned with the functioning of language education, including universities, graduate, and professional schools. It is of primary interest to institutional researchers and planners, faculty, college and university administrators.

Types of journal content:

• Relationships between policy, theory, and practice
• Pedagogical practices in classrooms and less formal settings
• English learning/teaching in all phases, from early learners to higher and adult education
• Policy and practice in Russia
• Classroom practice in all its aspects
• Classroom-based research
• Methodological questions in teaching and research
• Multilingualism and multiculturalism
• New technologies and foreign languages

In addition to original research articles, the journal publishes case studies and reviews of books, media, software, and other relevant products (http://languageedu.elpub.ru/jour/issue/view/2/showToc).

Teacher’s profession is paradoxical: we teach and learn at the same time. As Joseph Hubert said to teach is to learn twice. We have to increase our professional skills in order to be on the same page with our students. Teaching is terribly stimulating due to be new every day, and at the same time, “teaching is a lonely profession. Each of us is a lonely hero or heroine, a fearless knight fighting dragon-like obstacles, barriers, bureaucracy, and our language lessons are invariably one-hero-battle, one-actor performance. However, the best way out of this situation is – surprise, surprise: professional associations! This is why our motto is “Professionals of the world, unite!” This is the right way to solve our problems, to respond to challenges, to clear up our confusions – with the help of professional associations. This is the best way to overcome our loneliness, to withstand some unacceptable ideas from numerous bureaucrats who try to “improve” our work having neither knowledge nor experience in this kind of activity” (S.G. Ter-Minasova).

References

S.G. Ter-Minasova (2019). Editor’s note. (http://languageedu.elpub.ru/jour/issue/view/2/showToc).

S.V. Sannikova (2019). Crossing into new frontiers by making teaching a festival.- September 18, 2019, XXV NATE Jubilee Convention and English Language Expo: 25 Years of Navigating Through Challenges.

Svetlana Sannikova, is a chairperson of the NATE Coordination Council and associate professor at South Ural State Humanitarian Pedagogical University